Why Does God allow evil?

Recently one of my dearest sisters asked the question why does God allow the devil to do such awful things to God's people and also to innocent children? 

The disciples asked similar questions of Jesus "As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. ² His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”³ “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. ⁴ As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵ While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 

The Bible from OT to NT shows God's desire for us to obey Him and to resist the devil. Every story event points to God's desire for us to be whole, full of His love, and experience His abundant life.

Unfortunately, we allow the devil to continue to lie to us, as he lied to Adam and eve in the garden.

 "Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”² The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, ³ but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”⁴ “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.⁵ “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

We need to remember that God keeps his word. One day Satan will be  cast into hell for eternity. Until then Satan will still do his job, of attacking. killing, stealing and destroying all of God's creation. We too need to do our job of bringing down the schemes of the devil. As.God's children, we are soldiers in God's army. Our fight is against evil and Satan's plans. If we allow the Holy Spirit to build us up in our spirit man, if we come together and work against the kingdom of darkness, If we obey God and have faith as small as a mustard seed, we can move the mountains. It is only then that we can bring God's healing, and reverse the things that Satan and his demons have put on mankind.

  ¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.¹⁸ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

Being a Christian is not for the weak, double-minded, ungrateful, or prideful.A true Christian is faithful, humble, and obedient to His Lord and Savior. The battle is good against evil. Jesus has given us the victory, by His crucified,and resurrected  body. Jesus has already defeated Satan and all his demons. If we allow Holy Spirit to use our minds and our bodies, we too will experience the victory over all of Satan's evil schemes.   

It's the churches responsibility to crush Satan under it's feet

Guys we are in a war for God to be restored into this nation.

We see everyday that principles of the word of God are being

 eroded and stripped from the foundations and core of America.

We have to expose the enemy among us, so that we can truly unite in God.

God has given us the strategy of war, it is the sword of the spirit which is the word of God.

Jesus has told us to unite to be one, as He and the Father are one.

 We cannot depend on the world's methods of fighting, as we know we fight

Not against flesh and blood BUT against principalities and powers in high places. 

This is why we have to speak truth and life to each other.

We have to love each other, and pray together and declare what the 

word of God says about each other.

We cannot afford to let the enemy keep us divided as the body of Christ.

We need to recognize the strategy of the enemy among believers..

We need to allow the Holy Spirit to show us His plan and obey Holy Spirit's truth

If we become strong together if we agree together with the love 

that  is shed abroad in our hearts, from the God of love. Once we agree together to 

follow God's plans, commands, rules and principles. Then we have the victory. 

Then we can move forward,and not back to the old ways of lies and division.

The Bible says resist the Devil and He will flee. Let us identify the devil's plan 

when we see it among us. When we see Satan at work in our midst we need to expose 

his lies, and counterattack Satan, with the truth of God's word.

God wants us new and improved without spot and blemish. 

Then He will help us fight for that which is just, right and true,

in the new and improved America.

Judgement begins in the house of God

Matthew 2:12 And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

13 And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise,

and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word:

for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.

14 When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:

This scripture clearly indicates that Jesus could NOT have looked white with blond hair and blue eyes to hide in Egypt.

The scientific evidence of DNA and eye color, that we now know about, helps us know the heritage and ancestry of Jesus.

The Jews intermarried with so many pagan races in the Old Testament

They lived in Egypt as slave for 400 years.  Abraham who came out of  North Africa became the father of 

Israel and Ishmael (all Arab nations today ) This indicates that Jesus would look more like an Egyptian, or Arab then any 

Northern European. The  Romans the strongest and closes Northern Europeans to the Jews 

during that time, did not have blond hair and blue eyes as one of their dominant features. DNA tell us  brown eyes and black hair

dominates. So, those who promote blond hair, blue eyes, white Jesus in churches, are allowing the teaching of the those

who support hate for others, and who cannot accept other people or other colors as equal to them. It is the philosophy of

"Who do you think you are, to try to be equal with me? I am superior to you in every way."

"White supremacy is the belief, and/or promotion of the belief, that white people are superior to people of other racial backgrounds.

The term is sometimes used specifically to describe a political ideology that advocates the social, political, historical and/or industrial 

dominance by whites.[1] White supremacy, as with racial supremacist in general, is rooted in ethnocentrism and a desire for hegemony

 and power, [2] and has frequently resulted in violence against non-whites. Different forms of white supremacy have different conceptions

of who is considered white, and not all white supremacist organizations agree on who is their greatest enemy." I t is out of this

lie from Satan that the KKK was founded. Satan is the father of HATE and LIES and God is love. Two very different kingdoms. 

The Kingdom of darkness promotes hate, racism and lies. The Kingdom of light promotes love, unity, truth, justice and goodness 

When are the Christians in America going to repent and begin to speak truth and life to all people? 

When are we going to become ONE Nation under God? When is the church in America going to treat all people as created equally by God?  if the Christians in America really believe that God is a God of equality, then it is time to speak up against racism and the spirit of hate that has dominated this country since the Pilgrims came here, and butchered the native Americans.

Its time to embrace truth and do everything possible to bring togetherness and not feed and encourage false teaching and false beliefs. 

Wake UP American Christians, GOD is not pleased with racism as usual.
TV churches need to start a campaign of truth, and unity in the body of Christ. Try to promote godly men and women and stop the theology of hate.  

God is Love! So we can only love through God's doing.

Recently I got to fellowship with some young people who are on FIRE for Jesus. The conversation came up about the Unconditional Love of God, and man's attempt to love as God loves. Their take on love, was that even ungodly people love. This observation and acknowledgement of what the world calls LOVE, caused me to think,do I agree with these young people that the ungodly can show love? Do I agree with what the world calls love? Since God is LOVE then His action defines what love is, how it is expressed and what it should look like. So then we need to ask God what is Love. The Bible and Jesus demonstrated The God love, as Unconditional. That God is always forgiving, always willing to sacrifice, always welcoming, always healing, always truth, always just, always good, always righteous and holy. Jesus tells us, "the Greatest commandment is to First love God, and then others as our selves." The pattern is set if we don't love God first, we cannot love others or our selves. So we have to ask ourselves can a godless person express love as is defined by God? So do I think that a person who does NOT KNOW God, can show love or(GOD)? I have to say, I think the world tries to imitate everything God does. The Bible clearly tells us only God can judge what is in a person's heart. It is God who judges the heart of every human“‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.9 They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules. So it really boils down to the day of Judgement. When God says to those who say to HIM "did I not do this in your name? (His Name is LOVE. GOD is LOVE) Did I not heal the sick, feed the poor, raise the dead in your name? Then God will judged the motives of one's heart. Ask yourself did you do these things out of your love for me or your love for others? 21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. 24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: We know in our own hearts we can also judge if our motives are pure. We know our own flesh. We know if Holy Spirit is leading us to do something. It is Holy Spirit who knows when we have called out to Him . When we have listened to Him When we have obeyed HIM. He Knows when we have done acts of love for selfish reasons. When we have given to others, made sacrifices, did God get that glory? Did our actions bring the healing of God to that person? Was our obedience to forgive helpful to the one being forgiven? When Oprah gives away her favorite things, is it to give God glory? Is it for ratings on the Oprah show? Can we at least say she already got her glory. Or is her reward for self glory? We often get the reward of the world, it's recognition and appreciation that is offered, when we demonstrate love. If truly we want to shoe God kind of love we have to allow Holy Spirit to control our motives, let Him purify our hearts, so we give glory to God instead of our selves. If we surrender our hearts, minds, hands and feet to Holy Spirit in all our relations and situations. If we allow Holy Spirit to lead us then we get our supply from the Love stream of God, who is the giver of real love, then that is when we truly demonstrate love. The glory to God Love. The sacrificial, denying your personal needs for another love. God gets the Glory in that kind of Love. The love that obeys Holy Spirits promptings. The Love that obeys God's word. The Love that is forever being willing to lay down one's rights and to humble oneself so that God comes through as a shining star. Love is a willingness to forgive because God has forgiven you. Love is supernatural. Love is allowing God to work through you to Himself, yourself and to others. Love is a heart issue, and only God judges the issues of our Heart. Love is not the chemical feeling that we get.That is the physical response we feel to stimulation. Real love is all about God. Only God can work Himself through a human to express Love.Ultimately God expresses himself through us with HIS loving action. He is LOVE!

Was it retribution for all the years of Racism, Segregation and Slavery ?

Numbers 32: 5 If you turn away from following him, he will again leave all this people in the wilderness, and you will be the cause of their destruction........”23 “But if you fail to do this, you will be sinning against the Lord; and you may be sure that your sin will find you out There is always a consequences to wrong thinking, wrong behavior, wrong words spoken and wrong ideas. The first example of a consequence was when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden. The consequence of their disobedience affected all mankind as descendants of Adam and Eve. Another consequence was when Moses disobeyed God and struck the rock, causing the children of Israel to walk around the desert for forty years until all his generation died out and did not experience the promise land. Another consequence for impatience was the birth of Ishmael, Hagar's son this has caused a war between descendants of Israel and descendants of Ishmael to this very day, so many wars between Arabs and Jews. There are also consequences to racism, slavery,years of segregation in America. One consequence is a lack of trust minorities have towards the motives of white people in America. In America Whites are numerically considered the majority they are also viewed as the voice of this country, those with the most money and power, and superior to all other people groups in this country. Today people see "the man " as having ulterior motives to hold down the non- whites in this country. However, Christians have an opportunity in America to redeem this concept, this silent elephant in America. White Christians in America need to examine why they did not embrace Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. philosophy. Why all these years they have not spoken out for the poor, minority, the social and political ideologies that Dr. King tried to encourage. White Christians will have to examine the teachings of Jesus and what Jesus demonstrated when He walked on earth? White Christians in America need to join with their other brothers and sisters in Christ,crossing congregational lines. Sunday morning Services should not be the most segregated day in America. On Sundays after church many "all you can eat Restaurants" are filled with whites Christians between noon and 3:00 PM then with blacks and other ethnic groups after 3:00 PM the times church services ends on Sundays, are so strategic. I have christian friends who only have me as their ONE black friend. How is that possible in a country that was built on the backs of slaves, indentured servants from China and India. Why is the church not making an effort to cross over those racial lines, to stop this attitude of superiority verses inferiority? The church failed to fulfill Jesus request that we live as one has Jesus, Father and Holy spirit are one. God did not give the church in America any help, to change the course or the direction this country is heading. Christians have NOT humbled and repented of the evil of the past. Too many Christians and churches are still supporting racist motives. God has allowed this country to reap the consequence of slavery, segregation, guilt and shame. As payback, Many people have voted to payback the white man for the years of oppression and racism. Some have even voted out of guilt and shame thinking they can somehow make past wrongs go away. It will only be right when the Church obeys that LAST command Jesus made for his church to do. Its time to repent and come together as one before Him. It is time to raise up another political third party. One that will reflect the true mixture of all cultures and people groups, and that wants to make America a great nation under GOD. Its time we join Hands and Hearts and turn to Godly principles, morals and leadership. Mitt Romney was a compromise for many Christians. NO more compromise Church! We need to be the LIGHT in The DARKNESS over this country. We need to be the SALT and Light to those confused, lost,have not idea, are hopeless and without a future. We Have the truth, and the wisdom of Holy Spirit. We should be the ones recruiting people of character. We have the resources to build strong and effective leaders that everyone can vote for, and not have to compromise.

Was Slavery a Blessing or a curse?

A paradox is a statement or concept that contains conflicting ideas in logic. There are many situations that might be considered paradoxical in nature in the US. Let’s take for e.g. the concept of slaver being considered a blessing. I for one am grateful that my forefathers were brought to the West Indies. I’m glad for my mixed heritage. I love the curry chicken and goat that I got from my East Indian heritage, and the jerk, fry rice and seasoning that I got from my Asian Heritage. Some African Americans I know are glad their forefathers were brought to USA. Now they are 4 generation Americans. I know people of African descent, who are glad to be called Cuban, Brazilian,Caribbean. Yes! They were brought from the mother country as slaves. Today we see a variety of black features, skin color, varying texture of hair, and languages. Africans were taken around the world as slaves. Today the end result, we have many nations of black people living through out the world, and not just on the continent of Africa. So was slavery of Africans a blessing or a curse? Another paradoxical situation is our present president. He seems to be a loving, devoted family man, father, and good husband. Paradoxically he promotes brokenness in women. Wounding from emotional scars, haunting memories for something they were encouraged to do when they were young. Since the president says it is a law, and acceptable to allow young girls to make these hard, harsh decisions, without even their parents knowing about it. I wonder if he would allow his two lovely daughters to have abortions, without telling him or his wife. It is a paradox to see how he enjoys being a husband, father and role model. But he promotes families of children to be raised with the absence of two parents. Science tells us we need 2 pairs of genes, a male and female to create a human being. Yet he teaches kindergartners that a family can consist of two people who cannot procreate or reproduce themselves. Even the the animal Kingdom knows instinctively what to do to procreate. Today many are wondering was it a blessing or a curse to have voted for our first African American President. Was it payback for all the years of slavery? will we live to regret that after years of injustice to African Americans in this country that this is the time of reckoning. Will it be a blessing to America or a curse?

Why do some people say " I don't see color?"

Some of my friends like to tell me I don't see color. They think it is a complement. Its their way of saying, "I accept you I'm not bias or prejudice." I read someones comment that, "love does not see color." I think I should inform my friends that they are wrong, if they are not seeing color. Unless they are color blind, they should see in color. E.g the colors of the rainbow,flowers, creation and people. When you Love you embrace all colors, in all of its glory and splendor. You look for its beauty, harmony and contribution to the array of other colors that the creator of variety, and color meant for us to enjoy. When you acknowledge its existence, you are being loving. God sees our color and our differences, therefore we need to see as God sees. When a colored person hears a person say," I don't see color!" its an insult to their uniqueness. If you wish to make someone feel accepted that they exist, then you need to see them for who they are, do not eliminate their variety, uniqueness or difference. "Variety is the spice of life" that is a saying that people sometimes acknowledge but don't really understand. Guys, I'm only referring to God's variety, which keeps our universe in harmony. I'm not referring to variety that sin, mankind and the devil has created and wants us to see as beautiful. After Noah's flood God sent the rainbow to remind mankind of His covenant. Today the rainbow has been stolen by the devil to represent something God says will not be allowed into heaven. Don't confuse God's purity of colors and variety with the Devils version. It is not the same. God's design of variety was originally pure, without spot or blemish, that variety is what we need to celebrate love and cherish. Let's celebrate each other's uniqueness and see all of God's creation as special in His eyes, and therefore special to His body.

Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah 2 Jewish Holy Days

Today is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, a day of fasting and repentance, affording man the opportunity to cleanse himself of his sins and renew his relationship with God. Sept 16th Rosh Hashanah marked the start of the Jewish New year. Which is both a day of judgment for mankind, as well as an exhilarating time of closeness and reconciliation with God. Both these Holy days of sweetness and days of atonement are the culmination of a month-long process of coming back to God. Two Holy Days on the Jewish calendar. I've been praying for our Jewish brothers and sisters as God as asked His church, the BODY of Christ ( Who is our Savior and Messiah) to pray for the salvation of the Jews. During our Thursday night Bible Study of the Old Testament, God always forgives the Jews. Every time they repented and came crying to HIM, He would listen and pardon them of their idolatry, ungratefulness & rebellion. God continued to bless them, rescue them form bondage, evil kingdoms and He would give them victory over their enemies. This makes me think of God’s grace which always amazes me. Simply put, grace is God’s unmerited favor. There is nothing we have done, nor anything we could ever do, to deserve it, and this is what makes it so precious—and so amazing! So I'm learning to breathe, to love, to forgive and to bless those who might not deserve it. Let's help each other, lets pray for each other, lets bless each other, let's practice God's mercy and His grace on each other. Let's become willing to give of our self. Let's not just be takers only. Let's learn to be givers of love ,grace and mercy. Now I understand why Jesus asked his family to pray for the Jews. They are his family and He loves them unconditionally, just as He loves us unconditionally. He wants us to be one with them and with Him. Happy Yom Kippur brothers and sisters, remember we too are the children of God. BUT unlike our Jewish brothers and sisters, we have been bought with a price,with the precious blood of the Lamb of God.

Will a Mormon do this? What do we know about them?

It is said that chess is a game that Kings, generals and policy makers play.It often reflects the strategy used by leaders to play the little man, ( the pawn) and all others subjects, to their advantage. The ultimate goal is for one ruler to conquer take over win the game having the entire kingdom under its control. We have seen through out history this game of chess played out when ever a group needed to be conquered “In politics and sociology, divide and rule (derived from Latin: divide et impera) (also known as divide and conquer) is a combination of political, military and economic strategy of gaining and maintaining power by breaking up larger concentrations of power into chunks that individually have less power than the one implementing the strategy. The concept refers to a strategy that breaks up existing power structures and prevents smaller power groups from linking up.” Today in 21st Century US we are once again being played. Now the church is the one being divided in order to conquer. 1. Get us to disagree about our beliefs. 2. Widen the color divide. We all know Sunday morning in America is still the most racially divided time. All the ethnic groups go to their place of worship. Blacks especially go to Black churches and whites go to white churches. 3. Now we have a new divide, should we allow a Mormon to represent us in Government? ONE thing we KNOW about CULTS in America they are consistent, predictable, they are motivated to follow certain basic rules and regulations in order to remain in their cult. Christians KNOW Jesus is the son of God and that He is the only way to salvation. Christians know Mormons are recruiting with a false doctrine, and they will continue to do that. So the BIG question is: Will a Mormon in the white house bring his cult, his religion to impose his beliefs on all of us? Can we trust a Mormon to not make permanent laws that we cannot reverse ? Can we trust a Mormon not to appoint radical supreme court judges who will take God out of every thing we hold sacred? Can we trust a Mormon NOT to turn this nation over to the Atheist and make this a Godless nation? Can we trust a Mormon to allow religious freedom as we know it, and understand it according to our constitution? Can we trust a Mormon to understand the biblical mandate the church has, to always pray for Gods people, and to stand with His chosen nation? Can we trust a Mormon? OR do we say no to the Mormon because we are divided, and say yes because our other choice is the first black to hold this office? Are we going to let PRIDE go before destruction? Let our PRIDE guide our vote? OK Let's just say yes to CHANGE! Go ahead and change all laws we hold near and dear. Take away our freedom as we know it. Impose on us rules and regulations that we will have to go to jail for if we speak out against it. Let's just go ahead stay divided and make choices based on party and color loyalty. Just remember if you don’t choose you will still have chosen, silence means consent. I suggest stop asking man's opinion seek God's wisdom. “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate. 20 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Church TRUST the God of Abraham Issac & Jacob. Trust Jesus and Holy Spirit. Let His wisdom Guide your heart and your mind.

Politics, money and lies to African Americans in United States of America.

Politics, money and lies to African Americans in United States of America. Politics and money have always been at the root of the lies to Africans Americans in the US. From the 16th Century Africans were lied to. Politics and money took Europeans to the West coast of Africa. There they lied and captured African men, women and children to become slaves, live stock, and property. In the United States Politics and money classified Africans as a 3/5 persons: "Article I, Section. 2 [Slaves count as 3/5 persons] Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons [i.e., slaves]" Then came the civil rights struggle, the killing of a true African American leader Dr. King. Another lie to African Americans, when African Americans thought the civil rights movement was an open door to opportunity, and that they would be equal in the eyes of white America. The biggest insult, degradation, of an entire race of a people group, the new lie, "We will support your cause, but you must include gays as a civil rights group." So now an entire nation of people would not be recognized for their years of struggles, which should have been their rightful heritage, Now, African Americans were to be classified the same as 1% of the population, whose struggle was based on their sexual orientation and choice. Now the African American nation has been reduced to equality with a sexual behavior. First you are considered non-human, now you really are not significant, unless you declare yourself gay. In 2012 what is the lie of money and politics? We need to vote for, give allegiance to the first African American president, because his mother was a white American, so this qualifies him as a black American??? Nothing in our presidents’ history relates to and of the African Americans struggle for 400 years in this country. Those whose ancestors died to be considered equal to a white man, a Jew, an Asian, anyone, just the right to be treated equal as a human being. The new lie of money and politics, is that this president whose Kenyan (East African) daddy impregnated a white American woman, is the First African American President. His ancestors did not go through slavery or civil rights or understand any of the struggles the African American experience. Truth is told his knowledge of America comes from his white ancestors. So we could have voted for a white male or female as president. Money and politics support him because he will be able to sell African Americans the lie that they have a Representative in the White house. Another lie that African Americans are being told is that you should compromise your faith, beliefs and theology Just close your eyes and faith and support your first African American President. Vote for him while he takes away religious freedom, and labels you a bigot, if you say God does not support gay marriage or abortion. Another lie of money and politics is that it is politically correct to hate your bother and sister in the faith, who dare to disagree with this African American President and his politics. Who is the father of LIES ? He is having a BLAST watching the body of Christ in the US, fight over this African American President. Instead of fighting for us to be one as Christ and the Father are one.

God's First Family

God’s example of family life was the example of Mary and Joseph.
We just celebrated our annual Christmas season. Some gave gifts to loved ones in memory of the greatest gift that was ever given to mankind.
The gift exchange often times becomes the main focus of this season, rather than the family and loved ones we should cherish and celebrate.
Today, I listened to a sermon from Saddleback Church on "disappointment." It was very inspiring and gave me a new perspective on family, and even how God picked the ideal family to place Himself. God's First Family was Mary and Joseph.
God chose a virgin who was engaged to be married, and even though Mary was already engaged she was not getting "some on the side" Luke 1:26-38 Secondly, God picked Joseph who was engaged to Mary. He was a righteous man, honorable and definitely obedient to God’s word. Matthew 1:18-24 Joseph listened and obeyed the word of the Lord. He was not a procrastinator, he acted without delay. Joseph was willing to take steps of faith according to the word of God, spoken to him by angels and Mary. He was a businessman, hard working and able to take care of his family. Before he became her husband he protected Mary’s reputation. They both trusted God to provide as they went into hiding. Joseph was asked to deny his personal desires as a newly married man, for the greater good. So,he kept Mary pure until the baby was born. Then He raised the King of Kings with his wife,and taught him his trade as a carpenter. Mary and Joseph stayed in the background, they did not out shine the Lord of Lords. Both Joseph and Mary trusted and obeyed God and lived in harmony in their obedience to Him. Seeing Mary and Joseph in this way was a new revelation and it gave me hope. I have new hope for my family that together we will obey the word of the Lord. I have hope for other families and friends, who obey the Lord. TODAY I write this to encourage young families, to raise their children as Mary and Joseph did. I would like to encourage new families to pray and allow Holy Spirit to guide you as you resist trends, traditions, culture, and peer pressure in raising your children. I pray that you will be as Mary and Joseph, God's First Family live in obedience to His word with guidance and counsel of Holy Spirit.