How To Serve a 7-Course Meal: Utilizing the Fruits of the Spirit

TODAY'S MENU

Appetizer: Meekness

Soup: Faithfulness
Salad: Goodness
Sorbet: Gentleness

Meat #1: Longsuffering & Self-Control

Meat #2: Love
Dessert: Joy & Peace

*Meekness is the feeling of patience and submissive humbleness

*Faithfulness is thought of as trust; belief; even hope in something

* Goodness is the best part of anything; essence; strength

*Gentleness refers to being soft and mild

*Longsuffering is long, patient endurance of insult, abuse, or mistreatment

*Self-Control is the ability to set up boundaries for one’s self; the ability of a person to exert their will over the inhibitions of their body or self

*Love is strong ineffable feelings to another person or thing

*Joy is the unconditional state of mind that accompanies fellowship with God

*Peace is a state of balance and understanding; where one is at their highest point of serenity

WELCOME TO "HIS" RESTAURANT

Scriptural Photography

Christians+R+US Magazine presents Scriptural Photography by photographer Cary Goodman

We know that photos are taken to preserve memories and at other times to tell a story. Journey with us as we bring the scripture to life in the form of modern day photography.

Christians+R+Us Magazine Presents: Heavenly Verses

A Mother’s Tears

By Rebecca L. Moyers

Come here my son

And rest your head

Please use my shoulder

For your bed

You look so tired

With furrowed brow

Come rest your mind

Try some how

Your troubles are many

Your burden great

Come rest my son

The world can wait

For even kings

Need time to rest

You’ve worked so hard

And done your best

She held her son

And while he slept

She kissed his brow

And Mary wept

Musook Mania: Music & Book Reviews for Today's Believers

MUSIC

Ricky Dillard & New G are on the rise to something greater than stardom. They are taking not only the world, but the Gospel charts by storm. Dillard’s latest CD The 7th Episode: Live in Toronto is everything fans and newly introduced listeners sought after. Its upbeat modern groove, mixed with experienced choir vocals and musical effects will leave your spirit feeling free, fresh, and on fire for God. Dillard’s newly released CD is a must have for believers all over the world. Not only can Ricky Dillard & New G be found at the top of hit lists everywhere, but they can also be found on the popular site myspace.com at myspace.com/newgchorale. If you don't know, now you know! Pick it up and enjoy.

BOOK

Having trouble liking and appreciating who God made you to be? Looking for an encouraging word and a mental boost? How about stimulating your spirit and your brain with Paula White’s recently released book “You’re All That!”. Paula White wants you to “Understand God’s Design for Your Life”. Many times we tend to question God. We may even ask Him, what is my purpose? Why am I here? Well , allow Paula to enlighten you as God uses her mind and her hands to orchestrate a phenomenal must read. “You’re All That” can be found almost anywhere including www.paulawhite.org, amazon.com, or even your local Christian book store.

I Now Pronounce You Man & Christ: Helping Men Build an Intimate Relationship with God

Written By Eric C. Blanding/Edited By: Shonda Renee' Porter

When I was first asked to write a piece on intimacy between God and Man, my first thought was, why would a man be intimate with God? I most certainly love and care deeply for God, but for me, at the time, intimacy was something that I would save for my significant other. As I thought on the subject more, I began to realize that my most intimate times are with God. Let us first define intimacy. One meaning reads: a close, familiar, and usually affectionate or loving personal relationship with another person or group. Another definition reads: …the quality of being comfortable, warm, or familiar: the intimacy of the room. Yet another continues by stating that intimacy is privacy, especially as suitable to the telling of a secret. These are all very interesting meanings indeed. As a man, the word intimacy screams of femininity. Most men, me included, wouldn’t put themselves in that category when referring to God because of our masculinity. While examining the meaning of intimacy and my own relationship with God, I have come to a conclusion. I strive to be closer to God; He is as familiar to me as my mother who birthed me. I love Him dearly, pray to Him and thank Him whenever His goodness crosses my mind; I beg Him for forgiveness and long to live forever in His kingdom. There is no one in the world I feel more comfortable with sharing everything that goes on in my life, the good and the bad. Isn’t it ironic how God knows all of our secrets, but we share them with Him anyway? That is apart of relationship building and the intimacy between God and man.

Thinking more on my intimacy with God, I take into account the times where I have cried rivers of tears when I have talked with God. If I had never revealed it today, no one outside of me and Him would know this. I have no shame at all with falling to my knees and thanking God for everything He has done for me. I have no fear of Him seeing me cry like a baby and begging him to forgive me for my shortcomings. I gladly give money out of my pocket to support his places of worship. I sing songs of joy and praise when He fills my soul. As men, we sometimes worry about how other men will look at us if they see us cry or on our knees praying and saying how much we love God. There is something inside a man that deceives them on a daily basis, and that is called pride. The same pride that caused Lucifer (Satan) in Isaiah 14:12-15 to fall from Heaven and be damned to walk in the Earth with a sentence of 1000 years in hell upon the return of Jesus Christ. It is foolish that we don’t want other men to see us form a relationship with God intimately because we may be looked at as weak or feminine.

I remember when I worked at call center a few years back; a few of the women whom sat around me started a small prayer group and would have prayer before work or during breaks. There were a few men present, I included, and sometimes a group member would give a small testimony. There were times I wanted to testify so badly, but I feared how the men in the group would look at me. This is when God stepped in, one of the men from the group came forward and testified until he was in tears, and it felt so good that it brought me to tears as well. Because God knew my heart and caters to my every desire that is in His will, He allowed that move to take place in the spirit. No I was not dotting every “I” or even crossing every “T”. If you had asked me at the time, I would have told you that I definitely wasn’t where I needed to be in God, but He saw fit to bless me with that experience anyway. When I left that day I thought a lot about that experience. I thought about the fact that the guy that gave that testimony showed way more power than I could ever have shown. I admired his relationship with God and him as a man, to love God and not be ashamed to let anyone know. I longed to not be ashamed to cry, to not care what anyone thought, to focus on God and I only. As I sit here and write this piece, I can feel him working inside of me. Yes, I long for a closer relationship with God. Each day that I move forward is a day that I thank God for all he has done. Sometimes it seems so hard to be thankful for the small things; God spoils us a lot, and when we don’t get what we want we tend to sulk. We need to be consistent and committed in this relationship. We can’t thank Him for some and not the other. We must remember even to thank Him for the strength just to get up out of the bed every morning. These are the little things that go unnoticed. Being thankful is surely apart of the equation to intimacy. Let us not think of intimacy as only being sweet kisses from our spouse, but more of closeness, a relationship, that means more than anything else. As men, we need this strength and understanding from God just as He needs us to be his loyal servants. Remember that God would NEVER be ashamed of us, therefore we should never be ashamed to show our love for Him. We can still be the strong, proud men that we are, but without God, we are nothing.

How to Deal with Unruly Children

'HOW TO LIVE A STRESS-FREE KINGDOM WALK'

Written By:Shonda-Renee' Porter

Many of us have to deal with unwanted behaviors, attitudes, and actions from our children. How do you handle it? No one gave us a book on how to raise a child, but no one said that we couldn't write one either. Although we are not presenting a book today, allow us to give you a few helpful pointers that can take away some unnecessary stress.

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#1-Pray
The Bible says that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. You need to develop a healthy prayer life. Prayer can cure anything. Prayer helps you to focus on a main point and simply relax as you let it all go. Imagine that when you pray you have a prayer bubble that appears over your head when you begin to reverence God. Everything that you need to “talk” (also known as pray) to God about gets put into that bubble. Let out all your cares into this bubble and as you say Amen, think of the bubble leaving you along with those cares. That bubble is now floating up to Heaven to beseech the ears of the Father through His son Jesus Christ .

#2-Be Aware
Don’t simply expect your child to be mature enough and trained enough to follow directions and not push you to your limit. Be aware of normal childhood behaviors and developmental growth based on your child’s age. What you the parent may feel is inappropriate may actually be age appropriate behavior. We are guided by doctors and curiosity to track the developmental growth of our babies during our pregnancy. We learn what to expect from doctors, family, friends, parents, literature, and internet sources. Why is it that as the child grows we tend to stray away from tracking growth and development, whether it be physical, or behavioral? Breathe, there are resources out there that will walk you through age appropriate developments for your infant, toddler, and adolescent. Maybe it’s time you stop thinking that your children are trying to push you to your limit. Have you ever considered expanding your limit. This can be done with out losing respect and control . Try it!

#3-Ask Questions
Respect your child enough to be considerate of their emotions. Get on your child’s level if they are younger or sit down with them if they are older and ask questions. It’s ok to ask them “are you angry? Why are you angry? Do you think this is a good choice? Could you have reacted a different way?” Make them think, allow them to talk, and you listen. Use this time to try and understand your child’s point while calmly explaining your expectations, rules, and reasons for making the decision that may have upset them. Anger isn't the only emotion, so make sure you ASK questions!

#4-Follow Through
As the parent, develop a plan for discipline and FOLLOW through with it. Don’t just punish your child. Explain to them why the punishment, grounding, or restriction is in affect so that they seriously think about what they did. Don’t give an unfair punishment if it is not needed. Sometimes we tend to abuse our parental authority and try to make the children miserable because we need a break. Don’t do that. Put yourself in their shoes and truly judge if the punishment is appropriate and will ultimately teach your child a valuable lesson.

Who's on Your Godpod?

Written By: Shonda-Renee' Porter

In 1 Timothy 6:10 the word of God states that the love of money is the root of all evil. My question to you is what about the love of music? I see so many people claiming to be believers that listen to everything imaginable. Honestly, tell me how is it that you can listen to praise and worship and experience a move of God in your car, and as soon as the next song comes on it’s “not your song”, and you then change it over to a secular station if there is no other inspirational station available? You find yourself flip-flopping with the stations and ultimately F’n and F’n ( flipping and flopping) with your spirit.

Moving on to our iPods, it’s the same scenario. We are given the ability to download anything that we want that we deem as our good music or simply a hit. After a while we have downloaded a little R&B, a little Gospel, a little Pop, a little Contemporary Worship, and a little bit of everything else. We feel that we have really created a noble collection full of great music. Then when questioned we say, ’hey I just love music. I know the difference. This has nothing to do with my salvation.’

Oh have you my friend been deceived. Deceived by the father of deception and iniquity itself. You don't have to be a theologian to understand that the ex-chief of music was Lucifer. Yes the same Lucifer whose name is now Satan, or maybe you know him as the devil. Ring a bell? Well clearly I referred to him as the “ex” chief musician. Satan was nothing short of a fool. He held the job of chief musician in Heaven and was even said to be one of God’s most handsome angels. God esteemed him in his own right, but none could be esteemed above God and this is where Lucifer messed up. He thought that he could exalt himself higher than God in the Heavens. His pride which is iniquity, which is also sin, got in the way. God had to shut him down and cast him and his “friends” (the other rebellious angels) out of Heaven. What I am getting at is that you must be careful. The devil is familiar with music and its power to create an atmosphere and change of emotions. Emotional and atmospheric changes both affect your spirit. The words and emotions of the songwriter and musicians are transferred to you when you listen. No matter what the type of music. What are you really downloading into God’s dwelling place?

As children of God we must be cautious as to what we willingly allow to take manifest in our spirit man. Our body is flesh indeed; nevertheless, it is still not our own. Your body is the dwelling place of your spirit in which God himself takes residence. The choices we make concerning our body physically and mentally all have an affect on our spirit. This is the same spirit which has a direct connection to God the Father.

Many times we make excuses for the things that we do, not just to our body, but in regards to life. Often we feel that just because God gave us the freedom to choose His will or our own, that it is okay to opt for our own. When will we allow our will to be lost in His? What gives us the audacity to choose such a fate when we know Him personally or at least acknowledge that fact that there really is a God. When will we as Christians get on one accord and stand for righteousness and nothing less? Stop making Satan’s work easy! Set yourselves apart and fiill your spirit with the things of God. What is on your Godpod? As I depart I leave this one decree, and that is that Grace and Peace be multiplied unto you.