A Memorial Day Prayer May, 2012

 

LORD BLESS OUR SOLDIERS , PRESERVE AND PROTECT THEM AND COVER THEM WITH THE BLOOD OF JESUS!   For Christ’s sake.  AMEN

 

Psalm 91

¹ Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.^[a]
2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”

³ Surely he will save you
from the fowler’s snare
and from the deadly pestilence.
⁴ He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
⁵ You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
⁶ nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.
⁷ A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
⁸ You will only observe with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.

⁹ If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
and you make the Most High your dwelling,
¹⁰ no harm will overtake you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
¹¹ For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
¹² they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
¹³ You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

¹⁴ “Because he^[b] loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
¹⁵ He will call on me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.
¹⁶ With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”

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A TRIBUTE TO GENE McGUIRE FROM CAFE SOZO! MAY, 2012

It’s the most amazing thing.  I was born again and heard about a man from Virginia; whom I did not know who wrote faith letters to people.  I begged the lady that pointed me to Jesus (among st many others) to ask him to put me on his mail list.  He did so…that was over ten years ago.  Who knew that he …Gene…would inspire me to writing about God.   It’s  funny because like many others,,,”I thought” that writing for God would be boring!   It wasn’t.  Gene showed me that.  Gene writes on the Wisdom of God; a subject so vital to most Christians ; that in a stroke of great deception…most generally don’t realize it is the ONE THING that they need to pray for daily. 

At some point, Gene came to meet my husband and myself and while he literally is the main contributor for this site…his site..he contributes massively to the other 7 Cafe Sozo sites; and most of the time he doesn’t know it.  But, he does not mind\ mind.  He’s Blessed a lot of people and he is passionate about six  things:  God, singing, poetry, his family, his pastor  and politics!   I probably left something out.  He is a great, man of character and integrity!    I am proud to call him a friend and if Cafe Sozo ever becomes famous…it would be because of him.  Please, if you know him or even if you don’t take time out to tell him how much you appreciate his kindness, support and thoughtfulness…I’m honored to do that now!

In case you did not know, Gene McGuire is a FIVE YEAR BLOGGER!   That’s quite a feat

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More On Cafe Sozo…

Cafe Sozo began five years ago.  There was no budget.  There was only one plan.  That plan was to spread the Gospel.  The web designer who quit on us…said we’d be “lucky” to get 30,000 hits in 3 years.  Our site reached one million and began to decline.  What we’ve found is that we need to invest more in our sites in order to grab market share, draw steady traffic, minister, give feedback and to stay current.  We have seen people come and go and we have never quit.

Now, we find ourselves at an impasse…fighting stagnancy or making a choice to embrace growth!   WE HAVE DECIDED TO EMBRACE GROWTH TO FULFILL OUR VISION.

We need your support!

Please know that there must be a spiritual Christian presence on the Internet.  Certainly the Love of God, the mercy, the Wisdom, the grace and the peace is present. However, the dark side of things, the evil side of things, the deceptive, and confusing is also present as well as distractions.  So, though there aren’t many studies to give one statistics on the numbers of Faith Bloggers who have quit, changed their course or been distracted or disrupted through no fault of their own; I have seen it!  There are no statistics to tell you how many abandoned blogs there are on the Internet…thousands.

So we have persevered and now

It’s been over 6 years, since we opened up this website!   A lot has happened and a lot has changed.  We took the words of Jesus quite seriously…

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¹⁸ And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

¹⁹ Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

²⁰ Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.  Matthew 28

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Since we had no resources, we took to the Internet.  There is a long story that I have about a well meaning web designer who bowed out at the last minute.  Then, the Holy Spirit literally led me to a Blog and of course, the rest is proof of what God can do.  Not any of us.

Our original plan was to put up a website so that we could spread the Gospel and to raise funds to aid Christian writers (whom we have seen greatly struggle to fund their own books.)  The truth be told I would love to see MORE successful writers begin to fund the less fortunate.  On this journey, we discovered ministers, evangelists, ministries, prophets, teachers, intercessor’s;  with many struggling to fulfill their hearts desire to go into all of the world to preach, teach and baptize in the Nam of Jesus.

We still believe in that mission, but we have discovered on this journey a greater mission.  That mission is in meeting the needs of the readers who visit this site.  That is a fact.  People write for prayers, but we haven’t the staffing to answer them all.  The sites are not technically updated.  For example we have not been able to upload mp3′s on all of our sites because it is not free.  In fact, the appearance of the site we would like to change, but the cost is TIMES EIGHT because we have 8 sites and we are working on doing that.  We would like to put the sites under an easier domain name and roll all eight sites into one; but right now we are working this out…slowly.

We ask for your support prayerfully, financially and by coming by to give us feedback.  We reached a pinnacle of over two million readership; which is tapering off because we have not offered the technological tweaks that fuels activity at the sites.

So, in the grand  plan…we see ourselves moving towards increasing our readership and meeting all of our objectives.  We plan to add a PAY PAL Donation button and to begin a fundraising campaign for site maintenance and expansion.

Matthew 5:16 ESV / 221 helpful votes

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

The Getaway! by Gene McGuire May 13, 2012

STEPPING OUT IN FAITH IS WHAT THE LORD WANTS US TO DO!

 

 “. . .and the feet of the priests who bore the Ark [of the Lord] dipped in the edge of the water. . . . that the waters which came down from upstream stood still . . .” (Joshua 3:15, 16)

 

 

COMMENT: Everyone is aware of how God dried up the Red Sea so that the Israelites could get away from the Egyptians. We see it every year around Easter when one of the TV networks puts on ” The Ten Commandments”. But if I were a gambling man, I would bet that many of us may not be aware of a similar miracle God performed at another body of water. The Israelites were ready to claim the territory God had promised to them; but there was one problem. . .the Jordan River. And, of course, wandering on dry land in the wilderness for 40 years, they didn’t need nor had any canoes among their possessions. As our Lead Scripture indicates, God instructed the priests to take the Ark of the Lord and walk into the Jordan River which was overflowing at the time. Unlike the miracle at the Red Sea, the priests had to demonstrate their faith while the waters were flowing swiftly. I would suspect that may be the situation that spawned the term “Stepping out in faith”. Oftentimes we come face to face with situations that our senses and our emotions tend to resist what God’s Word tells us or what the Holy Spirit is prompting us. Let’s be like the Israelite priests and step out in faith regardless of what it seems like.

 

SCRIPTURE STUDY:Psalm 23:4, Isaiah 54:17 and Romans 8::37

 

 WISE SAYING: CIRCUMSTANCES MERELY PROVIDE US WITH THE OPPORTUNITY TO REVEAL THE EXTENT OF OUR FAITH IN THE PROMISES OF GOD.

Sincerely Yours, Gene McGuire   

 

TAKE THE FAITH ROAD! by GENE MCGUIRE APRIL 30, 2012

 “And do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Romans 12:2)

 

COMMENT: The other day I looked at the”American Scene” in the Washington Times Newspaper. Just for the fun of it, I decided to find out the ratio between good and bad news. Out of 23 different articles, only 9 were positive, the rest depicted crimes, natural disasters and terrorism. I had a relative in Detroit who had been nicknamed “411″ (Information). She was “addicted” to TV news. During the day she listened to every newscast she could and even went to bed with that one-eyed monster on, fearing that she might miss some “important” happening. I am sorry to say that she was a very fearful person; since September IIth she wouldn’t fly in planes and the fear of being the recipient of “road rage” curtailed her driving. Our world continually bombards us with fearful images. As Christians, it is imperative that we renew our minds with God’s Word and try to minimize our exposure to the anxiety-provoking rhetoric of the world. (Well, some of you may be taunting me with: “Gene, you mention a lot about things from the Newspapers in the daily “Thoughts”. Aren’t you being a little hypocritical?”) Yes, I do subscribe to the “Post” and the “Times”, but I am very selective about what I ponder. Just as faith is the evidence of things hoped for, fear is the evidence of things dreaded. What was that which Job said? “That which I have feared has come upon me. And what I dreaded has happened to me.” (Job 3:25)

SCRIPTURE STUDY: Joshua 1:9, 2 Timothy 1:7 and 1 John 4:18

WISE SAYING: WITH THE WORD OF GOD YOU MIND’S RENEWED, WITH THE WORDS OF THE WORLD IT IS SUBDUED. (gene mcguire)

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Get Smart! by Gene McGuire January, 2012

RE: READING THE NEW TESTAMENT IN 30 DAYS

     I read half of today’s assignment this morning and I am attacking the second half this evening. I am really excited about reading larger portions of God’s Word at one setting. I am getting much more out of this method than my usual daily reading.

“TRY IT, YOU’LL LIKE IT”

Gene

p.s.  Here is our guiding principle for the New Year:

“DAILY DELVE INTO THE WORD OF GOD IN 2012″

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“Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us; we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.” (2 Cor. 5:20)

COMMENT: This world is not our home; we are ambassadors of Christ. Our situation is similar to the condition we had when the Soviet Union was intact. Although we were enemies, each country exchanged emissaries. Suppose the American ambassadors became so enthralled with socialism and autocratic rule that they embraced that philosophy rather than democracy. That can be likened to Children of God who live in this world when they adopt or continue in the sinful ways of this world. This planet is just our temporary home; you might say it’s a “stop over”. In the Army, we used to call this TDY (Temporary Duty). Our home is Heaven. We represent Jesus and those in the world should see Jesus in us and want to emulate us and receive Him as Lord and Savior also. 

SCRIPTURE STUDY: Matthew 5:13-16 and 2 Cor. 3:2&3 

WISE SAYING: I’D RATHER SEE A SERMON THAN TO HEAR ONE ANY DAY. I’D RATHER ONE WOULD WALK WITH ME, THAN MERELY SHOW THE WAY.

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Innocently Cheating! by Gene McGuire January 31, 2012

“The integrity of the upright will guide them….” (Proverbs 11:3a) 

 

 

COMMENT: Since, in these daily messages, I often tell you about some of my indiscretions, I feel I have the liberty to relate to you an incident in my life that demonstrates how the Lord is changing me. Some time ago I picked up a CVS/Pharmacy advertisement and  was delighted to see that a particular vitamin that I needed was on sale. By purchasing  one bottle, the second one was free. I made a list of other needs and hurried over to CVS. I was surprised to see that they did not have a sign on the vitamins indicating the sale, but that didn’t stop me.  As The cashier was ringing everything up, I saw that she had not given me the second bottle of vitamins free. I told her about her mistake and she made the correction. When I got home, I realized that I didn’t get the sales price on the Fixadent I had also purchased. I searched the advertisement I had used and discovered that the sales were for the previous week. I suspect the cashier simply took my word since I was a regular customer and she trusted me. Now the “old Gene” would have said: “Well, I made a mistake but no one is hurt; CVS has plenty of money, they won’t miss it!” However, I am a changed man regarding such matters and I immediately went back to the store and returned the “loot”. Isn’t it great when ”practicing righteousness” becomes second nature without giving it a second thought?

 

SCRIPTURE STUDY: Romans 12:2,  2 Corinthians 3:17,18 and James 1:22

 

WISE SONG LYRICS: HE’S STILL WORKING ON ME, TO MAKE ME WHAT I OUGHT TO BE. IT TOOK HIM JUST A WEEK TO MAKE THE SUN AND MOON, THE EARTH AND STARS, JUPITER AND MARS. OH HOW PATIENT HE MUST BE. . . .HE’S STILL WORKING ON ME.

Guilty or Not Guilty? by Gene McGuire January 30, 2012

 “Except the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. . . .” (Psalm 127:1)

 

COMMENT: There are some TV commercials that need to be “sacked” while there are others I really like because they can readily be used to illustrate a spiritual principle. One of the latter is the Nationwide Insurance TV commercial which features a gentleman driving a car in which he had evidently programmed his onboard navigational system to tell him how to reach his destination. You hear the devise directing him to turn this way and that way and he immediately obeys each command without a second thought. Finally he is astonished as his vehicle crashes into a store! The world system in which we live is continually giving us instructions as to how to live our lives. Here are just a couple: “He did you wrong, GET EVEN!”, “Pre-marital sex is okay, everyone is doing it.”and “All the church wants is money, money, money. It is hard enough living on !00%;  how can you possible give a tithe and live on the 90% that is left?” When we decide to follow these worldly directives, it is equivalent to building a sand castle too close to the water’s edge. It’s inevitable that the tide will flow in and cause disastrous results. 

 

SCRIPTURE STUDY: Proverbs 3:6 and 12:7, Romans 12:2

 

WISE SAYING: TO BE WORLDLY MINDED IS DEATH – TO BE WORD MINDED IS LIFE IN ABUNDANCE..