[ATLian]

First of all, don't waste time with prayer, that stuff doesn't work. If you believe it's god's plan that you go thru whatever issues you're going thru, then you have to believe that he has a plan on how it will end, which can either be good or bad for you. Praying to him to change the grand plan that his infinitely wise mind came up with just so as to suit your simplistic and selfish human needs definitely won't work. If anything it's blasphemeous.

Also, what's the deal with other people saying they will pray for you? That's outright arrogant, it's not like they have more say with god than you, ama they have a direct line to god. Also god is not a capricious god who will be swayed into acting in a certain way just because 10 thao people asked him to act that way. His ways are set, his plans are set, so no amount of prayer will change that. All you can hope for as a believer is that god's plan didn't spell doom for you, coz if it did, no amount of prayer will make him change his mind.

Secondly, forget about the bible, it's gonna tell you to pray and have faith and turn the other cheek but it won't offer a solution to your specific issue. Most people, when their sh*t is thick, pray like there's no tomorrow. However this doesn't change their sh*t from being thick. If anything their sh*t gets thicker coz they waste precious hours praying instead of doing something pro-active.

My advice is be proactive. If it's masomos that are killing you, drop some courses or study harder. If it's finances, start stocking those Wal-Mart shelves at night as a second job. If it's a chic, heck, that's just maisha, cut your losses and move on. etc. I've had issues, but I haven't prayed since my days of forced prayers at Alliance High, and my issues have been resolved. Of course not all issues will be resolved, but I understand that, since this is life and not one of those "they lived happily ever after" Disney fairy tales...

[Sanaa-]

Atlian,

Please if something didn't work for you, don't dismiss it for the other person. You chose to live a life without Christ so please try and not infect a person in distress with your pessism, and bad vibes.

We will pray and continue praying for JC. It has worked for me and will continue to work. Am going through some difficulties of my own and its my faith and prayer that has seen me through.

JC, i added you to my prayer list today, but my dear you have also got to live and act on your faith or else we wont get very far.
Whenever you need to talk, you know where to find me.

Christ says "Wherever two or more are gathered in my name, there I am."

[msapere]

suck it in, take it like a man, am not gonna hold your hand and try to comfort you like them fellow mashadaites. Life is not fair and to expect so will be your undoing. difficulty makes character so snap out of it already.

ps why would you wanna take yourself out, doing somebody`s else work while your plate is full. focus!

[sosodef]

Sanaa,

So i gather what you imply is that as much as you believe in prayers you also believe that God helps those who help themselves???(I,m confused)
I have been very faithless for some time now and i,m just starting to turn things around and working on my faith one day at a time now.I have been there,done that and gone back and forth if you know what i mean.I just figured out if i could be soo empty for soo long and never got one peace of mind,i might as well try to believe in the power of prayer and have faith and see what the lord has in store for me.....so far soo good ,its challenging and i,m not sure if i,m good enough but i,m trying hard ,just one day at a time !!!!!!!!

[ATLian]

>Atlian,
>
>Please if something didn't work for you, don't dismiss it for
>the other person. You chose to live a life without Christ so
>please try and not infect a person in distress with your
>pessism, and bad vibes.

Sanaa, I told him to be proactive, and I gave him practical solutions to his problems, whether it's getting a second job, studying harder, dropping a course, ditching the chic, etc. So I don't get what you mean by "try and not infect a person in distress with your pessism, and bad vibes". How the heck can my positive advice be seen as negative? Just because I didn't include prayer doesn't mean my advice is crap. Assuming his things are thick because he has an exam tomorrow for which he hasn't read - no amount of prayer will make him pass the freaking exam. He needs to study, period. Screw this "god will do the exam for you" crap, it's gonna be you in there solo and if you haven't studied you're screwed.

If I see a chap drowning, I'll throw him a life jacket, not tell him to holla at some deity to save him. Problem with praying is, if someone in distress meets 51 people from 51 different religions who pray to 51 different gods, these 51 people will all advise the person in distress to pray to their various gods for help. Of course that means help won't come forth since most - if not all - of those gods don't exist. So the person in distress will continue wallowing in distress.

If more people thought proactively instead of sulking in a corner and heaping all their problems on their various gods and hoping for a miraculous cure, they'd be a lot less people suffering. That's why I say attack the problem proactively - then later on if it suits you you can praise your deity for miraculously helping you to conquer your problems.

[joeNM]

Psalm 40
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm


I waited patiently for the LORD;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.

3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear
and put their trust in the LORD.

4 Blessed is the man
who makes the LORD his trust,
who does not look to the proud,
to those who turn aside to false gods. [a]

5 Many, O LORD my God,
are the wonders you have done.
The things you planned for us
no one can recount to you;
were I to speak and tell of them,
they would be too many to declare.

6 Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but my ears you have pierced [b] , [c] ;
burnt offerings and sin offerings
you did not require.

7 Then I said, "Here I am, I have come—
it is written about me in the scroll. [d]

8 I desire to do your will, O my God;
your law is within my heart."

9 I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly;
I do not seal my lips,
as you know, O LORD.

10 I do not hide your righteousness in my heart;
I speak of your faithfulness and salvation.
I do not conceal your love and your truth
from the great assembly.

11 Do not withhold your mercy from me, O LORD;
may your love and your truth always protect me.

12 For troubles without number surround me;
my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see.
They are more than the hairs of my head,
and my heart fails within me.

13 Be pleased, O LORD, to save me;
O LORD, come quickly to help me.

14 May all who seek to take my life
be put to shame and confusion;
may all who desire my ruin
be turned back in disgrace.

15 May those who say to me, "Aha! Aha!"
be appalled at their own shame.

16 But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation always say,
"The LORD be exalted!"

17 Yet I am poor and needy;
may the Lord think of me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
O my God, do not delay.

[Jibril Cessay]

Thanx for the support and the encouragements kila mtu. God bless y'all. I even got a suprise call from my pastor who is coming to visit me kesho.

I'm reminded at this moment of Jeremiah 29:12-14 that says:

Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.

And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.

[beste]

You surely need prayer. Of course God is there. The bible does not tell us we shall have paradise on earth, but it assures us that though we move through difficult situations, God is there with us. You must have courage to face the current life on earth. God told Moses "do not fear, for I will be with you." He said similarly to Joshua, "have courage". In the epistles the Lord forewarns us of difficult times to come, not for the non-christians or christians. He only talks of difficult times.
I wish to encourage you to still read the bible without the desire to have it please you but with the absolute believe and realisation that;
God is there
God loves you, he gave his only son so that if you accept him you be saved. Please accept him unconditionally.
God at times allows his people to go through difficult times in preparation for times of refreshing. His timing is not our timing. He allowed the Israelites to suffer in Egypt for 400 years, yet he had promised their father, Abraham, that his offspring will be blessed!

I undertake to pray with you now. Please read the bible daily unconditionally and prayerfully and God will reveal himself to you.
God bless you mightily.
Beste.

[satjas]

hey there,

>Please read the bible daily
>unconditionally and prayerfully and God will reveal himself to
>you.

God is already here.......suppose it is just our ignorance that we cannot acknowledge God.....why would God want to reveal Godself when Godself has already done so? When did you last check God's presence????

What JC needs is not prayer but a smarter approach to his problems.

-the paradigm shifter......God's friend.


The soul is that which beholds beauty even when the mind denies it.

[Jibril Cessay]

I've started the day with the blues once again. It's been a while since I felt depressed. This morning, thoughts of death are overwhelmingly inundating. I had to keep myself indoors for a while, cos I was thinking of either jumping the bridge that leads to the intersection near my house or just plain getting hit by a zooming vehicle. I hope I don't get to work late.

I've hid a few forks from myself so that I don't hurt myself. At the moment, I'm playing some Diana Ross music. It is mellow and comforting.

I feel so alone....it is as though I've been locked up in a fiery furnace and I'm the only one not burning fast enough. The wierd thing is that my whole family is here this summer but I feel worse around them.

Kwanza, jana I got a decent pay-check and I tried in vain to treat folks. I think only Mzee liked his giant bottle of Miller's light and crunchy peanut doughnuts. Mathe didn't feel jack. She only quipped that she hasn't heard 'Rivers of Babylon' by Boney M in several years. I bought her the CD lakini the zero-sum feeling continued...My sis started ujinga of what abt the bills and I asked why she is worried when we always get bills cleared in good time. Sometimes her faithless attitude just makes me wonder why she calls herself a Christians...People in Christ are supposed to live by faith. Everyday we count our blessings....every time we are hit by small troubles we are supposed to rejoice 'knowing faith worketh patience'....I gave her 40 bucks for the Cable Bill and then she said she will see to it that our HBO and other channels are katwaad. I was hoping that I'd have HBO to watch Def-Jam poetry every Friday. I have volunteered to pay for the extra costs of having more TV channels but regardless, she won't budge. What's the point of making money, if it can't be spent to make one's life tolerable??

I think I might just call off work....I might end up bungling up my duties na leo ni siku kuu kwa dept ya inventory.

Oh God! Why do we have to be oscillating through many emotional roller coasters????