Today I want to talk about fasting. It’s not something that most people ever consider. You can say that it’s not clearly commanded in the Bible, but if you take a look you’ll see it comes up more often than you think. in Matthew Jesus says, “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.” Matthew 6:16 Notice here, Jesus says WHEN, not IF. There are many other passages that mention it as well. We might not think it’s specifically addressed but if so, that’s only because it’s assumed we will. So what exactly is fasting? It’s essentially giving up some, or all, kinds of food and drink. You might not think this is possible, but it is! Common fasts are 24 hours, 3 days, and 40… read more
Monthly Archives: October 2011
I struggled with this photo a lot. Bahar didn’t like “the right side of her faceâ€, so when I came home I started Photoshopping the photo, you know, removing bores, scars, and wrinkles, etc. I did this because as a human I am influenced by worldly standards, we are led to believe that we have to be: thin, muscular, tall, clear skin, shinny hair, golden curls, big and bright eyes, long eyelashes, small and straight noses, full lips, etc. But that’s not God’s standards. The Bible says that we are created in God’s image, maybe not physically, but we should accept the way God created us and be grateful for His wonderful handiwork– not be grumbling and ungrateful. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.†Genesis 1:27 Also, our Lord does not judge man according… read more
Next we will discuss “The Religion of Evolution”. First, a definition from Webster`s New World dictionary: Religion – a. A belief in a supernatural power; b. an expression of this belief in conduct or ritual; c. a specific system of belief or worship involving a code of ethics; d. an object that is zealously pursued. Obviously, if you are a creationist, one or more of these definitions would apply to you. You would probably believe that this supernatural power created all things. You should have a code of conduct that you try to make an integral part of your life, as outlined in the Bible, at least for all of us in attendance here. Also, you should also believe that this supernatural power, having created this magnificent universe, also has the power to override what we would call infallible physical laws. These “overrides” are called “miracles” by most people. Does… read more
I know there are some areas in my Christian walk that are still lacking, and it’s frustrating. I want to be 110% sold out for Jesus, but I’m not, and it’s seriously worry’s me, because what does it mean to be a follower of Jesus? It means to be lead by The Spirit, each and every day, but if I’m honest, I don’t always want to be lead by The Spirit. I think that my biggest issue right now is pride, I’m okay with being a follower of Christ, that’s something I want the world to know, but I don’t want people to think I’m weird by trying to tell them about Jesus. Here’s the thing, I’m willing to do a lot of things for Jesus, If He tells me to sell everything and go do missions, sure! If He tells me to give up my current career path for… read more
In the past year there were many tragic cases of teen suicide, so I decide few months ago to write about my experience with depression and suicidal thoughts. I hope this writing will be of help to someone who needs it. Background As you might know I grew up in Iraq to a Roman Catholic family. In the Middle East depression and suicide are almost taboo because of ignorance. Many people equate depression with mental illness (not that mental illness is something to jeer about), and so the general thought patterns goes something like this, “You can’t marry him because his brother has depression and tried to commit suicide once!†To them depression is like bad genes you really don’t want your children to have. So people often times become depressed but don’t tell anyone and don’t get any treatment because they feel ashamed. And if a family member attempted… read more
In this tutorial we will take a look at the smudge tool and how to use it in our Digital Paintings. We will learn what exactly is the Smudge tool? the Settings and examples of uses. [
The end of December 2010 was probably the craziest time of my life. After getting home from Bible school I told God to do whatever He needed so that I could fully live for Him. I found out that is a very dangerous prayer. Through circumstances I was brought to a place where my whole future (that I had planned) was gone. I was left in a broken state and I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t have anywhere to turn but Him. So that’s what I did. I vividly remember curling up into a ball and just crying out for God to take the pain away. It wasn’t a physical pain but it sure felt like it. The next few weeks went by slowly and I didn’t feel like I was making progress in life. But I just kept my focus on God and eventually I began to… read more
Today I’m going to tell you a part of my testimony that I’ve hidden for a long time. I hid it because of pride, guilt, and shame. I hid it because that was exactly what Satan told me to do. That way I’d become a useless Christian immobilized by my own actions. I was ashamed that my life didn’t reflect the promises in Romans 6:6-7 “We know that our old life died with Christ on the cross so that our sinful selves would have no power over us and we would not be slaves to sin. Anyone who has died is made free from sin’s control.†Boy, that sure didn’t reflect my life… You see for more than 10 years (I honestly can’t remember when it began) I had an addiction to pornography and masturbation. These are two of my least favorite words in the world, the very words themselves… read more
Next we will consider the fossil record. If there is anything that can tangibly “prove” the theory of evolution, the fossil record would be the most likely. Fossils can of course be seen, handled, and examined. It has been instilled into this generation that the age of anything can be absolutely proven. As we have seen from our study of the various dating methods, there is very little that is absolute in the `science` of dating. The methods and results are at best questionable. Recent advances in science has shown that there are questions regarding things once thought absolute. I have read that scientists have discovered that the speed of light is slowing down. There is evidence that atomic clocks do not run at a constant rate. They, too, are slowing down. Concerning the fossil record, let me read what a leading scientist has said: “The fossil record reveals the… read more
This past week a group of us watched the message “The Holiness of God†by Francis Chan. It was good and I just thought I’d share some random thoughts from it. The first is this; when you face God, and every one of us will face God, you will be terrified. You won’t be able to do anything else except fall flat on your face, I’m not kidding about this. It will be the most intense moment of your life. Some people go around with a chip on their shoulder, they think that when they face God that He’s going to have to answer some pretty tough questions. You couldn’t be more wrong. Every single person who has faced God has done so terrified for his or her lives. Prophets and even he whom Jesus was closest to (John), those who had lives probably far holier than any of ours,… read more
In this tutorial we will will learn how to use the Transform tools in our Digital Painting projects, we will learn some Tips for Free Transform, Additional Options, Warp option and I will showcase some examples of how you can use these techniques in your work flow.
This week I wanted to look into the idea of God’s will for our lives. Isn’t that what The Church longs to know? What does God want them to do with their life? This was what I was struggling with last week but I’ve figured out why it was going so poorly. The best advice I’ve heard is to stop worrying about God’s will for your life. You see, this isn’t some sort of puzzle that we can figure out by thinking about it. The way God works is by changing you inside so that your entire life is transformed, He doesn’t just give us the answers to life. He never promises us a long-term plan because that would defeat the whole idea of relying on Him daily. You want to know what God wants you to do with your life? What He wants you to do with… read more
Last night something happened that made me contemplate my relationship with our heavenly Father. Here is what happened. My 8 years old nephew, Daniel, asked me to play a cartoon movie for him, so he gave me the name of the cartoon characters and the name of the movie. I went to YouTube and started searching for the movie. As I was going through the pages of the search results Daniel was getting impatient, and every time he saw the cartoon characters on a video thumbnail he pointed to the video and jumped up and down, and every time I went to the next page of results he grew more impatient with me—he wanted to watch the movie now! Finally, I grew impatient with him so I asked him to read what the title of one of the thumbnail he was pointing to said. He read the name of the… read more
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