Christian Photographers Community

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Morning Devotional...

I'm sharing today what I received from Radio Bible Class.

Been Thinking About:  A Great Imposter
By RBC Ministries President Mart De Haan

I’ve been thinking about a great impostorâ€"one so clever that he deceived even the devil himself.

This master of illusion has turned angels into demons, kings into animals, pastors into predators, and sheep into wolves.

While the elusive deceiver is not a person, it overcomes that problem by borrowing personality from its victims. With no shame, it clothes itself in the thoughts, emotions, and wills of those whose trust it betrays.

What I find troubling is that without realizing it I’ve walked, laughed, and cried with this impostor. I’m learning that he is no fool. He flatters us. He defers to us. He encourages us to develop an exaggerated opinion of our own importance, while at the same time letting us think negative and self-destructive thoughts about ourselves.

This deceiver of deceivers is pride. He has hats for every occasion and masks for every emotion. He has a different voice for every decision. Sometimes he strutsâ€"sometimes he limps.

See if you recognize this great impostor in his own gallery of disguises. See if you agree that what makes “The Prince of Pride” so difficult to track is that he can swagger with self-importance one minute while hiding behind the illusion of humility the next.


Self-defeating Pride
The pride that keeps us from doing better when we are doing well can also keep us from changing when we are in trouble. On a good day, we don’t feel a need to change. When trouble comes, we don’t want people to think we’re changing our ways just because we’re in trouble.


Wounded Pride
The pride that prompts us to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think can also fill us with self-contempt when we don’t live up to our own expectations.


Fearful Pride
The ego that causes us to be overly competitive on some occasions can also keep us from trying at all in other situations. Sometimes pride makes us willing to win at the expense of others. Sometimes it causes us to avoid the embarrassment of possible failure.


Uninhibited Pride
The pride that causes us to be meticulous with our appearance can also cause us not to care what others think of us.


Self-deceiving Pride
The pride that causes us to call attention to other people’s mistakes can lead us to believe we don’t have any reason to be critical of ourselves.


Procrastinating Pride
The arrogance that causes us to think we can change anytime we want can keep us from ever changing at all.


Uncaring Pride
The conceit that allows us to be preoccupied with our own problems can also help us to be oblivious to the pain of others.


Sulking Pride
The pride that keeps us from asking others for help can also cause us to sulk when others are not “there for us.”


Self-introducing Pride
Sometimes to admit pride seems fatal. At other times, saying that we know we are proud is a way of saying we think we have something to be proud about.


Self-berating Pride
The pride that keeps us from admitting we’re wrong can also lead to self-berating behavior that helps us avoid being corrected by others.


Pious Pride
The pride that causes us to be prayerless in our personal life can also prompt us to pray with crowd-pleasing eloquence in public settings.


Overly-talkative Pride
The survival instinct that prompts us to be silent about what is really happening in us can also cause us to dominate conversations and relationships when we don’t want others asking questions.


Slacker Pride
The self-sufficiency that drives workaholics to try to make themselves indispensable can also cause a lazy person to assume that he can be a slacker without consequences.


Tearful Pride
The conceit that causes us to disregard the feelings of others can also cause us to use tears to play on the emotions of others when we want something.


Quiet Pride
The self-interest that causes us to parade our success can also prompt us not to admit our failures.


Contrite Pride
The self-absorption that allows us to protect ourselves at others’ expense can also prompt us to demand forgiveness when we’ve been forced to confess.


Pride isn’t just an excessive opinion of ourselves that acts at the expense of others. Ironically, pride is the ultimate form of self-delusion. If it can’t hit us with a right, it will come at us from the left. If our northern front is strong, it will hit us from the south. If we’re reinforced on the ground, it will attack us from the air.

At least one lesson surfaces. When we understand the strategies of pride that feed on our own human nature, we have that many reasons to get on our knees. When we live unaware of pride’s delusions, we have knees that won’t bend.

Healthy humility might sound like a bitter pill. But taking the attitude of Christ is an antidote for self-destruction. While pride is a sure way to create problems for ourselves, the opposite of pride leaves no regrets. God Himself becomes our satisfaction. “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).

Father, please forgive us for proudly thinking that our interests are more urgent than Your interests, and that our pain is more important than the pain of others. In our clearer moments we realize we have no higher calling than to be “living sacrifices” who think no more and no less of ourselves than You want us to think (Romans 12:1-3).

Wow, Pat.  I ahd never thought about that many different kinds of pride.  Definitely something to ponder.

I, obviously, can't sleep.  I'm very uncomfortable tonight, especially when I lie down.  Only a few more days to do this.  In the words of Bob the Builder, "Can I do this?  Yes, I can!:

Have a great Friday, everyone!!!

Well, Hey there .... Here I am with nothing to say ...  

AL ... You asked about the IRS fiasco ... I have to refile everything "from scratch" because they returned all the papers and said I did not send what they needed.  Actually, I did send everything ... immediately ... but the agent blamed it on her supervisor and said it was not sent within the time limits.  That's okay, though, my attorney says it's probably better this way.  We'll refile and get a different agent!!  We certainly now have all the information they think they need.  The main thing is that I am "upside down" as far as allowable monthly income.  Seems I'm $1700 short of meeting the minimum allowable income.     God is in control ... He will bring all things to pass -- and for good -- in His timing!  I trust in Him explicitly.

Y'all have a wonderful day in the Lord .. I'll be back and may even post again ... who knows.

JANET~ I'm for sure praying for you and Darrel today and for Beth as well.  May God richly bless you all! (that also translates to "y'all")  

Hey there KARMA~Try to get comfortable...and rest.  You'll need all the energy and stamina you can manage in the daze ahead....  Love you.

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Good Morning. Wow Pat I didn't know there were so many  types of pride. Thank you for posting this devotional I am goning to print it out and put it in my Bible as a reminder to check myself out  often.

Last night I posted a Prayer Request in the Prayers and Praise reports regarding Gloria.

It is not good news

TTYL

Good morning.  I feel pretty good, despite my lack of sleep, and my late night wanderings in the forums.  Still rather uncomfortable. 

Happy birthday Cami, Welcome teggie!

I'll go look Marilyn, please know that I'll pray for her (adn you).  Don't work too hard TBear!!

Thanks, Marilyn, for posting in the "Prayer & Praise" folder.  Let's all remember that that's the folder to post requests and thanksgivings in, rather than this one.  And let's all go to that folder often to pray for one another!

Hello Everyone!
I know I have not been around much lately.  I have just been so busy that there has not been much time for the computer.  I am hoping over the weekend I can catch up on all of the readings and then post.  But for now I just wanted it to be known that I have not forgotton you all.  
Karma - I hope you can get a little more comfortable and well rested soon!  Best of luck!
Pat - Excellent devotional this morning, I too have never realized the many different types of pride!
Blessing Everyone,
Carrie

DAN

Thanks Pat....as usual you've given us a lot to think about.  Some of those "prides" sneak in and we are not even aware of it.

I heard this somewhere:  "We wouldn't care how much people thought of us, if we knew how little they did."  We expend a great deal of effort in a needless manner.

Good Morning Everyone...
It's a bright sunny day here in Guelph and I'm going to be spending it down in the basement!  I'd love to go out in it but too much to do and too little time to do it in.

Let's all wish Cami a very Happy Birthday.  I'm sending her a PM to let her know we're having a party in her honour!


Sorry you had a restless night, Karma.  No, it won't be long now.  And then the photos we'll be getting!  Wow!  It's been so long since we've had one of Trav that I'm starting to forget what he looks like!

That's too bad, Jane, that you have to start all over again with the IRS.  But as you say, maybe it's a good thing.  Just wish we didn't have these times but it does bring us closer to our Lord as we must depend on Him more, do you find?

Hi Etta Sue and Al!

TBear, we had quite the foggy day early on this morning as well.  It was foggy all night.  At one point when I was up, I looked out the window and the street lights were barely visible.

Great to see you posting, Carrie.  Hope your mother is doing better.

Thanks Ed!  It sure had me thinking last evening.

Yes, Marilyn...  I printed it out when I got it and that's when I decided to share it here with all of you. 

I'm happy that you all enjoyed today's little devotional on pride.  It's an awful sin.

Well, down to the basement I go.  I just came up for a cup of coffee.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY...

On February 4...

-- 1789, electors unanimously chose George Washington to be the first president of the United States. 

-- 1974: Newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst was kidnapped in Berkeley, Calif., by the Symbionese Liberation Army.

-- 1783: Britain declared a formal cessation of hostilities with its former colonies, the United States of America.

-- 1801: John Marshall was sworn in as chief justice of the United States.

-- 1861: Delegates from six southern states met in Montgomery, Ala., to form the Confederate States of America.

-- 1938: The Thornton Wilder play "Our Town" opened on Broadway.

-- 1941: The United Service Organizations (USO) came into existence.

-- 1945: President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin began a wartime conference at Yalta.

-- 1948: The island nation of Ceylon - now Sri Lanka - became an independent dominion within the British Commonwealth.

-- 1976: An earthquake struck Guatemala and Honduras, killing more than 22,000 people.

-- 1983: Singer Karen Carpenter died at age 32.

-- 1987: Pianist Liberace died at age 67.

-- 1997: A civil jury in Santa Monica, Calif., found O.J. Simpson liable for the deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.

-- 1998: A magnitude 6.1 earthquake hit northeast Afghanistan, killing an estimated 5,000 people.

-- 1999: Amadou Diallo, an unarmed West African immigrant, was shot and killed in front of his Bronx home by four plainclothes New York City police officers.

-- 2000: Austrian President Thomas Klestil swore in a coalition government that included Joerg Haider's far-right Freedom Party, triggering European Union sanctions.

-- 2003: Lawmakers formally dissolved Yugoslavia and replaced it with a loose union of its remaining two republics, Serbia and Montenegro.


 

Pat ~ That is the best devotional I have ever read.

Where is Sonja?  I haven't seen her in here for a few days.....sure hope the family is okay...

Happy Birthday, Cami!!

Thank you, Pat, for a great devotional.  I am sure I fit in more than one of those 'prides'. 

As for snagging animations....I just right-click on the animations and select 'Save Image As' or such.  I have an Animation folder in My Documents so I save them there.  And do make sure they are saved as 'gif' files or there won't be animation.  As for Janet, not seeing the animations...I don't have an answer for that. 

I read all the posts....well, most all the posts.  When I read a post, I think...I want to remember this and make a comment...and by the time I start posting, I have forgotten...   Short memory, I know!  I should type my comments on notepad or Word and then copy and paste but seriously there are days when I just don't have time or want to take time to post a comment to everyone.  I am guilty as the next person in not commenting on peoples posts.  Just trust that I do not intentionally slight anyone.  It is a time factor for me.  I spend way too much time sitting here at the computer as it is.  My reason for that isn't that I don't want to spend time with my cyberfriends and family, it is because of my neck.  I sure don't want to go through having another injection of cortizone if I can prevent it.  That's my tale of woe...

Okay, now to tell you about my day yesterday.  Ivalou and I are going to Florida later this month and Jerry is going to cat-sit for me.  He will also get all the newspapers and the mail from these three houses...Ivalou, Kaye Don and mine.  Stray Cat has almost tripped me up several time.  He will walk beside you and suddenly veer across in front of you.  If you aren't looking down, you would trip.  I would worry about Stray Cat tripping Jerry.  So I called a local vet.  Then the Humane Society.  So Stray Cat is at the Humane Society.  They told me that they only euthanize for health reasons or aggression.  Well, there is no aggression in Stray Cat unless it is that he wants loved so bad.  Health reasons?  He is healthier now than when he came to this house Jan 8th. So feel good that he will be in a loving home soon.

Then Ivalou and I went out to eat and then to WalMart.  She didn't tell me at first why she wanted to go to WalMart but she has been invited to a Red Hat Society luncheon next Wednesday.  Oh, it was fun finding a red hat, purple earrings, red and purple scarf, red hat pin, a red hat bag and a red sweater for Ivalou to wear with her black pants.  Now this is really a stretch for Ivalou......she WAS a red-head and born in the time when red-heads didn't wear red, pink or orange.  In Ivalou's mind she is still a red-head but I have told her several times that she is white-headed now.     And looks darn good in red if I might say so myself.   

I have an idea for an animated Valentine to post later...so off I go to use my imagination.

Al ~ I still have nothing to say. 

That's a great idea, Etta Sue about "Stray Cat" as it would be so awful for our Jerry to trip.

I hope you have a wonderful time in Florida.  How long will you be there.



I'm so glad, Jerry to see you saying "nothing" in here.  LOL

Quote from: Pat Scott on February 04, 2005, 10:37:13 AM

That's too bad, Jane, that you have to start all over again with the IRS.  But as you say, maybe it's a good thing.  Just wish we didn't have these times but it does bring us closer to our Lord as we must depend on Him more, do you find?

Yes, Pat, this has kept me dependant upon the Lord for a year and a half so far!  The tax attorney has Power of Attorney for the tax years in question so, since I can't do anything about it anyway, I just relax and let him handle the IRS agents and their cohorts.  Kinda like we should be knowing JESUS is our advocate with the Father ... He certainly has POA for me! 

I will be in and out of here today ... and saying nothing along with Jerry.  See y'all later....

Happy Birthday Cami. 
Gina

February 4   

The Holy Spirit: The Need for Illumination

But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God,
for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they
are spiritually discerned. 
--1 Corinthians 2:14

The doctrine of the inability of the human mind and the need for
divine illumination is so fully developed in the New Testament that
it is nothing short of astonishing that we should have gone so far
astray about the whole thing. Fundamentalism has stood aloof from
the Liberal in self-conscious superiority and has on its own part
fallen into error, the error of textualism, which is simply
orthodoxy without the Holy Ghost. Everywhere among Conservatives we
find persons who are Bible-taught but not Spirit-taught. They
conceive truth to be something which they can grasp with the mind.
If a man hold to the fundamentals of the Christian faith he is
thought to possess divine truth. But it does not follow. There is no
truth apart from the Spirit. The most brilliant intellect may be
imbecilic when confronted with the mysteries of God. For a man to
understand revealed truth requires an act of God equal to the
original act which inspired the text....

Conservative Christians in this day are stumbling over this truth.
We need to re-examine the whole thing. We need to learn that truth
consists not in correct doctrine, but in correct doctrine plus the
inward enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. We must declare again the
mystery of wisdom from above. A re-preachment of this vital truth
could result in a fresh breath from God upon a stale and suffocating
orthodoxy.  The Pursuit of Man, 76-77,84.

"Lord, I do believe in the authority of the Scriptures, and thank
You for that foundation of truth. But I need this reminder that even
that inspired text is not alive until the Holy Spirit takes it and
enlightens the recipients. May the Holy Spirit indeed take what I
teach and imbed it in the hearts and minds of my hearers. Amen."

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Hey Jerry, there is a song in the "Sound of music"
" Nothing comes from nothing, nothing ever did"
But God created out of nothing, and I want to hear your comments on here, for you did not become your age in the Christian life without gaining wisdom and scripture insite, don't hide that light under a bushel.
love Chris

Hi everyone.  After two days of really cold, damp and unpleasant days we have just a glorious day.  It is sunny and has warmed up into the 50s with no wind.  It is the type of day that really lifts the spirits and is a good reminder that we wouldn't recognize the mountaintops if we didn't go through some valleys.

I was out all morning dealing with the cars.  Two of the cars needed emission inspections and two of them needed oil changes.  That sounds like we have 4 cars and we really only have three.   I am always nervous about whether the older cars will pass inspection but had no problem this year.  Last year it cost me over $1,000 to get my daughter's car up to where it would pass.  So now all I have to do is go next week and get new tags for two of them and pay the taxes on them.  The good car is also ready for a trip later this month to Florida.

Jerry, I like to see you post even if you say you don't have anything to say. 

Jane, you say you don't have anything to say yet I always find some tidbit in your posts.  Our postings are like a greeting to a friend in person in that we are happy to see them whether we have anything to say specifically to them.  I go to coffee each morning and lots of times none of us have anything new to say but always find something to say or at least enjoy being in each others company.  I think the same is true here. 

Chris, thanks for again sharing the daily Tozar pieces.  That man really could write and say a lot in a few words.

Pat, that devotional this morning was excellent but sure got personal--wow!  Hope you have been able to not spend all day in your basement.  Do you have windows in your basement so you can see outside?

Etta Sue, you found a good solution for the cat and you no longer need to worry about him having to weather a bad storm.  Hopefully someone will adopt him and give him a very good and loving home.

A big welcome to teggie and Dan.  I am happy to see you joining us here on the CP site.

Happy Birthday, Cami.

Al, thanks for the reminder on the prayer list.  I need to go there and put in the request for my former brother-in-law that I mentioned here yesterday.

Karmat, I had to smile at your "Yes I can" comment since at this point there are no other choices.  I expect most mothers-to-be have expressed similar comments at about this time in the pregnacy.  Won't be long now.

Tbear, will the closing of the schools for two days this week require and extension of the school year?  You all have certainly had the fog this year.

Marilyn, sorry that the house you looked at didn't work out but it sure sounded undesirable.  I haven't seen your posting yet concerning Gloria but will go to the prayer requests after I finish this posting.

Fast Eddie and Carrie it is good to see you posting.

Hope everyone has a good evening.   

I have posted and update on Gloria. Click on the link below.

It is worse than we thought

Hey, did you know htat if you are 38.75 weeks pregnant, and you call your doctor complaining about numbness in your hands, feet, and face, they will tell you to come in immediately.  Then, they will put you on complete bed rest for the weekend.
yep.  so, off to bed for me. . .

It's okay, it's just a precaution, everything checked out okay, and the baby is moving well, (too well, I think -- she goes constantly), and I am still set for Tuesday morning. :-)

Have a good night, all, and if Bernard will let me, I'll post some pics of Travis. I got them ready last night. :-)

Hi Jane ~ I have a little to say now thanks to our Chris. 

Hi Chris ~ God did make something from nothing. I am not hiding the light under a bushel. I just want to hear everyone else and that makes me feel good. This is a good site to people watch and as Etta Sue will tell you, I am a people watcher from way back, LOL!!!!! That is why I lurk so much.

Larry ~ I am always around. I lurk a lot, even when I wasn't under my name and lurked under 'Guest'. As I told Chris above, I am a people watcher.

Karma ~ Take it easy and let daddy post the pictures.

Hi, friends, I've been sidelined with a bug (I hope only 24 hours). Hope to be back in form tomorrow.

Y'all have a good evening.

Ruth Ann