This is the product of my fertile thoughts. I am recreating them here and am sharing them with you, dear bloggers, for whatever benefits, if any, you could derive from them. I wish you could be more open and share with me your comments and suggestions so that I can improve on my blog. Thank you, God bless and have a nice day. Mel Avila Alarilla
REVENGE- THE WAY OF THE UNSPIRITUAL "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." This has been the maxim of old and is still being used today to justify one's cravings for revenge. But where did it lead the world? It led the world to a brutal state of existence.
We are witnesses to the never ending saga of brutal killings that go back and forth like the proverbial swing of the pendulum. One group of people, whose member was killed by another group, would exact vengeance and kill more than one member of the other group. Group two would retaliate against group one and would kill more of its kind until the conflict becomes an ethnic one.
Before we know it, it's one country against another country. And then it becomes religious in nature. Followers of one religion declare a holy war against the followers of another religion.
Do we please God by this? No, we only please our brutish nature and the master of this world- Satan. As innocent children and the elderlies die by the wayside, the laughter of Satan reverberates around the world as he feeds from the passion of people crazed for more revenge, violence and killings.
Such is the sad affairs of the world today. But this is not the will of God. God said, "vengeance is mine." He who persists in treading the road of revenge is putting himself under the law of the sword. God said, "he who lives by the sword, dies by the sword."
And what is the admonition of God? God said, "love your enemy, do good to those who oppress you." Why would God admonish man to do this? Because by doing so, we put ourselves under the mantle of God's protection and love, and He will surely annihilate our oppressors before our very eyes.
Do you want to see genuine peace in this world? If we do, let us immediately stop the cycle of revenge, killings, oppressions and hatred in our world. Let us learn to love our enemies and pray for them. If they still persist in continuing their insatiable quest for more violence, hatred and killings, let us then witness the unfolding of God's wonderful and amazing ways as He destroy and annihilate our enemies before our very eyes. THINK ABOUT THAT.
Posted by Mel Avila Alarilla Philippines Spiritual/Inspirational
LIGHT OF THE WORLD, SALT OF THE EARTH God admonished us to become the light of the world and the salt of the earth. Why? Because there's so much darkness in this world that people are groping for the true light that will illuminate their perilous paths through life. Man's life has been so drab and tasteless that God needs people to become the salt of the earth to give flavor to an otherwise tasteless existence of mankind. Man has lost his true perspective in life. Man has associated himself with worldly pursuits in life where everybody else wants to get ahead and to be on top at the expense of others. It does not matter whether he steps on the lives of so many people just so he can reach the summit of success, fame and fortune. But once he reaches the top, man realizes that it is so lonely up there, bereft of the true happiness and contentment in life. Yes, God needs more people to become a light of the world and a salt of the earth. Would you rather be included in the Guinness Book of World Records or in God's Book of Life? Think about it, my friend.
Posted by Mel Avila Alarilla Philippines Spiritual/Inspirational
Oops, our computer is out of order. I think it's a major one since it is the hardware that is out of order. Because of this, I declare a semi blog holiday for this blog. I ask my wonderful readers to bear with me since I'm just using an internet cafe and it's not very comfortable here. I will be hardly visiting your blog and if I could not post comments, please forgive me. I will still continue blogging but on a very limited scale only. Please bear with me in this temporary situation. I love you all with the love of the Lord. God bless you all with your loved ones.
HUMILITY- A TRAIT OF A TRUE CHILD OF GOD Of all the traits that God so admires in man, humility tops them all. This is in accordance to what God said in Isaiah 66:2b, "This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word." In fact, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." (James 4:6b)
Why? Because God is Himself meek and humble in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus loved children and He admonished men to be like little children if they desire to enter the kingdom of God.
The almost super human strength, the tall stature and the muscular physique of the proud and arrogant Goliath, who taunted God and the whole army of Israel in the Book of 1st Samuel, were no match for the humble and Spirit indwelt David. He defeated and killed Goliath by a single stone fired in his puny slingshot.
David's reign in Israel was characterized by his humility, honesty and faithfulness in the face of God. When confronted by the prophet Nathan about his sin of adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah, he readily admitted his grievous sin and immediately sought forgiveness from the Lord.
Another example of forgiveness and restitution of rights given back to a returning and humble sinner is the case of the Prodigal Son in the Book of Luke. After getting his entire inheritance from his father, and after squandering it all in profligate and wanton living, he became so destitute and hungry as he sought a job feeding pigs.
Realizing his grievous sin and humbling himself, he decided to return to the house of his father to seek employment as a mere hired man. He was yet a long way off from their house when his father saw him and ran after him and embraced him. Seeing that the prodigal son was repentant and humble, he fully restored to him all his lost privileges as a son.
So it is with us. No matter how sinful we may have become, no matter how wretched our conditions maybe, if we humble ourselves before God, and seek His divine forgiveness by believing in Jesus Christ, divine forgiveness and complete spiritual restitution will immediately be given to us.
This is the grace of God and it is not contingent on our own worthiness before Him or what accomplishments we may have achieved. It is solely contingent upon the amazing grace of God as we humble ourselves before Him and ask forgiveness by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Those who were proud, stood on their own two feet in complete defiance of God and who rebelled against His authority, were severely punished and brought down humiliatingly on their knees.
But those who were humble of heart, and sought the Lord's guidance and protection after forgiveness were granted to them, were assured by God to enjoy a blissful life with Him in Paradise.
Posted by Mel Avila Alarilla Philippines Spiritual/Inspirational
BE LIKE CHRIST If you are a Christian, then why are you not following Jesus Christ? Christians mean followers of Jesus Christ. If so, are we not supposed to be like Christ so that people will see our good works (our sweet fruits) and glorify our Father in heaven?
We can not be Christians and still immersed ourselves in the licentiousness and rapacity of the world. "What has God have in fellowship with Belial." We can live in this world but but not of this world.
We can not use other people as standards of spirituality. We will become vain or bitter because of that. If we have to compare ourselves, we have to compare ourselves with Christ. In any situation that we may face, especially if we are in doubt, let us ask ourselves this question. "If Christ were here, what would He have done in this situation?" Then we can be assured that our decision will be right and in accordance with His will.
Before He ascended to heaven, Jesus Christ promised His disciples the coming of the Holy Spirit and He indeed came and changed their lives forever. If we believe in Jesus Christ and are in filled by the Holy Spirit, we have been promised that we will be transformed from glory to glory until we reach the whole measure of the fullness of Jesus Christ.
How can we do this? The answer lies in Romans 12:2 which says, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is- His good, pleasing and perfect will."
The will of God is for us to be holy like Him and to dissociate ourselves from the sinfulness and carnality of the world. We can not have our cake and eat it too. The verse above said that we are transformed by the renewing of our minds. That means, our minds must think only godly and sublime thoughts, thoughts that edify, thoughts of loving unconditionally, thoughts of selflessness, thoughts of hope and joy, and thoughts of peace.
Let us not run our races to win worldly prizes, they are like steel weights that chain our souls. Instead, let us run our races to win the heavenly prize- to be with the Lord forevermore.
You want to be a good Christian? Be like Christ and follow Him.
Posted by Mel Avila Alarilla Philippines Spiritual/Inspirational
Helen Adams Keller (June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968) was an Americanauthor, activist and lecturer. She was the first deafblind person to graduate from college. The story of how a remarkable teacher broke through the isolation the lack of language had imposed on the child, who blossomed as she learned to communicate, are staples of American folklore. What is less well known is how Keller's life developed after she completed her education: she became a radical campaigner for workers' rights and an advocate for many other progressive causes. Early childhood and illness
Helen Keller, age 7
Helen Keller was born at an estate called Ivy Green[1] in Tuscumbia, Alabama, on June 27, 1880, to Captain Arthur H. Keller, a former officer of the Confederate Army, and Kate Adams Keller, a cousin of Robert E. Lee. The Keller family originates from Germany, and at least one source claims her father was of Swiss descent.[2] She was not born blind and deaf; it was not until nineteen months of age that she came down with an illness described by doctors as "an acute congestion of the stomach and the brain," which could have possibly been scarlet fever or meningitis. The illness did not last for a particularly long time, but it left her deaf and blind. At that time her only communication partner was Martha Washington, the six-year-old daughter of the family cook, who was able to create a sign language with her; by age seven, she had over 60 home signs to communicate with her family.
In his doctoral dissertation, "Deaf-blind Children (psychological development in a process of education)" (1971, Moscow Defectology Institute), Soviet blind-deaf psychologist Meshcheryakov asserted that Washington's friendship and teaching was crucial for Keller's later developments. [3]
In 1886, her mother was inspired by an account in Charles Dickens's American Notes of the successful education of another deafblind child, Laura Bridgman, and traveled to a specialist doctor in Baltimore for advice. He put her in touch with Alexander Graham Bell, who was working with deaf children at the time. Bell advised the couple to contact the Perkins Institute for the Blind, the school where Bridgman had been educated, which was then located in South Boston. The school delegated teacher and former student Anne Sullivan, herself visually impaired and then only 20 years old, to become Keller's instructor. It was the beginning of a 49-year-long relationship, eventually evolving into governess and companion.
Sullivan got permission from Keller's father to isolate the girl from the rest of the family in a little house in their garden. Her first task was to instill discipline in the spoiled girl. Keller's big breakthrough in communication came one day when she realized that the motions her teacher was making on her palm, while running cool water over her hand, symbolized the idea of "water;" she then nearly exhausted Sullivan demanding the names of all the other familiar objects in her world (including her prized doll). In 1890, ten-year-old Helen Keller was introduced to the story of Ragnhild Kåta, a deafblind Norwegian girl who had learned to speak. Kåta's success inspired Keller to want to learn to speak as well. Sullivan taught her charge to speak using the Tadoma method of touching the lips and throat of others as they speak, combined with fingerspelling letters on the palm of the child's hand. Later Keller learned Braille, and used it to read not only English but also French, German, Greek, and Latin .
Anne Sullivan stayed as a companion to Helen Keller long after she taught her. Anne married John Macy in 1905, and her health started failing around 1914. Polly Thompson was hired to keep house. She was a young woman from Scotland who didn't have experience with deaf or blind people. She progressed to working as a secretary as well, and eventually became a constant companion to Helen.[6]
After Anne died in 1936, Helen and Polly moved to Connecticut. They travelled worldwide raising funding for the blind. Polly had a stroke in 1957 from which she never fully recovered, and died in 1960.[5]
Winnie Corbally was Helen's companion for the rest of her life.[5]
Miracle Worker - Final Scene (1962)
Posted by Mel Avila Alarilla Philippines Brief Biography/Wikipedia/YouTube
"Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts" (Hebrews 4:7b)
DO YOU NEED HELP? ARE YOU IN THE DARK? CAN'T FIND YOUR WAY AROUND? NEED A FRIEND WHO WILL STICK WITH YOU THROUGH THICK OR THIN OR WHEN EVERYBDOY ELSE HAS DESERTED YOU?
REVENGE- THE WAY OF THE UNSPIRITUAL
