Consider the past. A time when we were prosperous and growing?

Consider the past, when God added to the church daily, such as needed to be saved.

Consider the past, when many were healed and redeemed, many were set free from captivity, oppression and delivered.

Consider the past, when, where there was a problem, we all met it head on and it was overcome.

The Lord says consider it.

Consider the Present. The European Union is getting Stronger.

Consider the Present. Iraq signs military pact with Iran.

Consider the Present. Russia signs accord with China and India.

Consider the Present. US voices fears over Chinese military build-up.

Consider the Present. Prayer, The Ten Commandments, unlawful in Schools and Government Buildings.

Consider the Present. Gay Marriage, Gay priest, Women Deacons.

Consider the Present. Uzbekistan Christians Detained and Tortured for Their Faith.

Consider the Present. Council members in a South Carolina town can no longer mention the name of Jesus Christ or another specific deity in their prayers during meetings.

Consider the Present. A massive, international “gay pride” event previously held in Rome, at the doorstep of the Vatican, has chosen Jerusalem as its next venue.

Consider the Present. More than a third of Church of Scotland ministers do not believe in the virgin birth of Christ.

The Lord says consider it.

The Lord says consider this;
Hag 2:11-18, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying, If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No. Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean.

Then answered Haggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the LORD; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean. Very strong words from Haggai.

A nation cannot be clean, before God, if it handles the unclean thing. When are we going to realize that the unclean thing is anything that is an abomination to God? “So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the LORD; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean.” God will not be part of uncleanly-ness or unrighteousness. A nation of reprobate people cannot stand before God and then desire that their prayers be answered.

Look at the things that God asked us to consider.

1. Prayer, The Ten Commandments, unlawful in Schools and Government Buildings.

2. Gay Marriage, Gay priest, Women Deacons.

3. A massive, international “gay pride” event previously held in Rome, at the doorstep of the Vatican, has chosen Jerusalem as its next venue.

Jerusalem the Pride of God, the Holy City. Blassfeamers,adulterers, double minded hypocrites. Where is your since of right and wrong, good and evil? Haven’t you been chastised by God enough, what will it take? And these are just a few. Doesn’t this appear to be a double minded man ? [Speaking as a Nation]

Jam 1:6-8 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

2Pe 2:10-16. But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.
Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord. But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you; Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:
Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice forbade the madness of the prophet.

And now, I pray you, consider from this day and upward, from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the LORD: Since those days were, when one came to an heap of twenty measures, there were but ten: when one came to the pressfat for to draw out fifty vessels out of the press, there were but twenty. I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands; yet ye turned not to me, saith the LORD.

Cannot the people see the chastisement of God upon them, cannot they see that God is willing to bless, but He will not bless the unclean thing.

Consider now, how one woman took prayer from school, consider now, that one group is introducing gay books to children, consider now, how a hand full of people can change the life of Gods children by introducing acceptance training for gays and lesbians.

Compromise, compromise, the down fall of humanity and righteousness in our land of plenty. This land we call home will become as Sodom and Gomorrha, a land of want and famine.

Consider now from this day and upward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the LORD’S temple was laid, consider it. “So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the LORD; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean.”

Consider the past, Consider the present and Consider your future?

Quick! What was the best thing that happened to you yesterday? What made that day worthwhile?

Uh…

If you’re like me (and probably most people) you might have trouble coming up with anything off the top of your head. That’s because, unless you’re already leading a rare and extraordinary life, one day tends to run into the other. Your days then turn into weeks turn into months into years until you find yourself saying, “Is it December already? Can you believe Y2K was nearly six years ago??”

So how do we slow this whole time thing down and live each day to the fullest? One popular method is to “be here now.” Savor the moment, be conscious, that sort of thing.

Personally, I find it hard to remain present just for the sake of it. It takes discipline and, like all things requiring discipline, has the potential to become yet another source of anxiety.

Instead, why not make it fun?

Try this: when you wake up in the morning (or the night before if you’re a planner) create a “theme” for the day. Look for opportunities throughout the day to manifest that theme. It becomes both a game and a source of inspiration as you begin to realize that you are creating your own daily experience, without changing anything about your environment or activities. What changes is how you observe and influence your actions and responses.

A daily theme should be something that is enjoyable yet personally meaningful. Here are some examples:

• Today is about… humor. I will deliberately look for things I see/hear/read throughout the day that make me smile or laugh.
• Today is about…patience. I will experiment with responding rationally to irrational requests by my supervisor or spouse, or find interesting things to look at or think about while waiting in line.
• Today is about…connecting. I will give 100 percent of my attention and energy to each encounter – with clients, co-workers, family, friends, strangers – and notice how they respond.

The trick is to make this fun. Consider it a treasure hunt. Now that you’re looking for them, opportunities to find or create elements in your theme will show up again and again. You’ll get hooked and want to look for more.

Then before you go to sleep, think back over the day. It will be a lot easier to catalog what happened, what you did, how you felt. You’ll find that you’ve lived a much slower, richer day, just by framing how to think and act within it.

What is tomorrow’s theme going to be?

There is always the fun and excitement in picking the right gift for someone special in your life, may it be your mom, colleague, lover, etc. But the more you intend to make that particular someone feel even more special, the more it becomes difficult for you to find the right piece that can express how you really feel. One sensible gift-giver, as what you might have already known, considers important factors such as gender, the type of relationship between the giver and the receiver of the gift, and of course, age. Speaking of age, I have had many people approach me seeking for 40th birthday gift ideas.

We have this particular notion that when one reaches 40, he or she has achieved a certain level of self-actualization. This is a very important stage in ones life. Thus, finding the right gift for someone who is celebrating a 40th birthday will require you to squeeze your imagination a lot.

When getting something for a special friend who turns 40, make sure that your gift spells taste and good class. Consider good wines, perfumes, and designer ties. Also, you can get your best buddies anything that they can use for their hobbies. You can present them with personalized mugs or t-shirts bearing humorous remarks or witty lines – something that hails their wisdom achieved at such age.

For your mom or dad who turns 40, there can be loads and loads of gift-giving options. Bring them back to your childhood years when getting gifts for them didn’t have to be a pain in your wallet. Relieve the years when you simply enjoyed getting your creative hands into something personal and original – like an artwork perhaps. Yes, nothing beats your handmade cards just yet.

You may also create a scrapbook or wall decoration containing collages of your family pictures depicting how you have evolved as a tight bunch through the years. You may also consider other things to include in your artwork project.

My friends mom enjoyed gardening so much. So what she did was gather all the pictures she has taken of her mom while gardening. She went the extra mile taking still shots of her mom’s potted plants, shrubs, landscapes, and anything else in their small backyard garden. With these resources, she was able to put up the best garden-themed scrapbook her mom has ever seen in her life.

You can also give your parents the most unforgettable birthday of their lives by volunteering to take over in specific chores. You can also cook special recopies for them if you have the acumen for the kitchen. If, however, you are not much of a cook, it will make them even happier to see you’ve broken a leg there. Also, someone at 40 would be very happy to see their friends around. You can surprise them by having their old buddies come over.

If it is your spouses 40th birthday, your main goal in gift-giving should be to keep the spark alive. You can take your special someone out to that classic restaurant or you can go out ballroom dancing – just like old times. You may also inject the spirit of nostalgia by doing things you used to do together as young lovers, like watching a movie together. Look for a copy of the first movie you watched together and set up a little theater at home (you can go borrow an LCD projector and use a white sheet as your makeshift screen). You can go explore so many other romantic ideas to give your spouse a birthday worth cherishing forever.

Already the shops are beginning to stock up on their Christmas items with decorations as well as all the latest toys and gifts being rolled out across the country. A lot of people will be swept up by the festive season and begin to do their Christmas shopping now and in some cases this is a necessity. Families that have relatives or friends living overseas in places as far as Australia or the United States of America and so to make sure that their present arrive on time you will likely be looking to send these parcels ahead of time.

Sending present overseas could be difficult at the best of times and with the holiday period often heralding an increased amount of letters, cards and parcels being sent all over the world it can make sending a parcel or letter quite difficult to gauge when it will arrive. Obviously sending your parcel early will help when you want it to arrive before the big day but there are other benefits such as a lower cost for the postage of your parcel.

Many parcel delivery companies will have a range of services for different levels of urgency, these companies have expensive services that deliver within a short space of time but also have less costly services that may take slightly longer to deliver your parcel. These services are still an effective choice when it comes to parcel delivery as if you are sending your parcel early enough then you could use these services to save money on a trustworthy delivery service that is secure and able to arrive within strict deadlines.

There are plenty of options now available as the parcel delivery sector has grown massively over the past few years thanks to more people buying and selling items online. Parcel couriers have long been considered the best option for a quick and reliable delivery but in the past it has mostly been businesses that have used them due to their higher costs and tendency to insist on long running service contracts instead which could offer businesses discounts for frequent collections and deliveries.

These days though since almost anyone is sending parcels many couriers are now opening their services to individuals and people like you who want to send birthday or Christmas presents quickly and securely. So if you need to send your gifts early or even last minute, with couriers you could get your parcel delivered quickly so they can arrive and be placed at the foot of the Christmas tree on time.