Sometimes our bodies get tired and need rest. Other times our spirits get tired and need to be refreshed, i.e. our emotions sometimes get drained, or even our spiritual lives might feel like something is missing.

Sometimes it is because we lack true Christian fellowship with the Body of Christ, and therefore we are not getting the encouragement from others that we need. Or it can be because the body of those professing faith in Jesus Christ has been rejecting, mocking, ostracizing and/or marginalizing us, instead.

There can also be times when we are under serious attack from our enemy Satan or when our brothers and sisters in Christ (or professing Christians only) attack us at every turn, or else they ignore, avoid, and snub us. Or it can be that we face much resistance when we share the gospel of Jesus Christ. And it is at those times when we need our spirits refreshed and our souls revived.

For me, my times alone with my Lord in prayer and in his word refresh my spirit, as well as does listening to and/or singing songs of worship and praise to my Lord, or songs of encouragement, hope, healing and leading in the ways of the Lord.

And other times God sends along an encourager at just the right time to give me what I need in order to help me keep going. The Holy Spirit is the best encourager I know. He is the motivating force in my life which keeps me pressing on even in the face of many difficulties and persecutions.

Refresh My Spirit, Lord

An Original Work / August 8, 2011
Based off of Psalm 51 & Matthew 11:28-30

Refresh my spirit, Lord.
Revive my heart today.
Move me to serve You,
Lord in all I do and say.
Be my heart’s one desire;
my spirit set on fire
In pure devotion, Lord,
to love you and obey.

Create within me, Lord,
a pure heart, this I pray,
So I can worship You
and yield to You always.
May all Your love and pow’r
be lived in me, I pray,
So I might love as You;
be Your witness today.

Jesus says, “Come to me
all you with heavy hearts,
And find in me your peace,
and give to me your all.
My yoke is light to bear,
‘cause I paid for your sin,
So you might be set free,
and purified within.”

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Those of us who have trusted in Jesus Christ in truth and in righteousness, who have died with Christ to sin, and who have been raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin but as slaves to God and to his righteousness, should also be those who are walking according to the Spirit and no longer according to the flesh. And we should be those who love the Word of God and who desire to walk in his ways and in his truth and righteousness. And it should grieve us to see so much of what is presently going on in the name of Christ, and in the name of his gospel of salvation.

For so much of what are called “churches” today are human-based businesses being marketed to the world just like any other businesses, with the intended goal to attract the ungodly of the world to their gatherings. And so they alter (and dilute) the character of God/Christ and of his church, and they alter the message of the gospel of Christ by teaching Scriptures out of context and by twisting them to say what they do not teach in context. And so many of them are refusing to listen to the truth of God’s word, for it is opposed to the way in which they choose to live their lives.

For so many of what are called “churches”, at least from a leadership standpoint, are giving their people, particularly the wanderers, permission to keep on living in sin, in self-indulgence and immorality, practicing what is dishonorable, corrupt, vile, immoral, wicked, depraved, and dishonest. For they are coddling them in their sins and teaching a diluted and altered gospel which does not demand death to sin and living to God and to his righteousness. So they help the self-addicted to excuse away their dishonorable, vile, immoral, wicked, and depraved life choices.

Now, if you are someone who loves the Lord and the truth of his word, and so you are also someone who grieves over the sinful condition of today’s church here in America (and perhaps is like this in other nations), and so you are also someone who speaks out the truth of God’s word, and who exposes the fruitless deeds of darkness, don’t be surprised if church leaders do not support you at all or even if they reject you and cast you aside and don’t want you to be part of their fellowships. For so many today are supporting the sinfully addicted, so they will not support you.

And, thus, the selfish and the self-indulgent, who are wanderers, are given permission to go from bad to worse and to return to where they were before they made professions of faith in Jesus Christ. And now their past has become their present and their future. For they are being given permission to remain in the flesh, to do what the old man sinful nature dictates, and to lose all sense of conscience and morality and propriety. So many are now engaged in the unthinkable, with no one to stop them. But they are being assured of their salvation and eternal life with God.

But the leaders (pastors, elders, etc.) of many of these “churches” are listening to and are following the lies of the enemy of our souls, and they are not listening and are not willing to listen to the truth. But they are engaged in altering the character of God and of his church and of his gospel message to make them more acceptable and attractive to the ungodly of the world who they want to attract to their gatherings. They are those who are saying, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace, and who are putting “Band-Aids” over serious sin wounds. And so the sinfully addicted continue on in sin.

Now, not every church congregation and/or pastor is like this, but many are, probably the majority are, from what I have witnessed, heard, and read about and observed and experienced. And I have experienced a lot! And I have heard and read much! And I would say that this represents the majority of what is out there called “church” here in America today. For so many are now following marketing 101 over and above the Scriptures, and they are more concerned with attracting the world to their gatherings than they are with saving people’s souls from sinful addiction and from hell.

But all of us who delight in the Word of the Lord, and who desire to obey our Lord’s commandments (New Covenant), and who grieve over the sinful condition of today’s modern market-driven “churches,” and over the lives which are being destroyed by the lies of Satan, are to keep on following the Lord. We are to keep on speaking the truth of the gospel and calling for people to repent of their sins and to obey the Lord, even if we are rebuked and attacked and rejected, in return, and even if we are thought evil of while the wicked continue to go from bad to worse. We must stay the course!

To Be Like Him

An Original Work / March 16, 2014
Based off Scripture

Crucified you are with Jesus.
To be like Him, oh, you’ll be,
Because He died at Calv’ry,
So from sin you’d be free.
Oh, what joy He brings into your life,
Giving life with Him endlessly.

Oh, what plans He has for your life.
Share the gospel faithfully.
Show the people He loves them.
Now His witness you’ll be.
Tell the world of sin about Jesus,
How He died for them on a tree.

Purifying hearts, He saves them,
Who believe on Christ, God’s Son.
Turning now from their idols,
New lives they have begun.
Jesus saves from sin; we’re forgiven.
Over sin, the vict’ry He won!

When He comes again to take us
To be with Him evermore,
There will be no more crying.
Gladness will be in store.
Heavens joys will now overtake us:
We’ll be with our Lord evermore.

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When this word is used in other ancient Greek texts, it's used to refer to an animal that is harmless, not aggressive or venemous (but not tame, necessarily). So maybe even "harmless" might be an appropriate translation.

Nietzsche believed Jesus and early Christians were "idiots". He meant somebody that was simple, a dreamer, naive.. I think this has a grain of truth. So you can see what he detested: the Christian view that being inoffensive and gentle was virtuous. You can see that kind of virtue in the lives of people like the St. Francis of Assisi, the Anabaptists, the Quakers, the Shakers, Fred Rogers (the TV personality who did shows for kids on public television), etc. It's not servile humility, though, Nietzsche was wrong. It's somebody that sees into another world, better and more beautiful than this one, and wants to live in that world, in this life. Such is the stuff of great artists and poets, as well as idealists and mystics.

FireDragon76 said:

I actually monitored my visceral fat levels using an infrared device and I concluded it was a waste of time and money. Visceral fat tends to track along with total body fat, more or less. But if you have to have an objective measurement to go by in making a crude estimate, a tape measure is far simpler and cheaper. Ideally, you want your waistline to be less than half your height.

Losing visceral fat is simply a matter of being in a caloric deficit. Not eating junk food and eating a diet high in fiber will help alot in cutting excess calories out of the diet, and it will be far healthier than trying to rely upon the thermic effects of a high protein diet, which are really quite modest in comparison.

Whether you sprint or engage in walking doesn't really make alot of difference in the end, in terms of weight loss. While sprinting does burn more calories per hour, in reality most people will simply eat more or reduce the amount of overall activity they do in a day in compensation. People should chose a form of exercise that they genuinely enjoy doing and that doesn't cause excessive stress. Excessive stress, including from over-exercise, is detrimental to both body composition and long term health.

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I go by tape measure too.

Sprinting, I probably won't strongly recommend it. You can skip it, no problem. I only found it ever useful to maximize your V02max which isn't critically important unless you're racing.

There are better, safer, and possibly easier workouts that helps burn even more fat. Slowly walking up a treadmill with a steep incline hands-free , not holding on to a railing an hour a day has way better fat burning potential and carries very little risk of hurting your leg joints (unless you have leg problems to begin with). This may sound hard but is really mostly about doing it at the right posture and muscle recruitment. In other words, technique rather than sheer strength and muscular endurance. Done right, it stays within Zone 2.

You're right about fiber. I found oatmeal the best to stay satiated for longer. Calorie restriction, true, just make sure you're getting enough electrolytes. Not getting enough electrolytes can be problem to those restricting calories. It can cause weakness / fatigue, poor quality sleep, poor recovery, may even trigger hunger (makes it harder to restrict calories), etc.

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Bro. We are not gonna go here about this passage from Revelation. This is not a sub-forum to be trashing the Catholic faith. I do not agree with everything from the RCC, but I am a Catholic myself. Rome is not Babylon, and please do not make this comparison again.

Instead of thinking about the end times (even though we might be close to the end times), how about we focus (both Catholic and Protestant) on solving issues such as homelessness and climate change?

RileyG said:

if someone calls someone else a bigot, they’re usually pointing the finger right back at themselves

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Exactly. Look at the much touted {tolerance} they were asking for originally now…Where is it?

Wolseley said:

St. Anthony of the Desert, you who fled the madness of the world, and sought the solitude of the wilderness in order to devote yourself entirely to Christ alone: as we navigate through the increasing madness of our century, and we view the spiritual destruction wrought upon us by those who should be shepherding and protecting our immortal souls, we beseech you, through Our Lady the Blessed Virgin Mary, all the angels of God, and all the holy saints throughout the ages, pray for us.

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St. Anthony of the Desert, along with St. Athanasius his biographer and upholder of orthodoxy, are heros of the first rank. We are blessed to be able to seek their intercession and follow the life they modeled. They are more relevant now than they ever have been. Ora pro nobis.

Gary O' said:

Late spring is so glorious
The garden is coming alive

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and a freshening of blossoms

Makes for a blessed Sabbath


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I like it. I used to have a slide of three yellow rises I took back in the 80s. One of my favorite photos ever,

The juveniles were taken into custody and charged with misdemeanor battery. . .
"I was out on the date with my husband, and they dragged my dress on the ground, and they said, like, ‘We own the street. You can’t just walk around prancing in your little dress.’

We have to put wokeness aside, we are losing our country. They should be charged with felony hate crimes. Black on white crimes should be treated the same as white on black crimes.

timewerx said:

Great, I'm supersonic!

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May Chuck Yeager rest in peace. He passed away in December 2020. Great man who broke the sound barrier in a plane in 1947.

One of my coworkers is having back pain/spasms, please pray the Lord will heal her and that it won't inconvenience my other co-workers. Thank you in advance.

Jehovah Jireh, we pray you will lead to and provide Benam with the job you have in mind, in the Name of Jesus. Amen.

Heavenly Father, we pray you enable Serenity to hear your voice and get some sleep, in the Name of Jesus. Amen and Amen.

I'm thinking it wasn't so much what type of calendar he used, but that he counted carefully. A hired man needs keep diligent with keeping track to know that he was paid properly. Just my two cents.

Putin and Orban are clearly in Trump's quarter...Kim Jung Un and Netanyahu haven't weighed yet.
All the lowlife leaders of the UN-free world.

Michie said:

Pope Francis is slowing down his liturgical schedule a bit this summer as he prepares to head out on the longest international trip of his pontificate in September.

The 87-year-old pope does not have any public Masses on his schedule for eight weeks in July and August, according to the master of papal liturgical ceremonies’ official schedule published this week.

The pope’s current calendar has him taking a break from public liturgies from July 8 to Sept. 1. Prior to that, he is expected to preside over at least three events on his liturgical schedule.

Throughout his pontificate, Pope Francis has opted for a busier summer schedule than his predecessors, making international trips, creating new cardinals, establishing new Church celebrations, and famously forgoing the traditional summer retreat to the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo.

Continued below.

Pope Francis to take 8-week break in liturgical schedule this summer

The 87-year-old pope does not have any public Masses on his schedule for eight weeks in July and August, according to the official schedule published this week.

www.catholicnewsagency.com

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Good for him. We all need rest.

"Traditional" families are part of His original design --thus an ideal-- but since the Fall of Man, we need more than that.

Michie said:

– Cheshire Wildlife Trust

A beautiful white stork was spotted recently flying over the English county of Cheshire, and not only would no one alive today be able to remember the last time that happened, but none of their grandparents would either; neither would any of their grandparents, and probably none of theirs.

White storks have been extinct in England for 600 years—since the time Martin Luther nailed his document of reforms on the Church wall—but they’ve been back and breeding for several years thanks to efforts to reintroduce them from other populations.

The Warsaw Zoo donated birds to the White Stork Project of southern England. They had been rescued following accidents on roads or with powerlines.

Continued below.

Stork That Went Extinct in the UK 600 Years Ago is Spotted in the English Skies: ‘It was a great sign’

The Warsaw Zoo donated birds to the White Stork Project of southern England. They had been rescued following accidents on roads or powerlines.

www.goodnewsnetwork.org

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Wow, hopefully these storks are preserved, and repopulated.

Michie said:

credit – Rewilding Europe, Nelleke de Weerd, released.

Rewilding Europe is thrilled to announce the arrival of a small herd of bison in a large valley in Portugal.

Believed to be the key to preventing catastrophic wildfires, invasive species spread, and promoting endemic biodiversity, it’s the first time bison have been present in Portugal since the last Glacial Maximum.

From Poland to Romania to the UK, European wood bison are now firmly recognized as one of the best tools for returning what little wilderness Europe has left to as wild a state as possible.

Continued below.

Portugal Welcomes First Wild Bison in 10,000 Years–the Keystone Species for Rewilding a Quarter-Million Acres

Through their grazing, foraging, trampling, and fertilizing, bison help to maintain biodiversity-rich mosaic landscapes of forest.

www.goodnewsnetwork.org

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Hopefully this bison repopulation project works. I think it will.

Michie said:

In the Midst of the National Eucharistic Revival, Vinea Research Releases New Findings Affirming More Mass-Going Catholics Believe in the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist​

Although a 2019 Pew Study reported that only one-third of Catholics believe in the Eucharist, a new study from Vinea Research indicates the number of Catholics who believe in the True Presence is much higher​

A new study from Vinea Research indicates that 69% of Mass-going Catholics believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, which calls into question the accuracy of results from the survey wording choices used in a previous 2019 study from the Pew Research Center, which were not consistent with Catholic teaching. The Pew study claimed only one-third (34%) of Mass-going Catholics in the United States believed in the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Vinea Research, a strategic market research company focused on Catholic topics, conducted their own study in late 2022, using survey language that they believe more accurately represents how Catholics understand the Eucharist.



Published in 2019 with an explosive headline “Just one-third of U.S. Catholics agree with their church that Eucharist is body, blood of Christ,” this Pew study surprised Catholic leaders and led to the launch of the National Eucharistic Revival in 2022. However, using language more commonly understood by Catholics, Vinea’s research indicates that many more Catholics than originally thought have an authentic understanding of the core Catholic teaching of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. According to the founder of Vinea Research, Hans Plate, this is a beacon of hope for the American Catholic Church and an affirmation of the incredible response to the National Eucharistic Revival.

Continued below.

Vinea Research Releases New Findings Affirming More Mass-Going Catholics Believe in the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist

In the Midst of the National Eucharistic Revival, Vinea Research Releases New Findings Affirming More Mass-Going Catholics Believe in the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist Although a 2019 Pe…

ignitumtoday.com

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Nice stuff. Got to show everyone the Eucharistic miracles as well.

Michie said:

Artie the cat – SWNS

An Englishman has been reunited with a family cat who had been lost for 12 years.

Theo-Will McKenna, then just 17 years old, was attending university near the family’s home in Connah’s Quay, Wales when their cat Artie got out and never came home.

McKenna remembers staying out for hours with a bag of treats but couldn’t locate their beloved white and grey cat. McKenna would visit once a week for months to look some more, but gradually lost hope of ever seeing Artie again.

Continued below.

Missing for 12 Years, Beloved Cat Named Artie Finally Reunited with His Family

McKenna would visit once a week for months with a bag of treats, but gradually lost hope of ever seeing Artie again.

www.goodnewsnetwork.org

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Aww, this is wholesome. 12 years is a long time to wait.

Michie said:

(OSV News) — Growth, undeniable tensions and “a deep desire to rebuild and strengthen” the body of Christ have emerged as key themes in the latest synod report for the Catholic Church in the U.S.

Released by the U.S. Conference of Catholic BishopsMay 28, the “National Synthesis of the People of God in the United States of America for the Interim Stage of the 2021-2024 Synod” summarizes responses from more than 35,000 participants and over 1,000 listening sessions, with 76% of the nation’s dioceses and eparchies submitting reports to the U.S. synod team.

Widespread participation and commitment​

Continued below.

Synod report for U.S. shows growth, tensions and 'deep desire to rebuild' the body of Christ

Released by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops May 28, the "National Synthesis of the People of God in the United States of America for the Interim Stage of the 2021-2024 Synod" summarizes responses from more than 35,000 participants and over 1,000 listening sessions, with 76% of the...

www.oursundayvisitor.com

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35,000? There are supposedly somewhere around 60,000,000 Catholics of one sort or another in the USA. One out of a thousand participated in synod on synodality part deux. That's way worse than synod on synodality part un, which was abysmal participation. And a quarter of the dioceses didn't even bother to send in a submission.

I waited and watched for my diocese to announce a 'listening session' but never saw it. If they even had one, I wonder if the usual bureaucrats showed up like it was their regularly scheduled weekly meeting.

Akita Suggagaki said:

Biden doesn't demand loyalty or threat reprisal.
But don't get me wrong. I am not a Biden supporter even though I thing he is far better than Trump. Trump is off the chart psycho.

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If Biden speaks - he is projecting.
If the left speaks - they are projecting.

I can Agree that Biden cannot threaten, unless he has a lucid day. Like when he threatened Ukraine to remove the guy investigating things regarding the company where Hunter worked.