Today's Word from Joel Osteen... " How Do You See Yourself?"

How Do You See Yourself?

Today's Scripture

“As a man thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7).

Today's Word from Joel and Victoria

Your imagination is extremely powerful. God created you as a visual being. Choosing the right images in your mind's eye is important because your life will move in the direction of your thoughts. The way you see yourself in your mind's eye, over time, will drop down into your heart and become your reality. If you'll create a picture in your imagination of something you want, or a dream coming to pass and keep it in front of you, then you will move in that direction. I encourage you to get up every morning and picture yourself succeeding! Picture yourself healthy and whole! Picture yourself and your family not only being blessed, but being a bigger blessing to others. If you'll keep the right images in front of you, and always submit yourself to the Lord through prayer and thanksgiving, you’ll move forward into the life of victory God has promised you.

A Prayer for Today

Heavenly Father, I come to You today and submit every area of my mind and heart to You. Search my heart and show me what images I need to change in my mind. Thank You for equipping me with everything I need to live a life pleasing to You. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Joel Osteen Ministries, 3700 Southwest Freeway, Houston TX 77027V

Copyright © 2007 by Joel Osteen Ministries

connecting with culture

the bourne-again identity

Can we escape our programming?

Can any of us really sail against the cultural tides that shape our minds, our hearts, our imaginations, our everyday decisions?

This is the question that lies behind the breathtaking car chases, visceral fight scenes and frenetic, Machiavellian machinations of Britain’s current number-one film, The Bourne Ultimatum.

Jason Bourne, the film’s central figure, may share initials with his rather more suave British forerunner James Bond, but he is altogether a different kind of secret agent. He is bereft of urbanity, eschews luxurious cars, forgoes casual carnality and has been neurologically reprogrammed to the point where he cannot remember his ‘real’ identity.

A ‘terminator’ of flesh and blood, conditioned to kill on demand. So, he kills. But conscience intervenes. Indeed, whoever Bourne may be, some residue of conscience, some smidgen of the noble patriotism that led him to volunteer for this extreme ‘black ops’ programme remain. He will kill for his country but not in a way that denies the principles his country stands for. Long before he rediscovers his real name, he has rediscovered his true self. He seeks forgiveness.

Redemption beckons.

Millions of people in our driven culture face similar, if less lethal, challenges. Can the real ‘us’ survive? Do we really have to work this way, buy this way, educate this way, pose this way to survive in 21st-century Western society? Can we escape the relentless programming of logo propaganda, the glorified idolatry of self, the genuflection to market forces, the enervating obsession with hollow celebrity, the dearth of enriching relationships? Can we really, as Paul instructs us in Romans 12, not be conformed to this world?

The short answer is ‘yes’. This is indeed the glory of the gospel of Christ. Paul, however, was under no illusions about the tenacity of old patterns of behaviour or the power of the dominant culture to continue to hold sway over our hearts and minds.

Or, indeed, about the cost of living the counter-cultural life. At best we will feel, as Peter puts it, like aliens and exiles (1 Peter 2:11). At worst we may lose our very lives. Being ‘born again’ is a wondrous beginning, but to flourish we need one another and we need ears ‘wifi’d’ to the voice of the Master and hearts filled, like tautened sails, with the Spirit’s breath.

May it be so for you today.

Mark Greene

do we really have to work this way, buy this way, pose this way to survive in 21st-century society?
we need ears ‘wifi’d’ to the voice of the master and hearts filled with the spirit’s breath

CLICK HERE - www.licc.org.uk/culture/the-bourne-again-identity- FOR MORE LINKS AND TO HAVE YOUR SAY

Blogging under Virus Attack

* Hi, I have just read this on the BBC News Website. *

Bloggers battered by viral storm

Some blogs have been found hosting booby-trapped linksGoogle's Blogger site is being used by malicious hackers who are posting fake entries to some blogs.

The fake entries contain weblinks that lead to booby-trapped downloads that could infect a Windows PC.

Infected computers are being hijacked by the gang behind the attacks and either mined for saleable data or used for other attacks.

The Blogger attack is the latest in a series by a gang that has managed to hijack hundreds of thousands of PCs.

Attack pattern

Security researcher Alex Eckelberry from Sunbelt Software first noticed the booby-trapped links turning up on Blogger on 27 August.

Now many hundreds of blogs on the site have been updated with a short entry containing the link.

Mr Eckelberry said it was not yet clear how the links were posted to blogs. The bogus entries could have exploited a Blogger feature that lets users e-mail entries to their journal.

The blogs themselves could also be fake and set up solely to act as hosts for spam.

Read More at the BBC News Website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6970368.stm

Personal News,

You may be aware, that the last couple of days, I haven't blogged as much as usual, the reason being I've very busy, after much thought and consideration, I have decided that I need to update my skills and also develop some new skills.

I only applied yesterday, and had to spend some time at my local College, arranging various things for an exciting and challenging step in my life.

From this September, I will be studying for an HND in Computing (Information Systems), at the Neath Campus of Neath Port Talbot College. There has been quiet a lot of work involved in preparing for this, with visits to College and applying via UCAS and with Student Finance Wales.

Two really good friends of mine, helped me to come to this decision, my Pastor, Mike Sutton-Smith, who advised that with my experience with working with Computers, I should consider doing a Computer Course, and my mate Dave Bishop, who until recently was a mature student. Blessings to them Both.

I start on Monday 17th September, so just over 2 weeks to go. In one of my previous posts, I mentioned Paul Scanlon on " God is attracted to Movement." and be taking this step, God has blessed me.

I may add the feature. "The Diary of a Mature Student." to my blog, just think of a Christian version of "The Diary of Adrian Mole, aged 13 & a half" to get some idea.

Blessings

Blair