Al Jennings II

How to handle persecution

Matt. 5:44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,

You can't keep yourself from being persecuted in this life, unfortunately. There will always be people who talk about you and criticize you. But in the midst of being persecuted, you must keep your focus and continue strive to fulfill the will of God for your life. Here are some things to remember when being persecuted:

1. Walk in love (Ephesians 5:2)

2. Pray for your enemies (Matthew 5:44)

3. Don't render evil for evil (Romans 12:17; 1Thess 5:15; 1Pe 3:9)

4. Don't respond to your critics; in doing so you give them credentials

5. Keep your focus on the Lord and do what He tells you to do

6. Don't worry about it; cast the persecution on the Lord  (2Peter 5:7)

7. Understand that no weapon formed against you shall prosper (Isaiah 54:17)

8. Don't try to be an investigative reporter; digging into all the details of who said what -- let the Lord deal with it

9. Don't treat persecution as a Word from God

10. Build yourself up by praying in the spirit (1Cor 14:4; Jude 20)

By no means am I perfect and I haven't always dealt with persecution in the right way. But as I work through these things in my own life, hopefully these nuggets will help you in some way. Make it a wonderful day and use your words to build up and not tear down.

My prayer time

During different seasons of my life, I use different methods of prayer depending on how I sense I should pray at the time.

Presently, I use a topical prayer in my morning devotional time. In this prayer I pray with a topical outline. Here's the outline:

1. Thanksgiving

2. Family and any personal stuff

3. Members and Partners

4. Ministers

5. President, Government, and Military

6. Laborers for the harvest

In addition to that, I'm focusing on disciplining myself to stay conscious of God's presence after I leave my set aside devotional time, and be conscious of his presence and have little conversations with Him throughout the day. In other words, I'm training myself to practice his presence all day long. This might seem easy, but it's more difficult than you might think. But it can be done with practice. Anyway, that's where I am at the moment.

You can check out my winning track for more information on some different methods or ways to pray. My personal favorite is the "Tabernacle prayer". Other prayer methods I discuss in the track are: "The sweet hour of prayer", and "ripple prayer". Anyway, that's how I roll in prayer!

Doing Good and Making Friends

Prov. 11:30 The seeds of good deeds become a tree of life; a wise person wins friends. 

A deed is an action that is performed intentionally or consciously. Today, make a conscious choice to do good to someone. Be a blessing to someone today. The seeds of good deeds are a tree of life. How is your tree? Be kind and do good to someone. By doing so, you are nurturing your tree of life. Are you winning friends or turning people off? Even keeping to yourself is not good. The Word says, if you are wise, you will win friends. Go and find some new friends, break out of your box. It'll be fine and you'll be better for it. Good friends add to your life. They were given to you by God, take advantage of it. But if your going to have friends, you must first be friendly (Pro 18.24). Some say, "I don't need anybody, I only need God." If that were true, why would God give you friends? A person who says that is not wise. You need God. And you need friends. 

Oh, and BTW, true friends love you unconditionally.

Tongues is a Spiritual Energy Drink

Jude 20   But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 

1Cor. 14:2 For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries. 

Do you need a little spiritual boast? Or do you ever feel that you need to reconnect with God? Even though we know that God will never leave us or forsake us, sometimes it seems as though God is far away. Now I know that we are to walk by faith and not by our feelings. But you may have moments when spiritually you seem somewhat out of touch or not where you need to be. Whenever you have times like these, we have something in our spiritual toolbox that will help us get the sense of His presence back - praying in tongues. Sometimes we need to get our spiritual batteries charged back up. Praying in tongues is a spiritual energy drink that will build you up. Sometimes throughout the day you need answers or situations come up where you need wisdom. Praying in the spirit will help you get unstuck when you feel stuck spiritually. When you have these moments, pray in tongues. You may not be able to do it out loud, but that's okay; pray quietly under your breath. Praying in tongues accomplishes a lot more than many of us realize. I encourage you to use this powerful spiritual tool much more in your life. I will close with some suggestions of where you can pray in tongues. These are just a few. You may think of some other places where you can use this powerful spiritual tool.

1. In the car

2. In the shower

3. While you're getting dressed

4. When cooking or cleaning the house

5. While washing dishes

6. When cutting the grass

7. While ironing

8. While on hold on the telephone

9. While on short breaks at work

10. When somebody's cussing you out

11. While waiting on an Internet site to load

12. When washing your car

13. Sitting under the dryer (I know that's right)

These are just some suggestions to give you some triggers to help you engage more in praying in your heavenly language and receiving the powerful benefits that it will bring.

Where Is Your Focus?

When you are about to hit a shot in golf, and you have trouble (water on the left, and woods on the right), if you focus on the trouble you will tend to hit your ball into the trouble. Instead, you should focus your attention on your target. Your ball will usually go in the direction of what you focus on. The same is true in life. If you focus on the problems of life, you'll tend to move toward them. Instead, you should focus on your goals and where you want to go, not where you don't want to go.

What are your dreams and desires? Focus today on where you want to go, and you will move in that direction.

Wardrobe building and coordination

The following is an excerpt on wardrobe building and coordination from an e-mail newsletter I received from a image consultant that I've worked with in the past named Catherine Bell from Canada. For more information you can go to her website: http://www.prime-impressions.com/pub.html

º Choose two or three classic colours that suit you that you will not tire of such as black, tan, navy, brown, gray, red, burgundy, taupe, or beige.

º If you are a woman, plan to purchase two suits in coordinating colours, such as black and tan, or navy and burgundy. They will also need to be in fabrics that are similar in texture so that you can wear the jacket of one suit with a bottom from the other, and vice versa. A high-fashion piece will be noticed the following season, so the more classic the styling of the suits, the longer they can be worn. Add one more coordinating bottom that will go with both suit jackets. If your wardrobe needs are more casual, instead of the suit jackets, you can look for softly tailored shirts that can act as unstructured jackets. To the above five garments, add three tops/shirts/blouses in current fashion colours and one layering piece, such as a cardigan. If all of the tops and the cardigan can be worn with your three bottoms and go under the jackets, you can combine them in different ways to arrive at 20 outfits. Additional scarves and accessories can also change the look of these basic items to give you endless possibilities.

º If you are a gentleman, deconstructing suits and wearing a jacket of one suit with the pant of another will never look correct. For this wardrobe capsule solution, you need to start with two blazers or sports jackets and add three pairs of trousers in wool, microfibres or even cotton for your more casual needs. All three pants must go with both jackets. Remember that a navy jacket and a navy pant that are not specifically manufactured as coordinates will always look slightly off, so avoid this at all cost. To these five garments, add three shirts/knit tops and one layering piece such as a pullover or cardigan that can go with all your tailored pieces. Of course adding a few ties with different patterns and stripes will further change the look of your wardrobe.

 

A Practical Way to be a Blessing

Prov. 27:17   As iron sharpens iron, a friend sharpens a friend.

Think of one of your close friends; particularly one who you feel could use some encouragement. Think of something that you could say to build him or her up. Now pick up that phone, and sharpen your friend with your words of encouragement. This could be the very thing they need today to give them an edge.

Doc Holliday's advice for getting out of a relationship that sucks

1Cor. 15:33  .... for “bad company corrupts good character.” (NLT)

Being in a bad relationship sucks. If you are dating someone who is bad for you; draining your energy and pulling you down, take some advice from the movie, "Tombstone" (one of my favorites). In this movie, Doc Holliday needed to let go of his female companion because she contributed to his destructive lifestyle.
So in case you need to discreetly let someone go, use Doc's line, "It appears, uh... we must redefine the nature of our association. ... Then walk out before they figure it out :-)

Make your day count Pt. VIII

One thing that you can do to help balance your activities is to spend more time in quadrant two and less time doing quadrant one activities. For example, by spending more time planning homework (for your children) and household duties (quadrant two) tends to eliminate emergencies resulting from the lack of planning which turn into Q1 tasks. In other words, improper planning of household and homework activities (quadrant two) tends to result in the expansion of activities in quadrant one.
Here's an example from my own life. When I set aside time for training (quadrant two) on software that I use to accomplish Q2 activities, it saves me time that I spend doing those activities. Because by taking the time to train, I learn to do my Q2 work faster which results in me being more productive. I get my most important activities done in less time. And by doing that, it frees up more time for other high-priority activities such as family time, devotional time, or prayer time.
I hope this makes sense?

Make your day count Pt. VIII: Finding the time to read

Interruptions tend to be urgent. Urgent things screams for action. The problem with books is that they don't ring. For example, let's say you have a book that you desire to read. And you never seem to have the time to read it. The book sits on your night stand staring at you every night before you retire. And you have feelings of guilt and frustration, wondering when you will ever have the time to read.
On the other hand, the telephone rings, and of course, you have to answer it because it might be an emergency. But of course, it rarely is. So you pick up the phone and talk for 45 minutes. But why don't you spend the 45 minutes reading your book? Because books don't ring. But when you plan your activities according to the priorities that you have set and put reading time into quadrant II, you are making the book ring. BTW, you don't have to answer the telephone. Invest in a good answering machine and return the calls at your leisure.