We’ve updated our kitchen with three delicious bar cookies. The one below will wet your appetite, and it’s healthy, too!

FRUIT BARS
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour, divided
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup & 2 Tbsp honey, divided
1/2 cup chopped pineapple
2 eggs
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Heat oven to 350 degrees; oil 8” square baking pan. Mix together one cup flour, oil and 2 tablespoons of honey. Evenly pat mixture on bottom of pan. Bake 10 minutes.

Mix together eggs, ¾ cup honey and vanilla. Mix 1/2 cup flour with yeast and baking powder. Stir egg mixture until smooth. Stir in pineapple, coconut and walnuts. Spread mixture over warm crust. Bake 15 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Cut into bars.

“The child who has everything done for him, everything given to him, and nothing required of him is a deprived child. The parent who tries to please the child by giving in to him and expecting nothing from him ends up by pleasing no one, least of all the child. For in the end, when trouble results, the child will blame the parent for his gutlessness.” – Larry Christenson

At the beginning of each new day, surrender your children to the loving care and protection of God. Just as His mercy is fresh and new each and every morning for all of His children, Lamentations 3:22-26 so is His faithfulness to give grace for the day. But, it is up to us to receive it. And, as you go throughout your day, remember that disciplining your children is not a bad thing when it’s done with in love (not anger) and for the purpose of training them up in the way they should go, just as our Heavenly Father disciplines us. Proverbs 22:6 and Hebrews 12:5-11 Yes, kids will test the boundaries and they will test the rules, but many grown ups will tell you that, as children, they felt safe and more secure within consistent boundaries and were disciplined out of love. Keywords? consistent love!

Coffee Cup Friends Makeover!

It won’t be long now before we can give you a glimpse of the new Coffee Cup Friends. Let us give you a clue… there will be a “sister website”.

Stay tuned!

What have I done for You today?
Lord, what have I done?
What can I say in answer to
The victories I have won?
How can I feel I’m worthy
Of Your guidance and Your love…
As seldom as I do my best
For You, above.

So many times I stumble
As I go upon my way,
But always You are by my side
To guide me through each day.
I can feel Your presence always
As I gaze into the sky, or while
I’m stopped at a traffic light
As cars go whizzing by.

There surely is a method
On a way I can repay You for
Watching o’er me throughout each
Sun-filled day. Perhaps in helping
Someone who needs to know Your love.
I can say thanks to You, for Your
Blessings from above. Then and only
Then, would I ever be able to say,
I’ve done this for You, dear, Lord,
I’ve done this for You, today.

Naomi Jones, Guest Author

Read: 2 Timothy 4: 1-5
Have you ever heard the acronym for BIBLE? Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. God’s Word is a roadmap for life here on earth and for the life to come (eternal life). As Christians, we have a calling and consider it a privilege to study the Bible; to follow and obey its commands, and to share the Good News of Jesus Christ to the world around us.

Heavenly Father, thank you for loving us so much that you made a way for us to know You, Your plan of Salvation, and the right way to live … through Your Written, Spoken, and Living Word. In Jesus name, Amen.

1 cup prepared hot tea
2 tablespoons lite whipped topping, FROZEN
ground cinnamon for garnish

Stir Cool-Whip into cup of hot tea.
Sprinkle some ground cinnamon on top.

Coffee Cup Friends

“Our worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God’s grace.” – Jerry Bridges

“Jesus’ example teaches us that prayer is about relationship. When he prays, he is not performing a duty; he is getting close to his Father.

Any relationship, if it is going to grow, needs private space, time together without an agenda, where you can get to know each other. This creates an environment where closeness happen, where we can begin to understand each others hearts.

You don’t create intimacy; you make room for it. This is true whether you are talking about your spouse, your friend, or God. You need space to be together. Efficiency, multitasking, and busyness all kill intimacy. In short, you can’t get to know God on the fly.

If Jesus has to pull away from people and noise in order to pray, then it makes sense that we need to as well.”

Paul Miller, page 47 of A Praying Life

Q. I’ve noticed a number of times in the Bible that people would pray with their hands lifted up and eyes focused toward Heaven. How did it come about that we most often pray with our heads bowed and eyes closed?

A. Both ways are acceptable to God. He looks less on the position of our bodies, and more on the position of our hearts. This means, He wants us (our hearts) to be honest, forgiving, yielding, humbled, worshipful, praising, and ready to receive His love, grace, and mercy.

Lifting up one’s hands and focusing upward is a sign of ultimate praise; surrendering ourselves unconditionally to a most Holy, Almighty God. It’s not only an outward expression of an internal, uninhibited, grateful heart, but also demonstrates a position that is ready to receive God’s blessings, healing, and forgiveness.

On the other hand, bowing our heads (or positioning our bodies into a low, bowed pose), eyes closed, and hands either folded or open (facing up) is a sign of humility. (Even beyond this, pronating our bodies, lying flat, face to the ground, is considered the ultimate position of humility and surrender.) Closing our eyes tends to help us block out the distractions that might be going on around us. Hands opened and upward, positions us to, once again, receive God’s blessings, healing, and forgiveness, and for us to yield our all to Him. But as we said, God looks on the heart and less on the position of our bodies. Interestingly, though, if we are truly unrestrained and completely focused on God, our inner passion and love for Him (totally abandoned to self) will often be outwardly reflected by the position of our bodies. However, focus not on the “how”, but on the “Who”… Jesus Christ!

2 Chronicles 29:30 is one example of people in the Bible bowing their heads in worship. All Rights Reserved. 2010 Coffee Cup Friends (CL)

Satan called a worldwide convention. In his opening address to his evil angels, he said, “We can’t keep the Christians from going to church. We can’t keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth. We can’t even keep them from holding godly values. But, we can keep them from forming an intimate, abiding relational experience with Jesus Christ. This is the most critical for our cause, for if they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken”.

“So let them go to their churches; let them have their conservative lifestyles, but steal their time, so they can’t gain that relationship with Jesus Christ and with each other. This is what I want you to do, angels. Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection with Him throughout their day or each other during the week!” “How shall we do this?” shouted his angels. “Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds,” he answered. “Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow. Convince them to work 6 and 7 days a week with both husbands and wives working 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles”.

“Keep them from spending time with their children. As their family fragments, their home will soon offer no escape from the pressures of the outside world! Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear God’s still, small voice. Flood their mail and email boxes with “stuff”; and steal their time with trivial information and stories that they pass back and forth to each other. Entice them to keep their TVs, DVDs, CDs, PCs, texting, Facebook, and their iPods going constantly. This will jam their minds, discourage meaningful relationships, and break that union with Christ.”

“Fill their coffee tables with magazines and newspapers. Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day. Invade their driving moments with billboards, signage, food, and talking on their phones. Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, magazines, mail order catalogs, and every kind of promotional – offering free products, services, and false hopes. Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines so the husbands will believe that external beauty is what’s important, and hopefully, become dissatisfied with their wives. That will fragment those families quickly!”

“Even in their recreation, let them be excessive. Have them return from their recreation exhausted, disquieted and unprepared for the coming week. Don’t let them go out in nature to reflect on God’s wonders. Instead, overwhelm their vacations with amusement parks, sporting events, concerts and movies. Keep them busy, busy, busy! And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences and unsettled emotions. And, don’t forget to crowd their lives with ‘causes’ and events that are ‘good and acceptable’ that God never necessarily called them to in the first place. Again, our strategy is to exhaust them so much that they have no time to feed their souls, or to cultivate love for their Lord or each other. Our goal, for them, is to not have any spiritual power over temptations, over habits, over wrong attitudes, and so much more. They will have less and less discernment as to what is right or wrong; what is good, and what is evil. And, the best part? They won’t even suspect us!”

It was quite a convention! The evil angels went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians everywhere to get exceedingly busy, more rushed and exhausted, going here and there; Christians who have knowledge about many things, but have precious little time to sit at Jesus’ feet, and who are fast losing their grip on peace and holiness and love and purity and forgiveness. Christians who have less and less time and heart for “the eternal” or for the souls of others (even their own children) because their minds and hearts are jammed with the things of this world.

Of course, the key words in the above story are “overwhelm”, “flood”, “crowd”, etc. Many of these activities are not necessarily bad, in and of themselves, but we’ve become a society of excess, and much can be learned from this thought-provoking tale. Wouldn’t you agree, it’s a timely reminder and warning?

Has the devil been successful at his scheme? You be the judge.