Malachi 3:3 says: 'He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.'
This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God ...
One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.
That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining Silver.
As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.
The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: ' He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.'
She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time.
The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.
The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, 'How do you know when the silver is fully refined?'
He smiled at her and answered, ' Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it.'
If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.
Pass this on right now. This very moment, someone needs to know that God is watching over them.
Life is a coin. You can spend it anyway you wish, but you can only spend it once.'
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Rules for beloved young adults and teenagers
I love this! The author talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world. Too bad we really don’t know who said it in the first place!
Rule 1 : Life is not fair – get used to it!
Rule 2 : The world doesn’t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won’t be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
Rule 4 : If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.
Rule 6 : If you mess up, it’s not your parents’ fault, so don’t whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
Rule 7 : Before you were born, your parents weren’t as boring as they are now… They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent’s generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8 : Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they’ll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn’t bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
Rule 9 : Life is not divided into semesters. You don’t get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
Rule 10 : Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11 : Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one
Rule 1 : Life is not fair – get used to it!
Rule 2 : The world doesn’t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won’t be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
Rule 4 : If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.
Rule 6 : If you mess up, it’s not your parents’ fault, so don’t whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
Rule 7 : Before you were born, your parents weren’t as boring as they are now… They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent’s generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8 : Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they’ll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn’t bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
Rule 9 : Life is not divided into semesters. You don’t get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
Rule 10 : Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11 : Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
The Company You Keep
The Company You Keep
It Is Better To Be Alone Than In The Wrong Company
Tell me who your best friends are, and I will tell you who you are. If you run with wolves, you will learn how to howl.... You show me your friends....I will show you your future.
But, if you associate with eagles, you will learn how to soar to great heights.
A mirror reflects a man's face, but what he is really like is shown by the kind of friends he chooses.
The simple but true fact of life is that you become like those with whom you closely associate for the good and the bad.
The less you associate with some people, the more your life will improve.
Any time you tolerate mediocrity in others, it increases your mediocrity.
An important attribute in successful people is their impatience with negative thinking and negative acting people...
As you grow, your associates will change....Some of your friends will not want you to go on.
They will want you to stay where they are...Friends that don't help you climb will want you to crawl.
Your friends will stretch your vision or choke your dream...Those that don't increase you will eventually decrease you.
Consider This:
· Never receive counsel from unproductive people.
· Never discuss your problems with someone incapable of contributing to the solution, because those who never succeed themselves are always first to tell you how.
· Not everyone has a right to speak into your life.
· Don't follow anyone who's not going anywhere.
· With some people you spend an evening: with others you invest it.
· Be careful where you stop to inquire for directions along the road of life.
· Wise is the person who fortifies his life with the right friendships.
And most of all....Pray and let God lead you in everything you do
It Is Better To Be Alone Than In The Wrong Company
Tell me who your best friends are, and I will tell you who you are. If you run with wolves, you will learn how to howl.... You show me your friends....I will show you your future.
But, if you associate with eagles, you will learn how to soar to great heights.
A mirror reflects a man's face, but what he is really like is shown by the kind of friends he chooses.
The simple but true fact of life is that you become like those with whom you closely associate for the good and the bad.
The less you associate with some people, the more your life will improve.
Any time you tolerate mediocrity in others, it increases your mediocrity.
An important attribute in successful people is their impatience with negative thinking and negative acting people...
As you grow, your associates will change....Some of your friends will not want you to go on.
They will want you to stay where they are...Friends that don't help you climb will want you to crawl.
Your friends will stretch your vision or choke your dream...Those that don't increase you will eventually decrease you.
Consider This:
· Never receive counsel from unproductive people.
· Never discuss your problems with someone incapable of contributing to the solution, because those who never succeed themselves are always first to tell you how.
· Not everyone has a right to speak into your life.
· Don't follow anyone who's not going anywhere.
· With some people you spend an evening: with others you invest it.
· Be careful where you stop to inquire for directions along the road of life.
· Wise is the person who fortifies his life with the right friendships.
And most of all....Pray and let God lead you in everything you do
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Be the kind of Christian....
Be the kind of Christian who fights the good fight in spite of all the obsticles and ends up sliding into the throne room tattered, scrapped, bruised and bloodied with a big smile exclaiming, "Whow, Lord now that was one heck of a ride!!"
Pastor Jack Valentino
Pastor Jack Valentino
Sunday, May 31, 2009
My Prayer for YOU!
My Friend In Christ,
I just wanted you to know that I pray for You. I pray that You will want what God wants for you. But I can’t dream for you. One thing I have learned as a Christian is “You can’t dream for people.” We have to want what God wants for us. We have to surrender and commit ourselves to Christ. We have to surrender our desires, dreams and goals to God. His desires, goals and dreams for our life are so much better than we could ever imagine. We have to be willing to live a Holy life before God. We have to be willing to seek His face and His ways for our life. Are You Willing?
Let Us Pray: God I thank You for Your thoughts that You think toward me, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give me a future and a hope. Make me want what You Lord Jesus’ want for me. Let every desire that I have line up to the purpose You created me for. You have great plans for my life. You have a great future for me. Teach me how to call upon You and seek You with my whole heart for that future. I surrender my heart to You. If you find anything that should not be in my heart please deliver me.
Lord Jesus please give me the strength to endure every test, temptation, and struggle that comes my way. I know that I am going to be tested. I know that Satan will send temptations my way. Help me to pass each and every test. Teach me how, help me, make me resist Satan’s temptations. His job is to kill, steal, and destroy the wonderful plans You have for my life. So teach me how to resist everything that Satan sends my way. Teach me how to pray without ceasing. Teach me how to acknowledge You first Lord Jesus and allow You to direct my footsteps. Teach me how to obey You and stand strong in Your Word. Teach me how to worship You in spirit and in truth. Let there be no other god in my life but You. Give me wisdom and knowledge to live a Holy life before You. And Lord Jesus please do the same for the person who wrote this prayer, the one who cared about my walk with You to send me this prayer, and all those I love and care about.
I just wanted you to know that I pray for You. I pray that You will want what God wants for you. But I can’t dream for you. One thing I have learned as a Christian is “You can’t dream for people.” We have to want what God wants for us. We have to surrender and commit ourselves to Christ. We have to surrender our desires, dreams and goals to God. His desires, goals and dreams for our life are so much better than we could ever imagine. We have to be willing to live a Holy life before God. We have to be willing to seek His face and His ways for our life. Are You Willing?
Let Us Pray: God I thank You for Your thoughts that You think toward me, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give me a future and a hope. Make me want what You Lord Jesus’ want for me. Let every desire that I have line up to the purpose You created me for. You have great plans for my life. You have a great future for me. Teach me how to call upon You and seek You with my whole heart for that future. I surrender my heart to You. If you find anything that should not be in my heart please deliver me.
Lord Jesus please give me the strength to endure every test, temptation, and struggle that comes my way. I know that I am going to be tested. I know that Satan will send temptations my way. Help me to pass each and every test. Teach me how, help me, make me resist Satan’s temptations. His job is to kill, steal, and destroy the wonderful plans You have for my life. So teach me how to resist everything that Satan sends my way. Teach me how to pray without ceasing. Teach me how to acknowledge You first Lord Jesus and allow You to direct my footsteps. Teach me how to obey You and stand strong in Your Word. Teach me how to worship You in spirit and in truth. Let there be no other god in my life but You. Give me wisdom and knowledge to live a Holy life before You. And Lord Jesus please do the same for the person who wrote this prayer, the one who cared about my walk with You to send me this prayer, and all those I love and care about.
Friday, March 27, 2009
We've changed our look
We have changed our website at http://elishasmantle.com/
got some new buttons and made it look stream lined,up with the times if you may. I do my own website design and built it all by myself. I taught myself years ago by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. God gave me the idea of putting my experience on the internet. and I've been learning new things all the time. For many years I did not spend a penny on the website. everything was free back then in 1999. I still have less than two hundred dollars in programs. and the site is parked at Freeyellow.com cost me 79.00 a year.
If you are interested in making a website, or have a question please contact me at
mailto:webmaster@elishasmantle.com
got some new buttons and made it look stream lined,up with the times if you may. I do my own website design and built it all by myself. I taught myself years ago by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. God gave me the idea of putting my experience on the internet. and I've been learning new things all the time. For many years I did not spend a penny on the website. everything was free back then in 1999. I still have less than two hundred dollars in programs. and the site is parked at Freeyellow.com cost me 79.00 a year.
If you are interested in making a website, or have a question please contact me at
mailto:webmaster@elishasmantle.com
Monday, February 16, 2009
How Many Zero's In A Billion?
How many zeros in a billion?
This is too true to be funny.
The next time you hear a politician use the word 'billion' in a casual manner,
think about whether you want the 'politicians' spending YOUR tax money.
A billion is a difficult number to comprehend
,but one advertising agency did a good job
of putting that figure into some perspective in one of it's releases.
A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
C.A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.
D.A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.
E. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes,
at the rate our governmentis spending it.
While this thought is still fresh in our brain...
let's take a look at New Orleans ..
It's amazing what you can learn with some simple division.
Louisiana Senator,Mary Landrieu (D) is presently
asking Congress for 250 BILLION DOLLARS
to rebuild New Orleans .
Interesting number...what does it mean?
A.Well... if you are one of the 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man, woman, and child) you each get $516,528.
B.Or... if you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans , your home gets $1,329,787.
C.Or... if you are a family of four...your family gets $2,066,012. Washington, D. C
HELLO! Are all your calculators broken??
Building Permit Tax
CDL License Tax Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax
(Fed)Federal Unemployment Tax
(FU TA) Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Tax
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service charge taxes
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax (Truckers)
Sales Taxes Recreational Vehicle Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax
(SUTA) Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Tax
Vehicle License Registration T ax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
(And to think, we left British Rule to avoid so many taxes)
STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago...
and our nation was the most prosperous in the world.We had absolutely no national debt...
We had the largest middle class in the world... and Mom stayed home to raise the kids. What happened?Can you spell 'politicians!' And I still have to press '1' for English. enough already........
This is too true to be funny.
The next time you hear a politician use the word 'billion' in a casual manner,
think about whether you want the 'politicians' spending YOUR tax money.
A billion is a difficult number to comprehend
,but one advertising agency did a good job
of putting that figure into some perspective in one of it's releases.
A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
C.A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.
D.A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.
E. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes,
at the rate our governmentis spending it.
While this thought is still fresh in our brain...
let's take a look at New Orleans ..
It's amazing what you can learn with some simple division.
Louisiana Senator,Mary Landrieu (D) is presently
asking Congress for 250 BILLION DOLLARS
to rebuild New Orleans .
Interesting number...what does it mean?
A.Well... if you are one of the 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man, woman, and child) you each get $516,528.
B.Or... if you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans , your home gets $1,329,787.
C.Or... if you are a family of four...your family gets $2,066,012. Washington, D. C
HELLO! Are all your calculators broken??
Building Permit Tax
CDL License Tax Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax
(Fed)Federal Unemployment Tax
(FU TA) Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Tax
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service charge taxes
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax (Truckers)
Sales Taxes Recreational Vehicle Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax
(SUTA) Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Tax
Vehicle License Registration T ax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
(And to think, we left British Rule to avoid so many taxes)
STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago...
and our nation was the most prosperous in the world.We had absolutely no national debt...
We had the largest middle class in the world... and Mom stayed home to raise the kids. What happened?Can you spell 'politicians!' And I still have to press '1' for English. enough already........
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