A Poetic Tribute to Our Military Heroes

July 4, 2015 Effie Barba

Happy 4th of July!! As we celebrate our countries independence; let us pause to say thank you to all the men and women in uniform or who have ever worn a uniform that we might enjoy our freedom. We need to take a moment and pray for our country and it’s leaders.

A Tribute to Our Military Heroes

(To All Who Have Served and are Serving)

By Effie Darlene Barba

A Hero sat beside the grave

His friend was buried there

He wondered if he’d be as brave

When bullets filled the air

A Hero stood beside the bed

A Comrade lying there

“She’ll never walk”, that’s what they said

It all seemed so unfair

A Hero walked-some foreign street

The people turned and stared

Some would run to hide-retreat

While others simply glared

Did others know the choice they’d made?

Protect, to serve, to save

Whate’er the cost, their post they stayed

For love, their all they gave

A Hero walked into the room

The doctor standing there

The saddened face, the sense of gloom

An illness, very rare

A Hero stood with stoic grace

Though sadness filled his eyes

The gentle smile upon his face

His broken heart’s disguise

These veteran Heroes stood the test

With all that they did do

We must now give to them our best

Our service, Our “Thank you”

Is there anyone you like to specially honor? Click here and share their story.

The artist that drew the picture “A Broken and Contrite Heart” featured on my header and the picture of the bodybuilder is Ronald Barba. Please go to his website ( http://www.barba-art.com) for information regarding obtaining copies or to commission him to create a masterpiece for you. Feel free to email him at Ron@Barba-Art.com to discuss any art projects.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

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How to have an Awesome Iron Pumped Prayer Life

July 3, 2015 Effie Barba

How to have an Awesome Iron Pumped Prayer Life

This Christian pilgrimage is laden with many dangers. It is filled with adversities whose battle cry is for the vanquishment of true joy from our hearts. So often we live on an emotional rollercoaster of highs and lows. Too often, our prayer lives follow that same rollercoaster of disparate cries for help to fleeting waves of “hello” as we skip along the path. We remember to pray most when we have our bucket list of wants to present or when tragedy strikes. Yet, prayer is meant for so much more than that. Look at Ephesians 6, where Paul warns us that we are in the midst of war and must be prepared at all times. Our only weapon is the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit” (Ephesians 6: 17-18). The strength and muscle which wields the sword in battle is prayer. We need our prayer muscles built so that we can wield the Spirit’s sword of the Word with powerful might. A body builder spends hours in the gym to develop strength.

Picture used by permission of the artist Ronald Barba who owns the copyright. For information on go to http://www.barba-art.com

[bctt tweet=”To have strength to wield our spiritual sword in battle, we need an awesome iron pumped prayer life”] How do we do that? We begin by daily setting aside time to be with our heavenly Father. We need to realize that prayer is much more than our “to do list for God.” Prayer is the power source for our sustained joy in this Christian life. Prayer is the power source for our victory in the battles of this life. And prayer is the power source for our hope. Prayer is the power lifting exercise that gives us the strength to wield the Spirits Sword of the Word. At the same time, the weights needed to spiritually pump iron are the words of God!

IRON PUMPING WEIGHT OF THE SCRIPTURE

There are 5 ways that the scripture serves to strengthen our prayers.

Continue reading How to have an Awesome Iron Pumped Prayer Life →

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4 Challenges to Prayer and 1 Awesome Prayer

July 2, 2015 Effie Barba

“Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done.” CS Lewis

I am finding that each morning this is getting easier to get up and leave all devices turned off so that I might talk with my Heavenly Father. That I might lay before Him the challenges that are before me for today, the longings of my heart, and ever more precious the moments to just sit in His presence letting all thoughts fade into only seeing and delighting in Him. What a place of peace that brings.

Used by permission of Ronald Barba who holds the copyright. For more information go to http://www.barba-art.com

[bctt tweet=”Sometimes, prayer is just sitting quietly in God’s presence, letting Him fill you with His Joy”]

These are 4 challenges to prayer I have noticed and some helpful hints to overcome them.

Continue reading 4 Challenges to Prayer and 1 Awesome Prayer →

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IS THE WAY JESUS PRAYS ACTUALLY VALUABLE FOR ME?

July 1, 2015 Effie Barba

IS THE WAY JESUS PRAYS ACTUALLY VALUABLE FOR ME?

What can I learn from studying the prayer life of Jesus? After all, Christ being the True Son of God and part of the Tri-unity of God; why did He need to pray? He was perfect righteousness; what about the way He prays is of value to the prayer life of someone like me with all my frailties?

Jesus Christ, as Son of God has existed from eternity past as part of the God-head made up of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. For anyone struggling with that concept, let me place that in its simplest of terms. Mankind was created in the image of God—body, soul and spirit. So, God is three distinct being (body, soul, and spirit) within one. That truth I will not belabor here. I did in a 2014 series titled, “The Good Pleasure of God’s Will”. Particularly, I addressed this in detail in (Part 2) of that series

WHY DID CHRIST NEED TO PRAY?

When Christ came to earth in human form, He stepped outside of His immediate presence with His Father and the Holy Spirit. Though He was eternally a part of God-the perfect echoing of God’s essence; He was in human flesh tempted as we are. (Hebrews 4:15).

[bctt tweet=”In His human form, it was not that Christ was incapable of sin, He chose to remain sinless”]so that He would be able to redeem you and me. Had He ever chosen to disobey the Father’s commands, He could not pay the price for our sin. The burden of obedience lay very heavily upon His heart. Yet, the human body that He lived in had desires, temptations, hungers, and trials like you and I face. It was in this human state that the perfect righteous of Christ was proven. It was during Christ’s earthly journey that His obedience to the Father’s will was tested and fully manifested as perfect obedience. Because of His perfect obedience, He was able to pay the penalty for mankind’s sin. “¹⁴For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified” (Hebrews 10). If Christ, God’s only begotten son needed to pray; how much more we the adopted children?

We need to look both at the times that Christ prayed and the types of prayers so that we might gain insight into our own prayer lives.

Continue reading IS THE WAY JESUS PRAYS ACTUALLY VALUABLE FOR ME? →

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5 PSALMS TO ASSIST YOUR HEART TO PRAY

June 30, 2015 Effie Barba

5 Psalms to Assist Your Heart to Pray

So, this is day two of our 30 day challenge in prayer. How are you doing? I must say that setting aside 30 minutes with no interruptions is not easy at first. For me the interruptions are my own brain wandering away to other things. So, what helped me today was the minute my brain seemed to wander: I pulled out my Bible and opened to the Psalms and began to out loud pray the words from the Psalms to God.

Picture used by permission of Ronald Barba and is protected under copyright laws.

[bctt tweet=”Our two most powerful weapons are God’s Word and Prayer. Combined they are a formidable force.”] A force that will empower us to success and guarantee victory!!! What will that look like in my life? I am not certain. What I am certain of: whatever God’s view of success and victory is for my life, I want that.

Here are the words of 5 Psalms that helped me to focus today. I hope they inspire you as well.

Psalm 8: O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens…³When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;⁴What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?…⁹O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

Continue reading 5 PSALMS TO ASSIST YOUR HEART TO PRAY →