A to Z Challenge S is for Samson and Samuel Say So and Search my heart

First off I want to apologize for my unexpected absence for so long, but I am back.

So I pick up with S, and with perhaps one of the most complex stories in the Old Testament, that being the story of Samson.

Samson was born to a woman unable to give birth, she was past the age of becoming pregnant but was assured that she would carry a child and her child would be a Nazarite, a man dedicated to God from before his birth, he would have great strength as long as his hair was never shaved or cut.

Samson did not follow the instruction given him by his parents, instead he was drawn to the women who were Philistines, the people who had oppressed his own people for nearly 40 years and whom were unclean and uncircumcised for they were the Gentiles.

Although Samson lived in the lions den, his heart was Jewish, when the Philistines attacked his family he struck back with his super human strength.

Yet Samson could not control his love, for he fell in love with a Philistine woman named Delilah who stole the secret of his strength and made him a slave.

Slave or not, blind or not Samson found his courage and was a hero in the end,.

Next is another Old Testament book, this one the books of Samuel.  The first book does chronicle Samuel but makes a transition to the major players of Saul and David, the two men who would be called to be the first King of the Jewish people.

The wheels are set in motion by Chapter 9 to 15 we see Saul as the King of Israel, but by Chapter 15 God is dissatisfied by Saul and Samuel anoints David as the new King.

From here on we see the struggle the develops between Saul and David and how there is divided loyalty of Saul's son Jonathon who becomes David's closest friend.

These two books are well paced and teach many a lesson about being responsible and how one may end up in conflict unexpectedly..

Now we move onto some uplifting music.

The first song is  by Israel Newbreed and is titled Say So The song is rapid and upbeat as we would expect with the answer to the questions asked is that "The Lord Say So"

Our next and last song is titled Search My Heart sung by Hillsong Ministry and is a beautiful song of discovery and allowing God to look in us by our request as a way of making ourselves open to the complete presence and love of God.

Well this ends S, onto T next.

A to Z Challenge R is for Revive Us (Again) Rhythm of Grace and Rise. All uplifting Music

Today is an all music day, and it has one theme.  All three songs today deal with transformation and serving God.  I  realize that this is a common theme among Christian music, however today it is the main subject.  I hope you enjoy.

This song is again about transformation, but is one about how a person makes the conscious decision to be more than what the world expects and who they have been.  it is Rise and sung by Katy Perry.

A to Z Challenge P is For The Power of I am, Power in the Blood The book of Psalms Psalms 23 and The Purpose Driven Life

Welcome back today I have three books, two by contemporary authors, and one from The Bible.  I also have two songs, one of which is very traditional and one is somewhat contemporary.

Let's start off by a book by Joel Osteen, The book is The Power of I am  This book is similar to Joyce Meyer's book Me and My Big Mouth.  For what Joel Osteen is talking about is the power of the words we use and choose.

He gives an example in the inner fly leaf where he mentions, If you say you are Blessed then you are blessed,... if you say "I am Healthy, then Health will follow you."

There is no magick in this book, just common sense things that many times we simply forget because we get caught up in the moment.

The book is 269 pages and will be an empowering book in your life.

Our first song ties into the above mentioned book, it is an old song that is sung in many protestant churches today.  It is Power in the Blood.  also known by the title There is power in the Blood of the Lamb. 

The next book is actually two.  One is the main text and the second is the journal for the master book.  These books are The Purpose Driven Life and The Purpose Driven Life Journal  By Rick Warren.

Warren's books are for all intensive self help books, which most of the books I have listed are.  Warren however breaks his book into several sections, the first is why we are here and looks at aspects such as that We are not accidents, discovering What drives your life,  

Each builds on the previous chapter and reinforces the steps toward bringing on change not just in who we are but how we live each day.  Now this is where things change, because of the second book.

It calls itself a Journal, but it is much more than this for The Purpose Driven Life Journal is more a workbook asking questions based on the chapter but going further by  challenging our belief, what has defined us.

The main text book is a total of 334 pages with an index,Resources and Why we use translations.

The workbook does not have page numbers it is a 40 day process, a listing of sources and list of other books written by Rick Warren.

Next is the Book of Psalms written by King David Psalms are a collection of reflections and prayers that David wrote.  The best known Psalm is the 23rd Psalm which we all know, for itstarts "The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want" Many times this is said at funerals and yet it is not a prayer of dismay.

The 23rd Psalm is a celebration of life, of how we are always with God and how he takes care of us even when we feel abandoned.  

With that being said, the next song needs no explanation for it is a musical representation of The 23rd Psalm,

Psalm 23

A to Z Challenge O is for Open the Eyes of my Heart, On Eagles Wings and Our Unmet Needs

Today I am starting with a contemporary Christian song that is popular among all paths of the faith.  The song is titled Open the Eyes of my Heart this song is about transformation from one who lives for their own needs to one who is open to the needs of others, of being able to reach out and help lift up others.

Another song that I used to sing all the time is On Eagles Wings A song of being lifted up by God.  This version is sung by Michael Crawford, best known as The Phantom of the Opera  In Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical of the same name.

Now we come to a book, by one of the most insightful writers Pastor Charles Stanley and his book Our Unmet Needs Dr. Stanley breaks this book down and helps us look inside to define our needs, what does work and what does not and perhaps one of the most insightful chapter Ten Reasons we Experience a Delay  

In this chapter we learn what leads to the delay of resolving the needs we all have.
He talks about How issues such as Our attempts to manipulate the outcome, instead of trusting that God will come through for us we attempt to on our own manipulate circumstances in our life to bring about the result,

Another aspect is that we have the wrong motivation for what we are asking for,we put a need of the flesh ,(Power,Money, Success,Sex) as what we are attempting to obtain instead of Financial security to avoid losing ones home or for the benefit of our family,  If we are selfish the need may never be met.

The book is 253 pages and is well worth reading.

A to Z Challenge K is for Kindness,King of My Heart, and Kingdom Come

Yes I know, today was N, I should be on O; however wjem I did my original hunt for music that began with K i found nothing.  Now since discovering Lifewayworship.com I am finding all kinds of music, with a wider array from A to Z.


So here is K for today.

The first song is titled Kindness there really is no need to explain the title, it says exactly what this song is about, us being kind to one and other through the love and grace of God.

Next is a song that I sing every Sunday at service, it is titled Kind of My Heart  and is about how we being engulfed and filled by the Holy Spirit and are drawn to live our lives honestly and fully in helping others.

Our last song is Kingdom Come and is based on the Our Father prayer and again about our transformation in action and thought.

So it is out of order, but as the saying goes "Better late than never."  Enjoy

A to Z Challenge N is for Nahum Noah,Now What, Nailed to the Cross Name above all names New Creation and New Day .

Nahum This   is among one of the shortest books in the Bible for there are only 3 chapters in the whole book, But  some of the best-known passages come from this book among them are :

The  Lord is a jealous  and avenging God; the Lord takes Vengeance and is filled with  wrath...

The  Lord is slow to anger but great in power the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished .

This  book talks of how God has turned his anger on the city of Nineveh yet although God has said how he intends  to punish the people of Nineva will survive, but they will do so forever with the stain as being one of the crulelist Nations of the Earth .

Although  this book is filled with representations of God's anger towards a people it is still a fair warning to us that we need to really think before we Act .



 Our next reference is not a book in the Bible yet the person that references is one of those people we can learn from , that being Noah .

 Noah appears in the book of Genesis and an example of how we need to  consider how we Act and what we say.


 Noah was honest and righteous in his actions that he was spared by God and through this that the human race could begin again .

 God was very severe in the fact that he eliminated the body of the human race and began the Earth over again  all because humans had turned away from God,   worst still they had turned  against themselves  and we're destroying the world on their own .

This  would be the only time stroy the human race and the Earth , after this  God attempts to work with humans we see with Moses and the Ten Commandments , and of course later still to the Forgiveness of Jesus towards the human race .


 Now this next item is not a book it is a pamphlet and it was given to me after I had been baptized  in the Holy spirit  .

 The pamphlet is divided into Severn sections , each section deals with an aspect  of the Holy spirit .   The purpose of this pamphlet is to help someone who has just been baptized into the Holy Spirit .    it is a very simple read and very beneficial.

Next several inspirational songs.

We  start off with a song that is titled Nailed to the Cross performed by Rend Collective Charts.   This song is about  how to Jesus's life and sac we change our viewrifice longer the same , for we have been freed from the sins that have controlled us for Generations and how we change our view and attitude towards ourselves and others.

Next  is a song but I sing every Sunday at service , that song is titled Name above all names  this song is about how we see Jesus the true representation of God and how we Believe that he (God),will always be with us and support us no matter Where We Are or the struggle we are involved in .

 These last two songs  are Mirror  images of each other; for they are both talking of how when we accept Jesus we are transformed into a new person or as the second song title says that we are a new creation .

The  first of these mirror songs is titled New Creation, the  title is out of 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17.

In  this verse Paul talks of how we are made new when we accept Jesus into our life how we become a new creation a new person the we have given up all the things that we're leaving us into the ways of sin such as; putting our own needs for comfort power sexual gratification and viewing others is merely Stepping Stones .

The  last song which has I've said is kind of a mirror of the above , is titled New Day.  Again  this song celebrates the transformation we go through when we begin to live our lives as Jesus showed us .

A to Z challenge M is for me and my big mouth , men's devotional prayer Journal, , and miracles of healing .

Welcome back again.  Today we look at books that start with the letter M.

The first book is by my favorite Christian author Joyce Meyer.

Me and my Big Mouth  is a book its focus is on how we communicate with God and how we deal with the things before us on a daily basis .

The book  begins with a question and a statement.  The statement is very simple and is that   obedience and forgiveness are as important as faith and persistence .  We  must always realize that everything is a matter of balance .

The  other point that  Joyce Meyer brings up is do we talk about our problems or do we  command our problems through spirit and conviction and by  having this spirit and conviction these are keys to overcoming the problems we confront .

This is a small book , but is as powerful as many of Joyce Meyers larger tomes.


Next is a book that is wonderful, especially if you are dealing with addictions and other types of problems in your life .

Men's Devotional Prayer Journal  is not just not another book that has scripture interpretation and prayer in it.

Instead  is explains about how scripture and prayer and meditation are all important in our daily lives and then it goes into sections where we look at things such as confession thankfulness and praise among other aspects.


There is written text explaining  we are thankful for each of these areas and then there's a section or sections of lined paper where we may put down what we are thankful for  or we may confess an issue or a problem that we need to turn over to God .


Again  this is a small book but it is very powerful for those who are in the process transforming their lives .

The last book is a collection of stories by people who have faced issues and survived and been transformed.  Miracles of healing  Makes us realize that miracles happen all the time, sometimes even in our own lives and we may not realize the fact, because it can be so subtle yet significant.

Next will be N.