Flag Ministry or Flag Worship

The use of flags can be quite an entertaining sight to see, but when used to lift up blessings, glory, honor, and power to the Lord in His presence, flags can be more than entertaining. Used in accordance to the Word, flags become the primary sign for lifting up a "standard" of God. The Bible refers to the word flag as "standard" or "banner." The Hebrew word degel is translated as, a flag or banner or standard. Degel comes from the Hebrew root word dagal, meaning to flaunt, i.e. raise a flag; to be conspicuous, setting up with banners. Standard is defined as a banner used as an emblem, marker or rallying point; an ensign; military or personal flag. In the Old Testament, God commands Moses to instruct the children of Israel to camp by their own "standard" to signify their tribe. (Numbers 2:2) There were 12 different flags or banners for the 12 tribes. (Numbers 1:52, 2:2-3, 10, 18, 25; 10:14, 18,22, 25) Banner is defined as a flag or cloth standard. It is used figuratively to define one of God's Name's, Jehovah Nissi, the Lord is my banner! God's salvation and truth is declared by the raising of the banners, Psalms 20:5, Psalms 60:4. He is a banner of love and protection described in Song of Solomon 2:4 and reigns with great power, Song of Solomon 6:4, 10. He is a standard and He is calling us to lift up a standard, declare and proclaim it to all the world. (Isaiah 5:26, 11:12, 13:2, Jeremiah 50:2).

Flag Ministry or Flag Worship is the union of flags, music, and the Word of God that allows one to enter into the awesome presence of God. This worship art form brings a memorable experience of worshiping our Lord under His anointing. There are two reasons or purposes I believe for Flag Worship: (1) to exalt the name of the Lord and give Him all the praise and the glory, and (2) to destroy the works of the devil. The basic technique of flag waving is not really a new art form. We see this art displayed in the world in rhythmic gymnastics or in a school's marching band, but waving those same flags and streamers under the anointing of God as the Holy Spirit ministers to our hearts, minds, and spirits leads us into an unforgettable time of worship with the Lord. God has a message for us and through Flag Worship is one way He can deliver it.

How does one begin to praise and worship with flags begins with a desire to praise and worship the Lord. There is no special talent needed to worship with flags, even though having some skills in dance and ballet enhances your worship, but a willingness to use your body for the glory of God definitely is required. What you don't have the anointing will make up for as you present your offering to the Lord. Flag Worship can be done as an individual or group worship. As an individual, you are called on to ministry with several flags and streamers of all sorts while worshipping to a song or sometimes no music, being one with Christ. As a group, you minister as one in Christ even though each person gives their offerings with flags to the Lord in a choreograph worship or spontaneous. Through each worship piece, flags are raised and a "standard" as we know is lifted up for all the world or your audience to see. You or the group become the "bannered one (s) or standard-bearer (s), one who carries an ensign into battle. The types of flag worship pieces are the same and similar to those of dance ministry. There is a flag praise piece, a flag worship piece, a warfare piece, a flag prophetic piece, a flag celebration and dedication pieces, and many more. Notice that I didn't say, "flag praise dance piece", because dance is not a necessary requirement to worship with flags. Therefore, one can stand still and worship with flags!

The ministry comes from the heart! The colors of the flags are important as you select them for ministry. The meaning and references are many as the Holy Spirit ministers to each person individually.

White
- Glory & majesty (Daniel 7:9, Revelation 20:11)
- Purity (Revelation 1:14)
- Completion (John 4:35)

Purple
- Royalty (Judges 8:26)
- Wealth (Luke 16:19

Black
- Sorrow, Calamity (Revelation 6-12)
- Hell (Jude 13

Blue
- Heavenly Character (Exodus 28:31)

Green
- Spiritual Privileges (Jeremiah 11:16)
- Spiritual Life (Psalms 52:8, Psalms 92:12-15)

Red
- Atonement (Isaiah 63:2) - Persecution (Revelation 12:3)

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Article courtesy of Beit Tehlia Congregation

Just Because He Breathes: Learning to Truly Love Our Gay Son

On the night of Nov. 20, 2001, a conversation held over Instant Messenger changed our lives forever. Our 12-year-old son messaged me in my office from the computer in his bedroom.

Ryan says: can i tell u something

Mom says: Yes I am listening

Ryan says: well i don't know how to say this really but, well......, i can't keep lying to you about myself. I have been hiding this for too long and i sorta have to tell u now. By now u probably have an idea of what i am about to say.
Ryan says: I am gay
Ryan says: i can't believe i just told you

Mom says: Are you joking?

Ryan says: no
Ryan says: i thought you would understand because of uncle don

Mom says: of course I would
Mom says: but what makes you think you are?

Ryan says: i know i am
Ryan says: i don't like hannah
Ryan says: it's just a cover-up

Mom says: but that doesn't make you gay...

Ryan says: i know
Ryan says: but u don't understand
Ryan says: i am gay

Mom says: tell me more

Ryan says: it's just the way i am and it's something i know
Ryan says: u r not a lesbian and u know that. it is the same thing

Mom says: what do you mean?

Ryan says: i am just gay
Ryan says: i am that

Mom says: I love you no matter what

Ryan says: i am white not black
Ryan says: i know
Ryan says: i am a boy not a girl
Ryan says: i am attracted to boys not girls
Ryan says: u know that about yourself and i know this

Mom says: what about what God thinks about acting on these desires?

Ryan says: i know

Mom says: thank you for telling me

Ryan says: and i am very confused about that right now

Mom says: I love you more for being honest

Ryan says: i know
Ryan says: thanx

We were completely shocked. Not that we didn't know and love gay people; my only brother had come out to us several years before, and we adored him. But Ryan? He was unafraid of anything, tough as nails and all boy. We had not seen this coming, and the emotion that overwhelmed us, kept us awake at night and, sadly, influenced all our reactions over the next six years was fear.

We said all the things that we thought loving Christian parents who believed the Bible, the Word of God, should say:

We love you. We will always love you. And this is hard. Really hard. But we know what God says about this, so you are going to have to make some really difficult choices.

We love you. We couldn't love you more. But there are other men who have faced this same struggle, and God has worked in them to change their desires. We'll get you their books; you can listen to their testimonies. And we will trust God with this.

We love you. We are so glad you are our son. But you are young, and your sexual orientation is still developing. The feelings you've had for other guys don't make you gay. So please don't tell anyone that you are gay. You don't know who you are yet. Your identity is not that you are gay; it is that you are a child of God.

We love you. Nothing will change that. But if you are going to follow Jesus, holiness is your only option. You are going to have to choose to follow Jesus, no matter what. And since you know what the Bible says, and since you want to follow God, embracing your sexuality is not an option.

We thought we understood the magnitude of the sacrifice that we -- and God -- were asking for. And this sacrifice, we knew, would lead to an abundant life, perfect peace and eternal rewards. Ryan had always felt intensely drawn to spiritual things; He desired to please God above all else. So, for the first six years, he tried to choose Jesus. Like so many others before him, he pleaded with God to help him be attracted to girls. He memorized Scripture, met with his youth pastor weekly, enthusiastically participated in all the church youth group events and Bible Studies and got baptized. He read all the books that claimed to know where his gay feelings came from, dove into counseling to further discover the whys of his unwanted attraction to other guys, worked through painful conflict resolution with my husband and me and built strong friendships with other guys -- straight guys -- just like the reparative therapy experts advised. He even came out to his entire youth group, giving his testimony of how God had rescued him from the traps of the enemy, and sharing, by memory, verse after verse that God had used to draw Ryan to Him.

But nothing changed. God didn't answer his prayer, or ours, though we were all believing with faith that the God of the Universe, the God for whom nothing is impossible, could easily make Ryan straight. But He did not.

Though our hearts may have been good (we truly thought what we were doing was loving), we did not even give Ryan a chance to wrestle with God, to figure out what he believed God was telling him through scripture about his sexuality. We had believed firmly in giving each of our four children the space to question Christianity, to decide for themselves if they wanted to follow Jesus, to truly own their own faith. But we were too afraid to give Ryan that room when it came to his sexuality, for fear that he'd make the wrong choice.

Basically, we told our son that he had to choose between Jesus and his sexuality. We forced him to make a choice between God and being a sexual person. Choosing God, practically, meant living a lifetime condemned to being alone. He would never have the chance to fall in love, have his first kiss, hold hands, share intimacy and companionship or experience romance.

And so, just before his 18th birthday, Ryan, depressed, suicidal, disillusioned and convinced that he would never be able to be loved by God, made a new choice. He decided to throw out his Bible and his faith at the same time and try searching for what he desperately wanted -- peace -- another way. And the way he chose to try first was drugs.

We had unintentionally taught Ryan to hate his sexuality. And since sexuality cannot be separated from the self, we had taught Ryan to hate himself. So as he began to use drugs, he did so with a recklessness and a lack of caution for his own safety that was alarming to everyone who knew him.

Suddenly our fear of Ryan someday having a boyfriend (a possibility that honestly terrified me) seemed trivial in contrast to our fear of Ryan's death, especially in light of his recent rejection of Christianity and his mounting anger at God.

Ryan started with weed and beer, but in six short months was using cocaine, crack and heroin. He was hooked from the beginning, and his self-loathing and rage at God only fueled his addiction. Shortly thereafter, we lost contact with him. For the next year and a half, we didn't know where he was or even if he was dead or alive. And during that horrific time, God had our full attention. We stopped praying for Ryan to become straight. We started praying for him to know that God loved him. We stopped praying for him to never have a boyfriend. We started praying that someday we might actually get to know his boyfriend. We even stopped praying for him to come home to us; we only wanted him to come home to God.

By the time our son called us, after 18 long months of silence, God had completely changed our perspective. Because Ryan had done some pretty terrible things while using drugs, the first thing he asked me was this:

Do you think you can ever forgive me? (I told him of course, he was already forgiven. He had always been forgiven.)

Do you think you could ever love me again? (I told him that we had never stopped loving him, not for one second. We loved him then more than we had ever loved him.)

Do you think you could ever love me with a boyfriend? (Crying, I told him that we could love him with 15 boyfriends. We just wanted him back in our lives. We just wanted to have a relationship with him again... and with his boyfriend.)

And a new journey was begun, one of healing, restoration, open communication and grace. Lots of grace. And God was present every step of the way, leading and guiding us, gently reminding us simply to love our son and leave the rest up to Him.

Over the next 10 months, we learned to truly love our son. Period. No buts. No conditions. Just because he breathes. We learned to love whomever our son loved. And it was easy. What I had been so afraid of became a blessing. The journey wasn't without mistakes, but we had grace for each other, and the language of apology and forgiveness became a natural part of our relationship. As our son pursued recovery from drug and alcohol addiction, we pursued him. God taught us how to love him, to rejoice over him, to be proud of the man he was becoming. We were all healing, and most importantly, Ryan began to think that if we could forgive him and love him, then maybe God could, too.

And then Ryan made the classic mistake of a recovering addict: He got back together with his old friends, his using friends. And one evening that was supposed to simply be a night at the movies turned out to be the first time he had shot up in 10 months -- and the last time. Ryan died on July 16, 2009. And we lost the ability to love our gay son, because we no longer had a gay son. What we had wished for, prayed for, hoped for -- that we would not have a gay son -- came true. But not at all in the way we had envisioned.

Now, when I think back on the fear that governed all my reactions during those first six years after Ryan told us he was gay, I cringe as I realize how foolish I was. I was afraid of all the wrong things. And I grieve, not only for my oldest son, whom I will miss every day for the rest of my life, but for the mistakes I made. I grieve for what could have been, had we been walking by faith instead of by fear. Now, whenever Rob and I join our gay friends for an evening, I think about how much I would love to be visiting with Ryan and his partner over dinner. But instead, we visit Ryan's gravestone. We celebrate anniversaries: the would-have-been birthdays and the unforgettable day of his death. We wear orange, his color. We hoard memories: pictures, clothing he wore, handwritten notes, lists of things he loved, tokens of his passions, recollections of the funny songs he invented, his Curious George and baseball blankey, anything, really, that reminds us of our beautiful boy, for that is all we have left, and there will be no new memories. We rejoice in our adult children, and in our growing family as they marry, but we ache for the one of our "gang of four" who is missing. We mark life by the days B.C. (before coma) and A.D. (after death), because we are different people now; our life was irrevocably changed in a million ways by his death. We treasure friendships with others who "get it" because they, too, have lost a child.

We weep. We seek Heaven for grace and mercy and redemption as we try not to get better but to be better. And we pray that God can somehow use our story to help other parents learn to truly love their children. Just because they breathe.

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Story copied from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/linda-robertson/just-because-he-breathes-learning-to-truly-love-our-gay-son_b_3478971.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

Acceptable And Unacceptable Worship - Lesson 5

God has shown, in the Bible, His approval with those who follow His will and His displeasure and wrath with those who refuse to worship Him the way He has directed. An example of acceptable and unacceptable worship in the Old Testament is that of Cain and Abel. Cain and Abel both worshiped God. Abel did as God directed, but Cain tried to worship God the way he saw fit. We read in Genesis 4:3-5, "And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering."

Why did the Lord have respect for Abel's offering and why did He reject Cain's offering? Hebrews 11:4 tells us, "By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain." Notice Abel offered his sacrifice "by faith" but Cain did not. Romans 10:17 says, "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." So faith comes by the word of God. Abel offered his sacrifice by faith or according to the word of God. If we worship God by faith, we worship as the word of God directs.

Abel offered the firstborn of his flock "by faith" and it was accepted because his worship was according to the instructions of God. But Cain chose to ignore God's instructions and sacrificed an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Cain chose to sacrifice to God the way he saw fit. Cain did not offer his sacrifice according to God's instructions, so God rejected his sacrifice and worship, since it was not "by faith".

From this example we see our worship must be "by faith", that is "by the word of God." We read in Romans 14:23, "For whatever is not from faith is sin." If our worship is not "by faith", that is it is not "by the word of God", then it "is sin". It will also be rejected just like Cain's. It is a very serious matter if God rejects our worship. If He does we are going to be lost. 

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Courtesy of http://www.bible.ca/

The Purpose Of Our Worship Of God - Lesson 1

 

The purpose of our worship is to glorify, honor, praise, exalt, and please God. Our worship must show our adoration and loyalty to God for His grace in providing us with the way to escape the bondage of sin, so we can have the salvation He so much wants to give us. The nature of the worship God demands is the prostration of our souls before Him in humble and contrite submission. James 4:6, 10 tells us, "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up". Our worship to God is a very humble and reverent action.

Jesus says in John 4:23-24, "But the hour is coming, and now is, when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is a spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." It doesn't say we can worship God anyway we want, but we "must worship Him in spirit and in truth". The word "must" makes it absolute. There is no other way we can worship God and be acceptable to Him. The word "must", according to Webster, expresses "an obligation, a requirement, a necessity, a certainty, and something that must be done". When "must" is used it means that it is not optional. Here the word "must" is expressing that in spirit and in truth is the only way to acceptably worship God. God seeks true worshippers, and He identifies them as those who "worship Him in spirit and in truth". Worshipping God in spirit and in truth is a serious matter which must not be taken lightly. If we have any regard for our own souls, we will want to make sure we are worshipping God in spirit and in truth.

Since God is the object of our worship, He and He alone has the right to determine how we are to worship Him. We read in Jeremiah 10:23, "O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself, it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps." We are not granted the option of directing our own ways in religion. God is the One who we look to for guidance and direction in our lives.

Our very best in worship is due God and is prescribed by Him in the Bible. The worship God has prescribed is the only way we can be pleasing to Him in this life and finally attain everlasting life with Him in eternity. The Christian's worship is of the greatest importance.

Worship is a time when we pay deep, sincere, awesome respect, love, and fear to the one who created us. Acts 17:24-25 says, "God who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives life, breath, and all things."

God is the one who holds our eternal destiny in His hands. Philippians 2:12 tells us to, "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." Our salvation is a very serious matter and will not happen by accident. We must work it out "with fear and trembling". Our salvation depends on whether our worship is pleasing to God or not. On the Day of Judgment it will be too late to make any corrections.

Worship should cause us to reflect on the majesty and graciousness of God and Christ, contrasted to our own unworthiness. God does not have to have our worship, but we must worship Him to please Him. Our singing, praying, studying His word, giving, and communion are designed by God to bring us closer to Him and to cause us to think more like He thinks, thus becoming more like Him. James 4:8 tells us to, "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you."

Our worship not only honors and magnifies God, but it is also for our own edification and strength. Worship helps us develop a God-like and Christ-like character. We become like unto those we admire and worship. When we worship God we tend to value what God values and gradually take on the characteristics and qualities of God, but never to His level. As Philippians 2:5 says, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ." How do we take on the mind of Christ? In Romans 12:2 we read, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." We renew our mind as we study and meditate on God's word and worship Him.

When we worship God we develop such traits as forgiveness, tenderness, justice, righteousness, purity, kindness, and love. All of this is preparing us for eternal life in heaven with God and Christ. As we are told in Colossians 3:2 to, "Set your mind on things above, and not on things on the earth."

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Article taken from  http://www.bible.ca/interactive/worship-1-purpose.htm

Scriptures Relating to Flags/Banners

Scriptures of Flags (Banners)

Psalm 20:5 - “We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of our God.”

Song of Songs 2:4 -  “He has taken me to the banquet hall, and his banner over me is love.”

Song of Songs 6:4 -  “You are beautiful, my darling as Tirzah, lovely as Jerusalem, majestic as troops with banners.

Exodus 17:15  - “Moses built an altar and called it The Lord is my Banner.
 

1 Corinthians 1:27 -  But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty KJV

Psalms 149:3 -  Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp. KJV

Psalms 150:4 -  Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs. KJV

Psalms 60:4 - Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah. KJV

Song of Solomon 2:4 -  He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love. KJV



THE WEAPON OF PRAISE: Psalm 150

“Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. LET EVERYTHING THAT HAS BREATHE PRAISE THE LORD. Praise the Lord.

When we give praise to the Lord, we are in a spiritual battle. We may be totally unaware of it, but the battle is there! This is my favorite army position. As we are giving praise and worship to the Lord, we become so delighted in his presence and his greatness, that we usually are unaware of the spiritual battle going on. Don’t be fooled. This isn’t just a pretty scene of colorful, fun looking flags. This is a battle. While we exalt Jesus, we tear down the enemy’s camp at the same time. However our focus should always be on the Lord our God while we worship!

When a shout was given out from the army of Joshua the walls of Jericho fell. David killed Golitith with a mere stone! Samspson had supernatural strength with his uncut hair. Though there was no power in the yell, stone or hair itself, they became mighty weapons. A stone on it’s own has no power, but add faith with it and it becomes a massive destructive weapon. Dangerous enough to kill the enemy! That is like worship flags and accessories. There is no power in the flags themselves, however the power comes in what we proclaim with them as we use them. Then they become destructive weapons, which disable the enemy!

Flag Color Symbols

It has been my experience that each colour has a specific meaning. May I suggest that you be sensitive to the Holy Spirits leading, as you prepare to worship through flagging. He will guide you as to what colour to use, depending on what the Holy Spirit chooses to communicate through you and the flags. So please prayerfully consider your colour choice. Below, I have listed several colours and their meaning.

Gold - Glory, Deity, Godhead, Divine Light

Silver - Word of God, Righteousness, Wisdom

Royal Blue - Priesthood, Holy Spirit, Truth

Red - Blood of Jesus, Cleansing, Atonement, War, Life

Green - Praise, Mercy, Prosperity, New Beginning, Healing

Purple - Royalty, Kingship, Power, Majesty, Kingdom Authority Fuchsia Pink - Joy, Compassion, Passion for Jesus, Bridegrooms Heart

White - Purity

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Courtesy of Touching Heaven

Crisis and Faith: How Losing Almost Everything Can Help You See What Matters

 

Martin Spinelli
Author, 'After the Crash'

My 4-year-old son Lio had been in a coma for more than a week. While his bed was about to be changed, I maneuvered myself around all the tubes and wires and slid my hand under his back up to his head. With my other arm under his knees, I carefully lifted him up onto my lap and sat down in the vinyl-covered chair beside his bed. I wasn't expecting his skin to be so warm and I let myself feel a bit comforted.

After seeing me hold him, his grandmother (my mother) wrote in her diary that the sight of Lio draped in my arms reminded her of one of the most well-known Easter images: The Pietà, that famous Michelangelo sculpture of Mary holding Jesus after the after the crucifixion. She finished by saying, "Lio will come back to us too."

In the past I've often found words like this a bit difficult to take in. It's almost as if that most famous Christian miracle, like the miracle I was praying for (that Lio would defy the doctors and cheat death himself), could be undone or made impossible by speaking about it in such an obvious way. Maybe this is more my problem than it is my mother's. But her attempts to describe the indescribable have caused me a crisis of faith because I know that words are slippery things that often suggest the opposite of what they say on the surface. But sometimes in life crises are really second chances in disguise.

My crisis began 10 days earlier. It was going to be the most important day of my career: I was scheduled to give the keynote address at a huge international media conference in Sunderland, in the north of England. I had worked all my life that moment: I had published journal articles and written reviews; I made ambitious and challenging radio for the BBC and for NPR stations; my work was in museums; and I had just traded in my good academic gig in New York for an even better one at a university in the U.K. I felt like I was at the top of my game, I was driven and striving, with this constant itch to be forever notching up more lines on my résumé.

As it happened, I never got the chance to deliver my amazing talk on new ways of making radio. Instead, I was met at my hotel by two policemen who lacked the usual swagger and who were struggling to look me in the eye. They told me that there had been an accident on the highway and that my wife Sasha had been killed and that our son Lio was very near death in a hospital in London. I collapsed into the chair behind me and, as I struggled to process what I'd just been told, the person I'd been all my adult life simply died too -- and died quickly.

Three hours later I was by Lio's side in pediatric intensive care. The space was dark and windowless, lit mostly by the small red LEDs of medical equipment. There, surrounded by a halo of computer screens, I found my only child with a fractured skull, severe brain damage and a horribly shattered left leg. It was suggested that I consider donating his organs. Doctors told me he would likely not make it and told me that the best, the absolute best-case scenario that I should allow myself to hope for was Lio one day attending a school for the severely mentally handicapped. Absolutely everything I'd ever wanted for my life and for my son's life had evaporated in a matter of hours.

But as I looked at him, bruised and battered as he was on his hospital bed, something began to fill the void. I don't know where it came from or how I came by it, but I was getting something. I had lost my wife, but at least -- at least in that moment -- I still had our little boy. As I stood there, my thumb wedged in his tiny clenched fist, I found myself saying, "I will face this. Nothing will stop me doing what needs to be done, saving Lio and getting him out of here. He will do it." Then I found myself seeing the rest of my life unfolding, and unfolding happily, pulling Lio back from this precipice. I had been burnt empty by fear, but this little meditation that I somehow stumbled onto was putting something back, and while the fear would swallow me again and again I would again and again fall back on a version of this little pep talk.

The next morning Lio was still with us. And with this simple fact in mind the tiny kernel of faith that I had nourished by his bedside all night long stirred and grew a little bit. Gradually, with infinitesimally small steps and in the face of some brutal and devastating setbacks, Lio got better over the next days: He was taken off of his respirator and breathed on his own, unaided, when I'd been told that this might never happen. His brain started regulating his body temperature on its own again. And his muscles, initially as tight as steel springs, began to loosen.

How and why these improvements happened, no one seemed sure, given, as the doctors were fond of saying, "the original nature of his injuries." I like to think that I had something to do with it. I almost never left his bedside. I would read to him from his favorite books. I would spin out for him over and over again the magical stories that his mother and I had invented about elves and dragons and a littler miller boy who lived in the Italian Alps, stories that had been a part of his bedtime routine since he was a toddler. I would trace little lines and circles with my fingers along his face and his limbs four times a day while special brain stimulating music was playing to him in headphones.

With each incremental movement he made in the right direction, I collected another piece of my heart. In those moments and through that closeness I discovered something. I came by a profound sense of meaning and a knowledge of what I was really meant to be: not a high-flying academic, but a father -- the best father I was capable of being. Where the old me was hounded by a non-stop restlessness, an ambition to always be achieving more and having more, there, in those quiet and anonymous moments at my unconscious son's side, I found my purpose. I felt a clarity that had eluded me my whole life. Sometimes today, if I get too distracted by more traditional ambitions, I push myself to remember that clarity.

The moment when I held Lio in my arms for the first time after the crash, the moment that my mother thought looked like The Pietà, will stay with me forever. As I held him warm and broken in my arms, something happened that even I wasn't expecting. He opened his eyes. Like a newborn baby doing it for the first time, he opened his eyes for me. I can't honestly say whether they were focused or not, but he did open his eyes. As I looked at him and (maybe) he looked at me, everything else in the world stopped and I stared transfixed for the first time in 10 days into the blue of his eyes. I was lost in simply their color. There it was, beyond any subjective hope, a sign that Lio was really and truly on his way out of a coma.

The word "rebirth" is certainly a bit worn out, clichéd at best and tedious at worst. But after what we've been through, I find myself making an effort to be more charitable with other people's words, not just my mother's. The crisis of the crash -- six years ago now -- changed me in ways that I'm still coming to grips with. Perhaps most importantly, faith, in both general and specific senses, is now something that I don't shy away from, that I don't seek to avoid either as a sensation or a topic of conversation. In fact, faith has become an odd kind of tether to those terrible early days in the hospital. It's a conduit to the purpose, meaning and love I found there in those dark moments by my son's bedside, days which remain, in the strangest of ways, the most contented of my life.
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Courtesy of  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/martin-spinelli/crisis-and-faith-how-losing-almost-everything-can-help-you-see-what-matters_b_3040028.html?utm_hp_ref=religion

King's 'Birmingham Jail' Letter Response Arrives After 50 Years

“In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

By Adelle M. Banks
Religion News Service

(RNS) Fifty years after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. challenged white church leaders to confront racism, an ecumenical network has responded to his "Letter from Birmingham Jail."

"We proclaim that, while our context today is different, the call is the same as in 1963 -- for followers of Christ to stand together, to work together, and to struggle together for justice," declared Christian Churches Together in the USA in a 20-page document.

The statement, which is linked to an April 14-15 ecumenical gathering in Birmingham, Ala., includes confessions from church bodies about their silence and slow pace in addressing racial injustice.

"The church must lead rather than follow in the march toward justice," it says.

In April 1963, King scribbled his letter on newspaper margins in a cell in Birmingham, responding to an open letter from eight white clergymen -- one Catholic priest, six Protestants and a rabbi -- who had called on the civil rights movement to opt for negotiations rather than demonstrations. King had been jailed for helping organize nonviolent protests.

In the letter King said that he was disappointed with white moderates who "see my nonviolent efforts as those of an extremist."

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere," the Baptist preacher and civil rights icon wrote in one famous passage.

Five decades later, CCT leaders are releasing a response that elaborates on specific passages of King's letter, calling for partnerships to confront societal inequities in the nation's neighborhoods, schools and prisons.

"Sunday morning remains the most segregated time in our nation," they acknowledged.

Experts say it may be the first time an organization has directly answered King's letter.

Jonathan Rieder, author of the new book "Gospel of Freedom: Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Letter From Birmingham Jail and the Struggle That Changed a Nation," said many reporters initially ignored the letter.

The Christian Century, a prominent mainline Protestant magazine, published it and included an address for readers to send donations to King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference, he said.

"As far as most people know, this is the first institutional response that seems to be trying to answer the letter in some sense," said Rieder, a professor of sociology at Barnard College, Columbia University.

The Rev. Carlos Malave, executive director of CCT, said one of the key parts of the new document is its appendix, which includes confessions from several "families" of churches -- evangelical/Pentecostal, Catholic, historic Protestant and Orthodox.

"The churches are taking responsibility for their inability to really ... step up throughout the last few years to the challenge and the call that Dr. King and the letter places to the Christian leaders," he said.

The evangelicals' confession notes they have taken "far too long" to acknowledge and repent for "pervasive racism in our midst," and often do not understand structural racism. Catholics lamented that racism has hindered leadership development and "full participation in parish life." Historic Protestants confessed to "unwelcoming pews." And Orthodox Christians acknowledged slighting "the liturgy after the liturgy" that involves transforming society.

"It wasn't the historic African-American family that really called for the response," said the Rev. Stephen Thurston, president of the CCT subgroup of black denominational leaders. "It came out of the collaboration with other families and their real concern about a real transparent response to the King letter."

The Rev. Virgil Wood, a longtime Baptist minister who worked with King for 10 years on the SCLC's national board, gives the leaders credit for what they've done so far.

"It's an excellent start but it's only a start," he said, "because it does not address some of the critical things that now have to be done."

Wood said churches must now address the root causes of poverty and use King's principles to improve the global economy.

"I applaud the distance these groups are willing to go but there is no reconciliation without restitution and I don't hear the note of restitution being sounded enough," he added.

One of the catalysts for the document was CCT's meeting in Birmingham in 2011, when members visited the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and viewed the bars behind which King sat and wrote the letter.

The CCT will hold a symbolic signing of its response to King during a two-day symposium in Birmingham that includes speeches from clergy and civil rights leaders about "the way forward." It concludes on Monday (April 15), the day before the date placed on King's letter.

CCT leaders, including Evangelicals for Social Action founder Ron Sider, who chaired the committee that drafted the response, expect that their work to address King's call will continue after the anniversary.

"Our words will remain cheap and empty," Sider said in remarks he has prepared for the Birmingham program, "unless we allow God to move us to new, more vigorous action."
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 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/13/kings-birmingham-jail-letter-response-arrives-after-50-years_n_3077933.html?utm_hp_ref=religion

As a Christian, do you believe in out of body and near death experiences?

 

I died. I saw God … then I just woke up.”

That was how 87-year-old Laura Duterte Banzon described in Cebuano what she said was the most extraordinary experience in her life.

Banzon, then 26, was afflicted with acute pneumonia and was brought to Sacred Heart Hospital in Cebu City in 1952. Two days later, she died.

An hour after she was declared clinically dead, she roused back to life.

Her physician, Dr. Dayday Borbon, considered it a miracle when her patient recovered from her ailment and didn’t suffer any side effects during the 60 minutes that her heart didn’t beat.

A woman of faith, Banzon believed that the miracle that happened 61 years ago was simply a reminder that people should not question the existence of God. Her experience also made her a devotee of the Holy Child Jesus, whose feast day is held every third Sunday of January through Cebu City’s biggest and grandest celebration, the Sinulog.

Lifelessness

Banzon described her state of lifelessness in the hospital.

She saw herself lying on the bed while her family was crying. Then a narrow road that could barely fit a person appeared on the side of the window. It was long, steep and bright, but dark on the sides.

She followed the path and heard a voice telling her to sit beside him. “Sit to my right, daughter,” she was told.

The man was tall with deep-set brown eyes and was wearing a snowy robe with a blue-green shroud. She thought that man was St. Peter, but looking intently at his eyes, she felt his sacredness and thought she was seeing God.

Little angels flew across the cloudless white sky. All had tiny wings and were smiling. Some were playing while others were talking.

The man told her that they were children who died at a very young age.

No sun, moon or stars, but a garden of flowers with different colors as if these were plucked out from a painting. One thing she noticed: it was a very peaceful place.

The man told her that it was not her time yet. So she had to go back.

“An angel will escort you back,” the voice said.

Sto. Niño

Then she woke up. Her family was speechless.

The experience strengthened Banzon’s faith, especially on the Holy Child Jesus.

During the feast of the Sto. Niño, she would make sure she would join the foot processions, as well as the nine-day novena Masses.

But two years ago, she slipped inside her “sari-sari” store and suffered a leg fracture. She underwent surgery to replace a femur at Velez General Hospital. Her physician Dr. Alejandro Mediano, advised her to refrain from too much walking.

Her condition had stopped Banzon from joining the religious activities. She had to content herself with watching the live TV coverage of the procession and offering a prayer to the Sto. Niño.

Banzon lives with her husband, Manuel, 86, on F. Ramos Street in Cebu City. She has six children and 18 grandchildren.

The devotee said she tried to live a pious life.

“We will all meet God soon. That is why we should be good. We should feel ashamed if we remain sinful. We must be ready to meet Him,” she said.

Banzon said she was happy that God gave her 61 more years to enjoy life. Now, she is more than willing to meet him a second time. 

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 Courtesy of http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/342921/a-devotees-story-of-death-and-faith

Flag Ministry

Biblical Color Meaning in the Bible

"When God appeared unto Noah after the flood, and placed a rainbow in the sky, He did much more than shows him a phenomenon. 

In the seven colors, beginning with red and ending with purple, God was displaying a natural miracle that demonstrated the complete redemption of man". - Antipas/M. Stewart

This is a compilation of many interpretations of biblical colors meaning that I have collected over the last several years.  I hope that you find it biblical and authentic.  

From Genesis to Revelations the Word of God is full of symbolic (biblical) color meaning.  Using colors to express how we feel towards God in dramatic worship (with banners) can be very therapeutic and beneficial to us and a blessing to God's people. 

I have found that when we enjoy worshipping the Lord He enjoys receiving our worship.  Blessing and strengthening and uplifting the Body of Christ uplift and unify the Lord's work. 

I hope that you will be able to utilize the many color definitions.   I do know that God loves color. The colors that we see here on the earth realm are only a portion of what is in heaven. 

May you be blessed by what is here and I hope that it releases you into a deeper understand of the impact that color brings. 

Biblical Color Meaning In The Bible

Zephaniah 3:9,10

For then I will restore to the peoples a pure language that they all may call

 on the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one accord.  From beyond the rivers of

 Ethiopia My Worshipers, the daughter of my dispersed ones, shall bring my offering.

RED

Red:  symbolizes blood atonement; sacrifice of Christ's blood; covenant of grace; cleansing justification; sin, atonement; war; the wrath of God; judgment; death; love; life; the earth; redemption; sacrifice; consuming fire; the person of Jesus; the cross; refers to flesh. Isaiah: 1:18, Hebrew 9:14.

Red con not be formulated by mixing any other color together.  The Hebrew word "OUDEM" means "red clay".  It is the root word from the name Adam, Esau, and Edom; all speak of flesh.

Burgundy:  The Red earth; selfish; Covetous sin, copper and gold, washing by the word, righteousness, right standing.
Rose Pink:  Messiah, glory, Rose of Sharon, the Father's heavenly care over the Lilies of the Field-His children,

 Jesus loves me-this I know!  Symbolizes right relationships, heart of flesh, intimacy, child-like faith (Romans 3:25;

Rev. 19:8; Ez. 11:19; 1 Peter 5:5-6; Song 1:2; Matt. 18: 3-5.

Fuchsia: Joy, right relationships, compassion, heart of flesh, passion for Jesus, the Bridegroom's heart, koinonea. 
Plum:  Richness, abundance, infilling of the Holy Spirit

ORANGE

Gold or Yellow:  Symbolizes the Glory of God ; divine nature; holiness; eternal deity; the Godhead; Purification;
 majesty; righteousness; divine light; kingliness; trial by fire; mercy;  power; His Deity; Glory.     Revelations  3:18;  Revelations 4:4;  Mal: 3:3;  1 Peter: 1:7 

Yellow or gold is also primary.  It always speaks of trial and purging.  "That trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes,  though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ".(1 Peter 1:7)

Amber:  Glory of God, the Father's heavenly care, fiery passion, flaming throne of God,  the temple of God, wisdom.
Orange: Praise, Warfare, Passion, power, fire, harvest season, fruitfulness, joy
Bronze:  Judgment upon sin; fires of testing.
Brown:  Man as we are on earth.

GREEN

Green:  Praise, eternal life, vigor, prosperity, mercy, restoration, health, healing, new beginning, freshness, God's holy seed, harvest, sowing and reaping, immortality, fresh oil, new life, joy in hope.   Rom 12:12;  Ps. 23:2;  Gen. 1:30;  Lk. 23:31;  Rev. 22:2;  Ps. 92:14.

BLUE

Blue speaks to us of the eternal presence of YAHWEH.  The color of God's chosen nation, the people of Israel, blue dating back to the time of David.  We also note in Ezek. 1:26 that the restored throne of David which will rule supreme in all the earth, being God's throne, is spoken of as sapphire, which is blue.  Blue also speaks of healing. Matt. 9:21 M. Stewart 

Blue:  Symbolizes the heavenly realm; prayer; priesthood; authority; revealed God; grace; divinity; Holy Spirit; overcomer; revelation knowledge; the Truth; the Word of God; the Word; Messiah.

Light blue:  Heaven, Heavenly Ezek.:26
Turquoise (is a bluish-green):  River of God, sanctification, healing, life-giving flow of the Holy Spirit, the New Jerusalem.

PURPLE

Purple:  Symbolizes Jesus' royalty; believer's royalty; majesty; wealth; power; penitence; the name of God; kingdom authority; dominion, son-ship; the promises of God; inheritance; mediator; inheritance; priesthood.   Revelations 5:10,”And has made us unto our God kings and priests and we shall reign on the earth."

RAINBOW

Rainbow:  Symbolizes God's promises (Rev. 4:3) Covenant (Gen 9:13 and 16).

Noah looking at the rainbow saw seven steps (the number of spiritual perfection), beginning with flesh, going through trial, being guided by the Word of God, bringing forth immortality and priesthood; thus fulfilling Rev. 5:10, "and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth." This is further emphasized in Ezekiel's glorious vision of the Cherubim, the immortalized host of God, as outlined in his first chapter.  (Colors of the rainbow)--Antipas, M. Stewart.

WHITE 

White: Symbolizes Creator; righteousness acquired through blood of Christ; Bride's garment; salvation; surrender; holiness, saints; angels, peace; triumph; victory; glory; joy; light.   Rev. 4:4, 6:2 

Iridescent:  Fruit of the Spirit (Rev. 4:3) Overcomer, Rainbow Promise, Precious Stones Rev. 21:7; Rev. 4:3; 2: 11:19.

Clear, Transparent:  Water Baptism, Wind, Holy Spirit, Born Again, Matt 3:11; John. 3:3; 5:7 Iridescent Crystal:  Cleansing Work of the Holy Spirit, blessings of God, sanctification, the Bride of Christ, Truth.

Black:  Righteous Judgment; Death; Death of old self; Famine; Mourning; Evil; Humiliation; Affliction; Calamity Primordial color of creation; Sign of humiliation. Lam. 4:8, Rev. 6:5, Jer. 8:21.

Color black in Scripture:  And I looked and behold a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand (rev 6:5). Their appearance is blacker than soot, they are not recognized in the streets; their skin is shriveled on their bones, it has become like wood (lamentations 4:8).

Black symbolizes death, punishment, famine, sin, affliction, death, repentance, bondage (John 3:19-20).    

Silver:  Symbolizes paid price for redemption; price of a soul; Word of God; strength; Spirit; Revelation; Grace; The Word of God; divinity; wisdom; purity; strengthened faith (Matt. 27: 3-8)

Cream:  healing.

Brazen: Christ the Healer

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Courtesy of Raised Praise