How Fruit Is Made

As you may (or may not) know, I started a garden last year for the first time in my life.  I have always had an interest in planting seeds and watching them grow, so after years of talking about it, I finally did it.  As I learned, you have to constantly "tend to" gardens: watering, pulling weeds, fending off animals, fighting bugs, etc.  I have to tell you it was one of the most rewarding experiences I have had!  It was hard work, but still very rewarding!

Because I was out of work at the time, I got the opportunity to spend a lot of time working in the garden.  Every day at different times, I could be found with my head pressed against the window just starring at the plants as if I could see a change before my eyes.  Over the course of a few months, I watched seeds grow into plants (some into trees) and watched fruit and vegetables be produced.

According to the Free Online Diction, fruit is:

The ripened ovary of a flowering plant that contains the seeds, sometimes fused with other parts of the plant.

If you remember back to science class, the plant has to go through pollination in order for the fruit or the seed bearing part of the plant to be produced.  This is where our bumble bees and the wind come into play.  Pollen from one part of the plant has to be taking to another part in order for pollination to occur.  (As I found out with Watermelon, if it is dry and no wind, you may have to take a brush and hand pollinate the plants!).

I went into a little detail about how fruit are produced because as Christians, we have the possibility of producing fruit as well.  In Galatians 5:22-23, it says,

(22) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23) gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

We are just like plants, but in order for us to become fruit bearing we must take care of ourselves just like a garden.  We have to be nurtured to the point where we grow and can produce flowers. We need the flowers so that we can allow for pollination to occur within ourselves.

How do we grow and stay a well-maintained disciple for the Lord?  We grow through the reading and the filling of ourselves with the Word of God.  As we open up to what God has for us, we can be pollinated so that we might produce the fruit of the spirit.

We all have the potential to be fruit bearers.  We just have to stay vigilant and take care of ourselves physically and spiritually.   Keep yourself encouraged and do not turn yourself from the ways of the Lord.  I think the Message puts Galatians 5:22-23 into a way we can really grasp it:

22-23 But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.

Be blessed and be a fruit bearer!

Regards,

Antoine E. Hall

Blog:   http://toinebo.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall

"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." - 2 Samuel 22:33

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Come, O Lord (Maranatha)

Good Morning Folks,

I hope that you are doing well at the reading of this message.  Today, I do not want to keep your attention long, but I do want to direct it to 1 Corinthians 16:22.  In the King James Version, it says:

If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.

If you have ever run across this verse in the Bible you may have been confused by the last two words.  In an effort to help reading and understanding the Word of God we have to understand some of the vocabulary and meanings just like we did when in school.  I did not intend to define the word Anathema, but since I'm here, I will cover it as well.

Anathema:  In the NIV, this word is translated to "a curse be on him".  According to Dictionary.com, it also means "a person or thing detested or loathed".

Maranatha:  If you look on Biblegateway.com under the NIV version, you will find that the word Maranatha means "Come, Oh Lord."  This was an Aramaic expression used by early Christians.  For more information, read the following link in Wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maranatha.

Now, if you put it all together the scripture tells you that if any man does not love Jesus Christ, then a curse is on them.  I imagine Maranatha is almost said with a shout to welcome the Lord to Come and/or to Return.

I hope this has helped someone because understanding definitions is apart of our every day living.

Regards,

Antoine E. Hall

Blog:   http://toinebo.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall

"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." - 2 Samuel 22:33

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Belief vs Faith

Hello Everyones, Everyones.

I hope that you all are doing well this fine Monday.  The weekend went by way too fast for me, however, I am happy to see another day and blessed to have a job in which to go.  Being out of work for just over 8 months changes your whole perspective on griping about having to get up to go to work!

Even though the weekend went by fast, I caught several televised sermons on Sunday.  One of the people I watched was Dr. Fred K.C. Price from Crenshaw Christian Faith Center.  I caught the second half of the sermon, however, in it he talked about faith and how we synonymously use it with the word belief. At this point, he had my attention, because I thought believing and having faith was one in the same.  Dr. Price went through a couple of examples to illustrate his point and I will try to recall them here for you.

In his first point, he told those who drove to church that upon leaving to take their keys in their right hand.  Next, he told them to stand on the hold of their car and scream to the top of the lungs, "THIS IS MY CAR! I BELIEVE THAT I AM GOING TO PUT MY KEY IN THE IGNITION, START THE CAR AND DRIVE HOME" (this may not be exact, but I have captured the point).  The problem with this is that it is very true, however, you can stand on top of your car screaming until the cows come home.  Until you get off your hood and physically get into your car, start it up and go home, all you have done is believed.  The act of getting into the car and doing what you said you believe is faith (hence, James 2:20)!

The difference is so subtle that you miss it, however, the fact that we miss it can convolute our understanding of both belief and faith.  The two work hand-in-hand and cannot be separated, but at the same time they are different.  This leads to Dr. Price's next illustration.  He said look at a US coin.  On one side you have heads.  On the other side you have tails.  In order for it to be considered legal tender in this country it must have both the heads and tails.  If either one of the sides were to be rubbed off, anyone has the right to refuse the coin as legal tender.  After all, it is not complete with a heads and tails.  This is the same with faith and belief.  God put them both together and in us we have a coin with faith on one side and belief on the other.  Neither can co-exist without the other and thus gives us the "legal-tender" to do "business" with the Lord!

Now, I wish I could have read that in scripture and came up with this all by myself, however, I did not LOL.  What I do feel though is that this was too good of information not to share with you all, so I hope this has helped you as much as it has myself.

Be blessed and have a good one folks!

Regards,

Antoine E. Hall

Blog:   http://toinebo.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall

"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." - 2 Samuel 22:33

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Move With the Quarterback

Hello Everyone,

I hope that you are having a good day.  With football season gone and the NFL Draft being the closest football event, I thought this would be a great time to rekindle some football season memories.  As with any sport, you have team leaders and football is no exception.  In football, the quarterback (QB) is typically the team leader because he directs the offense on the field.

Because of the QB's position, he has the ability to see down the full playing field to see which receivers are open to catch the ball.  If there is no one in which to throw the ball, he can move around (or scramble) until a receiver comes open.  As a receiver, it is your job to work with the QB.  Sometimes the receiver can run the play that was designed, turn around and the ball will land right in his hands.  At other times, the QB has to scramble and the receiver will have to move with him to be in position to make a catch possible.

Now, I want you to look at how God and us work together.  God is like our QB, directing the team, and we (the followers of Christ) are like the receivers.  As long as we listen to God's plan and run our "play", He can deliver whatever He needs for you to have right where planned.  This is the equivalent to the term that "God can meet you just where you are".  At the same time, have you ever found yourself waiting on a word, blessing, etc. from God and it does not seem to be happening.  It could be that you've lost eye contact with the "QB" and He's already scrambling.  If He is scrambling that means YOU have to do some moving to adjust to receive what He has for you.  Where you are at the moment may not be the place where you need to stay.  You may need to move.

In football, the plans change all the time, but the vision is to win the game.  As you all might know, one saying that has stuck with me is that "Plans Change, but the Vision Remains the Same".  In our walk with Christ, we always imagine and plan how we want things to be, but they do not always go according to plan.  Sometimes we may have to get out of our comfort zone or maybe we need to have some things shaken up in our lives.  Our vision is to follow the true King and receive whatever it is He has for us and it may not always be where we thought it would be. Folks, keep building your relationship with God and never stop moving with the eternal Quarterback.

Be blessed!

Regards,

Antoine E. Hall

Blog:   http://toinebo.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall

"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." - 2 Samuel 22:33

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Every Day Life Ministries

Good Morning Folks,

I hope that everyone had a good weekend.  Today, I wanted to share with you all a name change in my blog.  When I first started this blog, I had trouble coming up with a name, so being the silly person that I am, I called it "Blogging It Out With Toine-Bo".  Hey, I thought it worked *LOL*.  Over time though, I have found that I have begin blogging more and more about life and how the Word of God plays a part.  I do not believe that we can separate our Christian walk from everything else that happens in the world like politics, social issues, etc.

In a conversation with my Uncle Frank (also known as "Uncle Pank" by my 2 year old son), he mentioned that what we (the folks writing Word For The Day) had a ministry.  I had never thought of it that way, but I guess he was right.  It took me a while to realize this but any time you are sharing God's Word along with testimony, life lessons, application, etc with people, you are ministering to them.  Even though I have my own blog now, I still consider what I do as a part of a Word For the Day, however, I do it now under the umbrella of "Every Day Life Ministries". 

Uncle Frank, thanks for bringing this to my attention and for speaking into my life.  Ryan "Roo" White, thank you for starting WFTD and encouraging me to become involved as it has helped to take my walk with Christ to a different level.  Deidra "Brownie Dee" Hall.....thank you for infusing God into our lives from the very beginning of our marriage and for giving me the nudge to give my life to Christ.  I never knew what I had been missing, but I thank you much!

As I get time, I will be redesigning the site, but for now let's take it one step at a time.

Be easy fam and have a good one!

Regards,

Antoine E. Hall

Blog:   http://toinebo.blogger.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall

"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." - 2 Samuel 22:33

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Modern Day Slavery

In a time where everything is OnDemand, we have become so spoiled by having things provided for us instantaneously.  We have Drive-thru windows at fast food restaurants.  Why?  You can become hungry and purchase some food without any wait.  You can walk over to the microwave and nuke a frozen dinner and you have a meal in 5 minutes.  No slaving over the stove for you tonight! 

Sadly, this life style has spoiled us.  We want everything now.  In almost every department store around the country, you can probably save 10% on your current purchase by signing up for a new department store card.  You say, "Sure, I'll do it".  In the back of your mind you are saying that you will never use that credit card......then one day, there is a Mega Store Wide Holiday Blow Out Sale!  Only just this once will you use the credit card and then BAM!  The shackles go on your ankle and wrists.  They got you!

The moment you start to put things on credit or on loan is the moment you become slave to the master.  The master is who ever holds you responsible or accountable for paying your debt.  We all participate in it.  If you have not purchased your home in cash, you are still a slave.  A home is supposedly good debt, right?  I mean it does have tax breaks and its perks.  Even though you "own" your home, you'll quickly find out how much ownership you have when a payment is missed!

Proverbs 22:7 says, "The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender".  You can choose not to pay the lender, but they still can make your life miserable by taking back property or by simply making it so you can't purchase any more big ticket items - introducting, bad credit.  But hey, if we are trying not to use credit cards any more or get any loans, who needs good credit?

If you owe someone, pay them back and off as soon as possible so that you can be free to do the things you want to do in life.  Don't be a slave all your life!

Regards,

Antoine E. Hall

Blog:   http://toinebo.blogger.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall

"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." - 2 Samuel 22:33

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From Little to Much Faith

One of our kids' favorite movies is Finding Nemo and it just so happens that I had to ban the movie for a while.  The children were acting out the movie word for word *LOL*.  No matter, my son continues to perform parts from the movie and I laugh at him from mocking the movie.

For those who do not know, Finding Nemo is a movie about a clown fish named Marlon and his son Nemo.  Before Nemo was born, Marlon and Nemo's mother, Coral (another clown fish) were out on the reef talking about all their new babies that will be born and what they will name them.  Coral wanted some to be called Nemo.  Marlon wanted most to be named Marlon, Jr.  Long story short, a Barracuda shows up, eats Coral and eats all the eggs but one.  Marlon names him Nemo. 

Because of that traumatic event, Marlon is scared to even let Nemo sneeze by himself for fear of something happening to him.  In addition, Marlon has now become fearful of a lot and reserves himself to being conservative and out of danger.  Being a stubborn kid, Nemo defies his father and goes out into open water to touch the "butt" (the boat - the other fish called it the butt).  Nemo gets captured by a diver and is wisked away which starts the adventure to find him.

*phew*, I had to go through all this to lead to where I'm going today.  Picking up a from where I left off yesterday, today I want to talk about faith.  "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." (Hebrews 11:1).  Marlon, definitely lacked faith.  He didn't trust in anything that he could not see or predict.  As with us, It is so easy to hear about faith from the pulpit and how we need to have it, however it is difficult to use it if we do not have it.  In order to build your faith, you have to exercise it.  Faith without works is dead (see James 2:20).

In one scene of the movie, Marlon and Dory (fish played by Ellen DeGeneres) become trapped in a whale.  Marlon blames Dory for this mishap and believes the whale wants to eat them, but in fact the whale is helping them on their journey.  In that scene, the whale does his whale talk and Dory (who speaks whale - you have to see the movie) says its time to go.  The water starts to drain from the whale's mouth and the only way to go is to the back of the whale's throat.  Marlon asked how does she know something bad isn't going to happen and Dory said she doesn't and lets go of the whale's tongue to fall to the back of the throat.  Finally, Marlon lets go and they fall down and are blown out the whale's blow hole close to their destination.

Let's look at this and how it compares to us.  Many of us in life are afraid of the unknown because we like to be in control (*raising hand* - this was me).  In order to exercise faith you have to be willing to go into some things with the expectancy that God has it in control and will take care of you.  Like Dory said, she didn't know that anything bad was going to happen, but she was willing to step out on faith to find out if something good was going to happen.

In Matthew 6:30 Jesus says, "If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?".  Don't let fear hamper a gift that God has given to us all.  The more you know, the more you grow.  As with anything else in life you have to take things in baby steps and one day you'll look back and say, "Wow, look how far I've come".

Be easy family and have a Happy Hump Day!

Regards,

Antoine E. Hall

Blog:   http://toinebo.blogger.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall

"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." - 2 Samuel 22:33

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A Doer of the Word

Good Morning Family,

I hope that you all are doing well this fine day. In our every day lives, we find ourselves reading and taking in many things, but a majority of it we read as if it was FYI.  For example, if I go into the doctor's office, I may pick up a Southern Comfort or Time Magazine to read, but I'm only doing it to pass the time.  Unless something was really interesting, I will forget what I just read.  Do you find yourself doing the same thing with God's Word? 

In James 1:22-25, it says:

(22) Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. (23) Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror (24) and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. (25) But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

The Word of God is not just there for our entertainment purposes.  It is there to guide and instruct us how He wants us to live.

The reading of scripture brings us a little closer to God, but our actions bring us the closest.  I am one who learns best by seeing an example or a demonstration.  Learning the theory of how something works is fine, but the real learning comes by hands on work.  Think back to school (or if you are currently in school) when you had a science class.  What did you do? You first studied the topic and learned the theory and reasoning behind it.  Then, you did lab experiments to experience the application of your learned theory.

Don't let the Word of God be like a magazine on your doctor's office table.  Let it become apart of who you are and guide how you live.  Being a hearer of the Word is good, but becoming a doer of the Word is great!

Be blessed and have a good one.

Regards,

Antoine E. Hall

Blog:   http://toinebo.blogger.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall

"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." - 2 Samuel 22:33

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Don't Rush the Kids to Bed

Good Morning,

I hope that everyone is doing well this Monday morning.  Today while riding to work, the Lord spoke/convicted me.  Here I am driving down the highway and all of a sudden, it seemed like I was getting scolded.

I think in a previous WFTD, I mentioned something similar to the topic of not rushing the kids off to bed at night.  In this case, it is more specific I think.  The time that my wife and I spend with our kids in prayer, just before bed, is one of the most important times of the entire day.  This is the time that we as a family get to spend time together with the Lord and they get to see how we as parents worship Him! 

Believe it or not, children are always watching your every move.  I've noticed that our daughter use to say passionate prayers from the heart that would make us say wow.  Now it is almost as if it is just a routine to do so she can hurry up and go to bed.  I have to place blame on me for not having us all to continue to take the time out to pray from the heart instead of rushing the kids off to bed.  Having a big day tomorrow or because they have gotten on our last nerves all day is no excuse to rush through what little time we already set aside for God.

Our children mimic with whom they identify.  If I am rushing through a great teaching moment, what am I teaching and REVEALING about my current walk to my children?

"Do you hear what these children are saying?" they asked him. "Yes," replied Jesus, "have you never read, " 'From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise'?"  - Matthew 21:16

Children have it right from the very beginning.  It is on us to teach them so the world does not influence them to lose their praise.

Be blessed fam.

Regards,

Antoine E. Hall

Blog:   http://toinebo.blogger.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall

"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." - 2 Samuel 22:33

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Leviticus Lessons: Conclusion

Good Morning Everyone,

I hope that you all are doing well on this fine Friday.  On November 18, 2009, I started this series on Leviticus Lessons touching on the area of offerings.  It has been a while since our last Leviticus Lesson, but I am finally sitting down to finish out the series just over 2 months later.  I have been determined to get this done as I believe the lessons have information the enemy doesn't want you to know.

The last time we talked about the 5th offering, which was the Tresspass Offering. Today, I will briefly touch on one more special type of offering and we will wrap things up with some other points of interests.

The Consecration Offering was a part of the process to ordain Priests.  Actually, the description and direction was given by God in Exodus 29. 

"This is what you are to do to consecrate them, so they may serve me as priests: Take a young bull and two rams without defect. - Exodus 29:1

The offering was carried out by Moses for Aaron and his son's in Leviticus 8.  You can find more information on the following two links:

• Exodus 29 - The Consecration of the Priests
• The Priests

Those two sites go into detail about the consecration and the offering.  I wanted to make mention of this offering, because it is in Leviticus 7:37, but it is kind of thrown in there.  It made me scratch my head in confusion for a moment as all the other offerings were described, but that one wasn't.

God took a lot of time to explain in detail the different offerings because He wanted them to get it right.  Remember, the offerings were satisfactory, but did not solve the ultimate problem.  No matter how much the people tried to make atonement for their sins, they still had to perform an offering every time a sin or tresspass was committed.  An offering was required to givve God thanks and to commune with Him, BUT....(I know that you have to know where this is going!)

JESUS!  Jesus became the ultimate sacrifical lamb. Christ...

1. nullified Gods wrath against us (Burnt Offering)
2. is a reminder of how God brought them out of bondage (Meat Offering)
3. gave access to God in order that we may give to the Father freely (Peace Offering)
4. made atonement for our sins (Sin & Tresspass Offerings)

It is more than just a Sunday morning sermon, but Jesus did do it. You've always heard that He came and died for our sins and to the fulfill the law. Christ came so that He can die that we might live.  You've all heard it before but I hope now you see how it all ties together. 

Be easy fam and have a great weekend!

Regards,

Antoine E. Hall

Blog:     http://toinebo.blogger.com

Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall

"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." - 2 Samuel 22:33

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