Encourage One Another, Daily

02 Thursday Feb 2017

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Spiritual

Tags

absence of encouragement, believers in Christ, Body of Christ, brothers and sisters in Christ, encourage, encouragement, exhort, exhortation, forgotten, help, inspire, instill hope, instill joy, motivate, one another, spur on, stregnthen, support, unimportant, unloved, unwanted, uplift, urge, useless

I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me face to face, that they may be encouraged in heart, knit together in love, and filled with the full riches of complete understanding, so that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. ~ Colossians 2:1-3, Berean Study Bible

But exhort one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. ~ Hebrews 3:13, Berean Study Bible

Let us hold resolutely to the hope we confess, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds. Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have made a habit, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching. ~ Hebrews 10:23-25, Berean Study Bible

Therefore encourage and build one another up, just as you are already doing. ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Berean Study Bible

What have believers in Christ done with encouragement or exhortation? Where have they hidden it, because most believers never receive any encouragement or exhortation?

How sad that is, especially since encouragement or exhortation was a necessary and expected staple in the lives of the first century Body of Christ. Indeed, it was a major way to urge or motivate one another to remain faithful, to be fruitful, to be joyful, to keep the faith, to stay hopeful, to continue to persevere/endure, to remain strong, to remain united, and so on and so forth.

Surely God knew that we all would need encouragement. Surely God knew how we all would feel when encouragement was absent from our lives—useless, forgotten, unwanted, unimportant, and/or unloved, just for starters. No wonder the apostles instructed and expected the first century Body of Christ members to encourage one another DAILY, as in the following verse: “But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called ‘Today,’ so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” ~ Hebrews 3:13, NASB

So, again, I ask: What have believers in Christ done with encouragement or exhortation? Without a doubt, it is sad that God’s children do not encourage ALL their brothers and sisters in Christ, when they have the opportunities to do so—sad that so many believers, instead, think it is okay to pick and choose the people they will give support to, give hope to, give help to, show love to, inspire, strengthen, and etcetera. My brothers and sisters in Christ, we must do much better than that!

Grace to every brother and sister in Christ . . . . . Every blessing . . . . .

To God Be The Glory!

26 Thursday Feb 2015

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Published Book

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

5-7-5 syllabic structure, collection of haiku poetry, destiny, flashes of inspiration, limerick, Perfect Peace, publication process, published author, standalone mini-poems, support, various poetic forms

Grace and shalom to you from God our Father and from the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who gave himself for our sins, so that he might deliver us from the present evil world-system, in obedience to the will of God, our Father. To him be the glory forever and ever! Amen. ~ Galatians 1:3-5, CJB

A person whose desire rests on you
you preserve in perfect peace,
because he trusts in you. ~ Isaiah 26:3, CJB

I have been writing poetry, in various poetic forms, since I was a school-age youth. In fact, I was in 5th grade, when I composed my first poem—a funny limerick.

Over the years, many of my classmates, friends and family members often told me that I should publish a book of my poetry. However, I hadn’t always thought that I was an accomplished poet—accomplished enough to have my poems published—and that’s probably why I always was very selective about the poems I would choose to share and selective about the family members and/or friends I would allow to read them.

That behavior didn’t change much until the late 1980s. Back then, while I was in graduate school at Howard University, working on a Ph.D., one of my African-American Literature professors had made her students submit at least one of their own poems to the Howard University’s Poetry Contest (sponsored by The Academy of American Poets). I had given my professor a four line free verse poem to submit—a poem that I had not considered to be my best work. Well, lo and behold, “Pebbles,” my submitted four line free verse poem, had received Honorable Mention! From then on, I gradually had become better at sharing more of my poems with larger groups of people.

I said all that to say this: after writing poetry, on and off, over 52 years, around mid-September 2014 I finally decided to try my hand at composing the haiku’s 5-7-5 syllabic structure. Once I got started, I didn’t want to stop. While I didn’t set out to write a collection of standalone mini-poems, I am elated that one of my flashes of inspiration gave birth to Perfect Peace.

This week, Perfect Peace went live. As a result, this blogger officially joined the ranks of published book authors. Praise God!

Currently, Perfect Peace (in paperback) can be purchased on barnesandnoble.com and on Amazon.com. The e-book version can be bought on iTunes (Apple iBooks), Amazon.com-Kindle, and/or Barnes and Noble-Nook.

Perfect Peace also eventually will be in Christian bookstores. I will provide the names of the Christian bookstores, as soon as I have that information.

Lastly, but most important, much love and many thanks to everyone who already has supported me throughout this publication process. I look forward to receiving as much additional support that anyone is willing to give.

Equally important, I want everyone to know that I trust completely in Father God, who is in control of Perfect Peace’s destiny. Without doubt, I know that He will bless Perfect Peace according to His Will, while keeping me in perfect peace. Finally, the greatest desire I have for the pint-sized poems I have included in Perfect Peace, prayerfully, is that I have used my God-given haiku writing skills to His Glory. Amen!

Thank You!

22 Sunday Sep 2013

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Praises and Thanks

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Tags

agape love, appreciation, blessing, kindness, reblogged, richly blessed, shared, standard share links, support, thankfulness, visited

I do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. ~ Ephesians 1:16, AMP

Thank [God] in everything [no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks], for this is the will of God for you [who are] in Christ Jesus [the Revealer and Mediator of that will]. ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:18, AMP

I first want to give the honor, glory, praise, and appreciation to Father God, then to Jesus the Christ, and then to the Holy Spirit for all the people they have sent to this blog: all the people who have “liked” a blog entry, all the people who have commented on a blog entry, all the people who have reblogged a blog entry, and all the people who have shared a blog entry. Certainly there is no doubt in my mind that Father God is the only One who caused the growth in the number of visitors to my blog and the only One who caused the growth in the number of shared blog entries. Thank You God for these increases!

Secondly, I want to thank the people who I normally wouldn’t have any way of knowing visited my blog or wouldn’t have any way of knowing they shared a particular blog entry via the standard share links, especially if they do not e-mail me personally or if they do not leave a comment in which they tell me they have visited my blog or have shared one of its entries on such and such site(s) or with these or those individuals. For these reasons, I want all of the anonymous visitors to know that I definitely have been richly blessed by each and every person who has stopped by my blog, and I have been abundantly blessed by every individual who has shared an entry from this blog, whether on Facebook or Google+, or Twitter, Pinterest, Digg, Reddit, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Tumblr, Pocket, or via Print & PDF, or by E-mail. I’m extremely grateful to everyone who took the time to visit this blog and read my entries. Then too, I’m enormously grateful to every individual who has shared one or more of the hundreds of entries from my blog that have found a new home on other sites, or that have been printed out, or that have been e-mailed.

Lastly, I want to thank everyone for being such a marvelous example of God’s Agápe love. The love, kindness, and support each person has shown to me mean more to me than he or she will ever know.

Once again, thank you all for what you each have done. I’m utterly blown away by your demonstrated Agápe love. I will keep all of you in my prayers, and I pray that you all will do the same for me.

Every blessing . . . .

Very Inspiring Blogger Award

09 Monday Jul 2012

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Awards

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

beautiful place, blogsphere, encouragement, godliness, godly love, honor, inspiring blog award, kindness, respect, support

Nominated and Accepted on July 9, 2012

Love each other devotedly and with brotherly love; and set examples for each other in showing respect. ~ Romans 12:10, CJB

Paulette at Paulette’s Blog has nominated me for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award. Thank you Paulette for your favorable approval of my blog and me. I am so honored to know that in some way something that I have posted on my blog has inspired you. For this reason, it gives me great pleasure to accept this Very Inspiring Blogger Award.

Additionally, I want to encourage all of the individuals who visit my blog to check out the exceptionally inspirational and motivational postings on Paulette’s Blog. She definitely is doing her very best to guarantee that the blogsphere remains a beautiful place. Indeed, I am truly touched by the godly warmth, kindness, and love that not only beautifully emanate from all of her blog postings and comments, but also brilliantly radiate from every one of her Google+ postings and comments, as well.

Now, in order to accept this award, the nominees must follow these few guidelines:

1. Acknowledge and thank the person who nominated you for the award, and link back to that individual’s blog.

2. Add the award’s image to your blog.

3. Share 7 things about yourself.

4. Nominate 7 bloggers who inspire you.

HELLO World: The Seven Things About Me

1. I love God more than I have ever loved anyone else.

2. I earnestly and happily have surrendered my life to Christ Jesus’ Lordship.

3. I preached my initial sermon on September 8, 2002 at Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church.

4. I am a Vietnam Era veteran. I served my country as a member of the United States Air Force.

5. One of my spiritual gifts is “helps.” I always have had the desire and the ability to help others, which is why I became a teacher, and why I always have had a heart for serving God.

6. I have a peaceable spirit, but that doesn’t mean that I cannot deal with confrontations.

7. Gospel Music tugs at my heartstrings; even still, I also love to listen to music by the Temptations, Ebonys, Unifics, Temprees, and so many more 60s and 70s R&B/Soul singers.

Paying It Forward: My Seven Nominees

1. Pastor Ross

2. Jon

3. Edwin

4. Rigo

5. Tony

6. Jim

7. Kim

Once again, thank you Paulette for your encouragement, appreciation, and your support. I pray that our God continues to bless you and your loved ones exceedingly and abundantly above anything that you could ever imagine, or guess, or request. Shalom . . .