Money Doesn't Talk

In Zephania's time some of the people of Judah were financially secure. However, Zephaniah had a message from the Lord for them on investing. Apparently, some of them had received a bad investment tip and were at risk of losing it all. Learn the lesson that some things cannot be bought at any price.

Personal Application - (This prophesy is still true to this day and applies to all of us)

Israel had silver and gold, but no holiness. God said that their riches would not help them when it came time to account for their sins (Zephaniah 1:18).

In this life, we often rely on money for a sense of security and power. When we are poor, we feel weak. When we are rich, we feel strong. But wealth doesn't make us right with God. Nor can it buy our salvation or influence God's will. At the final judgment our riches will be worthless.

If you're already rich, ask God to help you maintain a humble attitude, use what you have for His glory, and live righteously. If you're middle class or poor, rather than working to accumulate wealth, work at cultivating holiness. It's the one thing you can take with you when you die.

Bible Reading

Stand in silence in the presence of the Sovereign LORD, for the awesome day of the Lord's judgment has come. The LORD has prepared His people for a great slaughter and has chosen their executioners. "On that day of judgment," says the LORD, "I will punish the leaders and princes of Judah and all those following pagan customs. Yes, I will punish those who participate in pagan worship ceremonies, and those who steal and kill to fill their masters' homes with loot."

"I will search with lanterns in Jerusalem's darkest corners to find and punish those who sit contented in their sins, indifferent to the LORD, thinking He will do nothing at all to them. They are the very ones whose property will be plundered by the enemy, whose homes will be ransacked. They will never have a chance to live in the new homes they have built. They will never drink wine from the vineyards they have planted."

Your silver and gold will be of no use to you on that day of the Lord's anger. For the whole land will be devoured by the fire of His jealousy. He will make a terrifying end of all the people on earth.

Gather together and pray, you shameless nation. Gather while there is still time, before judgment begins and your opportunity is blown away like chaff. Act now, before the fierce fury of the LORD falls and the terrible day of the Lord's anger begins. Beg the LORD to save you -- all you who are humble, all you who uphold justice. Walk humbly and do what is right. Perhaps even yet the LORD will protect you from His anger on that day of destruction.

from the book of Zephaniah

One Year through the Bible, 365 great devotionals to lead you through God's life-changing Word in a year

Another dream I'm able to remember before waking up today, is quite amusing. In my dream, a former supervisor from my old job came barging in my house, a house I've never seen before. She handed me several documents to prove something that I already knew. She started snooping around the house from the first floor to the second floor. Her actions were not making me mad at first. I was more surprised why she even knew where I live. When I asked her, she said she followed me in her car. At this time, my friend and her sister from a choir I used to belong to at the old church I used to attend, came in and were totally disgusted of my former supervisor and told me that I should send her away. In short, shoo her out of the house. At this point, I was still not ready to get rid of my supervisor yet because I wanted to know the reason as to why she even spent so much time to even prepared documentations to prove something is true in her mind. The action was so weird to me.

But as she was getting more intrusive in the privacy of my own home, I've asked her to maybe it's time for her to leave. She run upstairs and stayed there for a while as my friends from the old church stared at me in disbelief as to why I was allowing all this rude behavior. I finally shouted out at my supervisor who was still upstairs and screamed at her to get down and asked her if she's ransacking my belongings to use against me.

Then I woke up. It woke me up feeling light-hearted.

"REM sleep is when you dream. If you wake up a person during REM sleep, the person can vividly recall dreams. If you wake up a person during NREM sleep, generally the person will not be dreaming.

You must have both REM and NREM sleep to get a good night's sleep. A normal person will spend about 25 percent of the night in REM sleep, and the rest in NREM. A REM session -- a dream -- lasts five to 30 minutes." from: How sleep works

"REM sleep usually begins after a period of deep sleep known as stage 4 sleep."

"You don't dream during the deepest part of your sleep cycle. The lighter your sleep is, the more likely you are to remember your dreams, which is why most dreams one can remember occur just before waking up.

Dreaming does not occur during NREM sleep. Dreaming occurs during the less deep REM state, and the dreams one remembers are generally the dreams which occur in the final REM stage which is just before waking. In other words, you are not in deep sleep when experiencing/remembering dreams.

Experts on dreams say that dreams have meanings and the prime basis is what's happening in your life. There are straight forward dreams, beautiful like paradise dreams and, also visions of unexplainable weird dreams.

This morning, I remember two dreams and woke me up both times. Needless to say, I did not get a well rested sleep as  my brain seemed to like to analyze the dream each time I woke up.

The first dream was in a place where I seemed to get off from a car to check a place that got my attention. I was so busy checking and buying things as I walked around the area when reality hit me that the car I was riding in was gone. I stood still and fear overcome me. How would I get back home? I was so fearful that I felt abandoned. Helpless, I did not know where to turn.

The second dream that was so vivid and realistic too was in a cheap hotel without any bed and furniture; just full of clothes scattered on the floor and some traveling bags. It seemed like I just woke up and started looking around. I noticed that my purse was empty. I checked my tote bag and realized I did not have anything in it, my wallet and my ID and credit cards were all gone. I panicked and run to the door and opened it and saw an old woman looking up to me and had a big grin on her face. I was trying to scream for help but no words came out from my mouth. I was so devastated and again helpless.

The second dream completely threw me off and made me wide awake. I could not seem to get back to sleep.

Dream experts said that whatever you were thinking just before you've gone to bed is what will manifest in your dream or dreams. Which is true in some of my dreams, but does not apply to these recent dreams. It could probably be a suppressed feelings I have in the back of my mind.

My dreams seem to be about abandonment and being alone; like all of what is mine are being stolen and I was left with nothing. In these dreams, there was nobody I knew in real life was around, like they just left me.

For one thing, I never liked the feeling of losing sleep the next morning. I only had about a six hours of sleep and I don’t like it one bit.

Power nap, here I come to join you later! Probably…

update 9/5/14: This Bible verse played in my mind yesterday in connection to these two dreams:

 Deuteronomy 31:6

⁶ “Be strong. Take courage. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t give them a second thought because God, your God, is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you.”     The Message (MSG)

I've heard so much about how lemon is beneficial to your health and around your kitchen. I really thought it was just a wives' tale; not until I tried using it myself.

My first attempt with its use is to sanitize our kitchen sink after preparing food for cooking; especially poultry and meat products. The lemon leaves a clean scent  on the sink and the kitchen. I also use it to clean our cutting boards.

Then, as I increased and added more vegetables and fruits in my daily diet, I've also used lemons to wash and clean my sustainable farmers' produce.

Early in Spring this year, I've started drinking warm lemon water after I wake up and before I start my day and on an empty stomach. I've had consumed lemon water on and off in the past, especially when I would catch a cold. Definitely this year, after I've read a book on how alkalizing your body can greatly benefit your health, I've added this morning routine to see if it does make a difference.

As of this writing, I can say lemon water does my body good. I feel that it gives me so much energy. The pains I would feel from time to time before I started this regimen are all gone. I feel good. It does help also when I've started eating more fruits and vegetables each day. My body just seems to appreciate the caring I'm giving to it and my immune system is as healthy. As a precaution since lemons can erode the enamel of my teeth overtime, I drink my lemon water using a straw and I gargle after I had lemon water.

Through the years, I've become unyielding or adamant about taking over the counter drugs and prescription pills. Conventional drugs are not part of my healing process especially this year. With all those side effects I see on TV, I can well say, I do not take any prescription drugs nor the over the counter ones. I've gotten scared on how they will damage the insides of my body.

Recently, I bought some ph balance test strips, and I can say that my body is now more alkaline than acidic.