The Prayer Formula
- Vomit on God. Psalms 142. The Bible says pour out your complaint to God. Tell Him all of your hurts, your pains, your anger, your hatred, your sorrow, whatever it is that torments your thoughts and emotions. Buried feelings never die; they always come back to haunt you. So get them out of your system and vent on God. This is the easy part. The key is, don’t hold anything back. You do this, not for God’s sake, but for yours. He knows what is there, but you have to unload it if you want victory. He cannot do that for you.
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Confess known sin. I John 1:9. When we have been unjustly treated, we do not feel there is anything for us to confess. We excuse ourselves from responsibility. But we are responsible for the emotions the pain has caused us and for the lack of trust that it has brought us to as a result. Whatever you vomited on God in point #1, recognize the negative emotions the pain caused and confess them. Hatred, bitterness, jealousy, anger, cynicism, distrust, skepticism, worry, anxiety, depression, disbelief- none of those emotions are from God. They are negative emotions that torment our hearts. Do not justify them! Let them go!
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Individual Song Downloads in MP3
I am excited that we now have the ability to provide individual song downloads. For years we have considered a favorites CD which would be a compilation of all of our favorite songs. This new singles download opportunity allows everyone to create their own favorites CD. It has been amazing and a blessing how different songs from a single cd will be a blessing to different people. Some songs seem to be favorites of many, and other songs appeal to a particular person often because of a particular emotion or need. Select yours and enjoy your new Hooker family favorites CD. Thanks for listening to and supporting our music ministry.
MP3 songs from “The Value of One” CD.
MP3 songs from “Through the Storm” CD.
MP3 songs from “We Stand in Awe” CD.
If there is a specific song that you would like that is not yet available, please let us know.
God bless,
Bob Hooker
Special February Deals!
Kindle or rekindle the romance in your marriage!
Author Gregory Godek once said, “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing!” And this book not only gives great ideas how to “play,” but zeroes in on helping the husband and the wife to understand what makes each other tick. This 150+ page book contains a wealth of wisdom along with fun and practical ways to ignite or reignite passion in marriage and no couple should be without it. Truly a wise investment in the future, it is sure to reap huge dividends if its words are heeded.
Excellent as a bridal shower gift or a Valentine’s Day surprise, this special won’t last forever. So…
Don’t delay! For only $10, you can get your copy today!
Romance in Marriage
SPECIAL: Purchase the book Romance in Marriage anytime during the month of February and get a copy of the CD Romantic Moods for the incredibly low price of $5. Let the sounds of nature that comprise this CD soothe and relax you as you unwind to its 22 instrumental love songs, sure to put you in the mood for love.
Romance in Marriage and Romantic Moods February Bundle
New Year Resolutions
January is the time of year when we all want to make our New Year resolutions and, for most women, that usually includes a fitness and diet plan. I am no exception. Having put on a few pounds over the holidays and needing two major answers to prayer, I decided to fast from coffee and all forms of sugar and sugar products for 21 days. Why? Coffee is a comfort behavior for me and when I drink it, I load it with sweet cream. I decided that instead of running to coffee when I was “under the gun” or stressed, I would run to God. Truthfully, I found that I was depending more on the “feel good” affects of coffee and sweet cream to relieve my stress than I was on the comfort of God’s Word. And, my weakness to do so made me feel like such a “flabby” Christian. Sooo…here I am on the 6th day of my 21 day fast. Not only do I feel fantastic but I haven’t even craved the coffee like I thought I would. I have to admit though, the Peppermint Mocha creamer in the fridge does call to me periodically.
In light of my resolution for the New Year, I had a few thoughts on the subject of Flabby Christianity.
Let’s face it, the America of today loves to play. Even if we work hard at a job, it’s money to get ahead materially and to have lots of pleasures. It is not energy spent striving to accomplish all that God would have us to do, but energy spent to have a good time. And most of our money is spent on that which requires no discipline like television, movies, X-box, I-pods and computer games, so we can sit around and be entertained. As a result, we have become a weak, self-indulgent, flabby, overweight nation run by weak, falling apart, flabby homes where weak, characterless, flabby people live who have forgotten what the words discipline, hard work, stamina, determination, will power, self-control, faithfulness and grit really mean and whose children often don’t know the words at all. Did you know that many nervous and emotional disorders are due to self-indulgent living? It’s not that we don’t need some silvery entertainment from time to time; it’s just that we need to put more iron back in our souls! So I suggest that as we contemplate the New Year, we take a hard look at our lifestyles and ask ourselves if we have let ourselves and/or our kids get “flabby” and take steps to change it. There is no time like the present to turn that flabby lifestyle into a vibrant, healthy one. Consider using the 80/20 ratio: for every 8 hours of character building work such as scrubbing the ring from a bathtub, chopping wood, exercising, cleaning out the attic, waxing a floor, building a project, 2 hours of self-indulgent entertainment is earned. Then, when the 2 hours are up, start over. This little exercise is one way of keeping us and especially our kids from becoming flabby Christians. I’m in, how about you?
Division 9 – cute kid! Lol!
Irma Figro from 122 in D9, says shes a cutey because thats how she came out. Lol!
Mr. Awesome – aka Baby Puncher
Baby Puncher!
Looking Forward to the Future
II Timothy 2:7 says, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
The spirit of fear comes as a result of the loss of control over negative thoughts. Negative thinking is not from God and is in opposition to faith. God has not given us the spirit of fear. Fear is a destroyer of success. Experience is a destroyer of faith. If we give up on faith by letting negatives torment our thinking, then fear takes control. When we fear the future, we become failures instead of the success God intends us to be.
In Genesis 1, the earth was created without form, void of life, and dark, then God moved and the earth came to life. In Genesis 2, God formed man from the dust of the ground, dust being that which is without form and void. Then God breathed, and man became a living soul. In my life, I was without God, empty, devoid of spiritual Light, the darkness reigning, then God moved, and New Life was breathed into me and I became an eternal soul.
God is in the business of taking nothing and making something out of it.
Don’t let the broken-heartedness of 2010 discourage you for 2011. There is always hope where there is God. Oust those negative thoughts from your thinking and don’t let fear destroy your hope for the future. When you feel empty and discouraged, and darkness is overwhelming you, take heart. Remember that God is in the business of making something out of nothing and New Life can spring forth from your life too. So look up, look forward and let your past build your future!
Home and Marriage
Home and Marriage
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Music
Everybody loves music, but young people especially love and need happy music. That is one reason they are so often drawn to music with a beat. It makes them feel good, and if they feel good, then they feel happy. If music does not have a rock beat (and ours doesn’t), then to gain their attention, it must appeal to their emotions and thus, to their heart (and ours does). When their heart is happy, then they are happy too. They will also listen to music that identifies with the mood they are in even if it is a bad mood, and they will do this rather than change the music to change a mood. For years, many Christian young people succumbed to listening to groups like Metallica when hurt or angry because all of the songs started off with hypnotically soothing music, then moved to an angry, blaring crescendo that fed their mood. The words of the songs then coached those kids to handle their anger and stress by cursing God, cursing other people or worse. How Satan uses music to accomplish his purposes in our young people’s lives! Because of this, our songs and the music has been chosen for the purpose of emotional appeal for a variety of moods and spiritual instruction for how to handle life. Teens do need good, Christ-honoring music that will feed their spirits but not take them down a road neither we nor they want them to go, but they are also picky. Not just anything appeals to them. Teens want music that they identify with, that appeals to their moods and music that satisfies even after being played over and over and over again.
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Children
Children love stories and children love to laugh! There is no greater way to reach down, grab a child’s heart and influence them for God and for right than through a story. When I was young, I loved to hear my dad tell stories of his childhood. I would beg to hear them again and again. I learned character, tenacity and practical thinking skills from my dad’s stories. A story will stick in a person’s mind and run through their imagination forever. What a wonderful tool God has given us to influence the minds of children and in such a fun and palatable way. My grandchildren never tire of hearing stories. One will start, “Tell us a story, Noni,“ then the others will start chiming in, “Yeah, tell us a story!” If I don’t respond quickly enough, they will begin to clap their hands rhythmically and chant, “Tell us a story! Tell us a story!” As soon as I agree, even the rowdiest will automatically grow still and quiet, sitting in rapt attention, as I tell and retell story after story. I have told stories of my past, my husband’s past, my daughter’s past until I ran out of true stories and had to start making up stories to satisfy them. They only beg for more, and I love it. There is a story in the Bible of one mother who told so many stories to her young son about his great, great, great…grandfather that her son grew up wanting to be just like him and, in doing so, changed the course of a nation (II Kings 22-23). That boy was Josiah and his great grandfather was King David. Perhaps that is why God Himself tells so many stories in the Bible to us. We must never underestimate the power of a story, the power of influence in what may appear to be the most trivial form, or the power of one story’s influence on the mind of a child.
In the days to come, Hook Publications will be proudly presenting a lot more stories for children. Coming soon, for example, is: The Cornerstone Kids with their mystery solving skills and humorous antics,
Wise Willy the Detective Owl who will delight young readers as he explores the animal kingdom looking for evidence of God’s handiwork in all of God’s creation, and
The Princess of Palmyra which combines adventure with virtue and values as a young princess and boy gypsy set out to rescue her parents from kidnappers.
So stay tuned and connected for these stories and more!
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Culottes – Misses
Hope
Jesus, Only Jesus