katielou

Wednesday, August 23
Ezra had prepared his heart.—Ezra 7:10.
Do you at times take notes during public talks, assemblies, and conventions? Reviewing these notes provides excellent opportunities for meditation as you think about what you have learned from God’s Word and from his organization. Also, each month’s issues of the Watchtower and Awake! magazines and the latest convention releases give us fresh information that we can read and digest. When you read the Yearbook, you may find it helpful to pause and reflect on what you read and let the experiences touch your heart. You may want to underline key thoughts or to make notes in the margin, which you might find helpful when preparing for a return visit, a shepherding call, or a future talk. Most important, pausing and meditating every now and then while reading Bible-based publications will give you the opportunity to absorb the material and to say a prayer of thanks to Jehovah for the good things you are learning. w15 10/15 4:9, 10

Thursday, August 10
The shrewd one sees the danger and conceals himself, but the inexperienced keep right on going and suffer the consequences.—Prov. 22:3.
A shrewd person realizes that contemplation can be like a fire. If fire is handled properly, it can be useful, such as when it cooks our food. But fire is deadly when it is uncontrolled and burns down a house and kills its occupants. Similarly, contemplation is useful when it helps us to imitate Jehovah. However, it can be harmful when it feeds immoral desires. For example, if we make it a practice to think about sinful actions, this could lead to our acting out such fantasies. Indeed, indulging in immoral reverie can be spiritually deadly! (Jas. 1:14, 15) Jesus warned against entertaining mental images of immoral conduct. He said: “Everyone who keeps on looking at a woman so as to have a passion for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”—Matt. 5:28. w15 5/15 4:11, 12, 14

Friendship needs trust

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Saturday, July 29
Keep in mind those in prison.—Heb. 13:3.
Paul was not here referring to just any type of prisoner. He was speaking about those brothers who were imprisoned for their faith. Paul himself had been in prison bonds for some four years by the time he penned those words to the Hebrew Christians. (Phil. 1:12-14) He commended the brothers for having “expressed sympathy for those in prison.” (Heb. 10:34) Those Hebrew Christians were physically separated from Paul. So how could they keep him in mind? They could do so by their fervent prayers in his behalf. (Heb. 13:18, 19) Today, we may likewise be separated physically from our brothers who have been thrown into prison. We may not be able to give them the practical help that is provided by the Witnesses who live near the prison. But we can show our sympathy and brotherly affection by constantly remembering these faithful ones and mentioning them in our prayers, pleading to Jehovah in their behalf. w16.01 1:13, 14

Monday, July 31
Mind your own business.—1 Thess. 4:11.
How can we show appropriate respect for those whom Jehovah chooses to anoint? We would not ask them personal questions about their anointing. We thus avoid meddling with what does not concern us. (2 Thess. 3:11) We should not assume that the parents, spouse, or other relatives of one of the anointed would also be anointed. Genetics or marriage play no part in the process. (1 Thess. 2:12) We should also resist the urge to quiz spouses of anointed ones about how they feel knowing that they will live without their mate in the future earthly Paradise. Rather than raise questions that may cause pain, all of us can have full confidence that Jehovah will open his hand and “satisfy the desire of every living thing.” (Ps. 145:16) Those who treat anointed Christians in a proper manner protect themselves from an insidious danger—“false brothers” who claim to be anointed.—Gal. 2:4, 5; 1 John 2:19. w16.01 4:10, 11

Friday, July 21
See what sort of love the Father has given us!—1 John 3:1.
Jehovah is the Creator of all humans. (Ps. 100:3-5) That is why the Bible calls Adam a “son of God,” and Jesus taught his followers to address God as “our Father in the heavens.” (Luke 3:38; Matt. 6:9) Being the Life-Giver, Jehovah is our Father; the relationship between him and us is that of a father to his children. Simply put, Jehovah loves us the way a devoted father loves his children. Human fathers, of course, are imperfect. Try as they may, they do not fully reflect the way Jehovah expresses his fatherly love. In fact, some individuals have dark memories of growing up in family situations that have left them with deep emotional or psychological scars. That is painful and sad, even tragic. To be sure, Jehovah is not a father like that. (Ps. 27:10) Knowing how Jehovah loves and cares for us will surely draw us closer to him.—Jas. 4:8. w15 9/15 4:3, 4

Thursday, July 20
Their conscience is bearing witness with them.—Rom. 2:15.
Servants of Jehovah want to train their conscience. They want the proddings of their conscience to agree with the standards of right and wrong, good and bad, as reflected in God’s Word. A properly trained conscience exercises a powerful influence for good in the Christian congregation. However, training and using our Christian conscience is not just a mental activity. The Bible links a good conscience to faith and love. Paul wrote: “The objective of this instruction is love out of a clean heart and out of a good conscience and out of faith without hypocrisy.” (1 Tim. 1:5) As we train our conscience and respond to it, our love for Jehovah will deepen and our faith will be strengthened. In fact, the way we use our conscience reveals the depth of our spirituality, the quality of our heart, and the intensity of our desire to please Jehovah. Indeed, this inner voice reflects what sort of person we truly are. w15 9/15 2:2, 3

Primarily spiritual blessings

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Faithful receive reward

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the wisest thing I heard my older brother say is - Screaming or yelling should be reserved for emergencies.
 
it's strange, the things you remember at odd times.

And with his whole ️ heart...


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Each human on earth suffers due to our inherent imperfection, therefore we are all 'sick' in the flesh, in the mind, in our souls.  However, in the new system, initially we'll go to bed feeling unwell, we can look forward to each new morning, feeling better and better!  In addition, those we've lost to the enemy death will be resurrected in a new body where imperfection in a physical sense won't reside again.  Then it's our privilege (those of us who survive the system's end) to teach these ones about what we've experienced and how they can join us for evermore.

Friday, June 30
No resident will say: “I am sick.”—Isa. 33:24.
There is no doubt that God has the power to affect someone’s health. The Bible confirms that. At times, he punished individuals with sickness, such as the Pharaoh in Abraham’s day and later Moses’ sister, Miriam. (Gen. 12:17; Num. 12:9, 10; 2 Sam. 24:15) God warned that if the Israelites proved unfaithful, he would afflict them with “every sickness or plague.” (Deut. 28:58-61) On the other hand, Jehovah could remove diseases or prevent sickness. (Ex. 23:25; Deut. 7:15) Also, he could heal people. After Job had been so sick that he longed to die, God healed him! (Job 2:7; 3:11-13; 42:10, 16) Yes, God definitely has the power to intervene and heal a sick person. It is similar with his Son. We read that Jesus miraculously cured lepers, epileptics, and blind or paralyzed ones. (Matt. 4:23, 24; John 9:1-7) How strengthening it is to think that the healings Jesus performed are a foregleam of what he will do on a grand scale in the new world. w15 12/15 4:3, 4

Tuesday, June 27
The former things have passed away.—Rev. 21:4.
Our loving God always does what is in the best interests of his faithful servants. The Bible tells us: “He will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore.” What a marvelous future awaits all of us who truly appreciate Jehovah’s love and obey him as our Ruler! Jehovah’s Word tells us: “Take note of the blameless one, and keep the upright one in sight, for the future of that man will be peaceful. But all the transgressors will be destroyed.” (Ps. 37:37, 38) “The blameless one” comes to know Jehovah and his Son and obediently does God’s will. (John 17:3) Such a person takes seriously the words of 1 John 2:17: “The world is passing away and so is its desire, but the one who does the will of God remains forever.” As the world’s end draws near, it is urgent that we “hope in Jehovah and follow his way.”—Ps. 37:34. w15 11/15 3:11, 12

Our Russian Oryol brothers and sisters as well as brother Christensen are doing exactly this and setting a great example for us to follow in our upcoming time of distress.


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Wednesday, June 28
The harvest is great, but the workers are few.—Matt. 9:37.
God’s people have used a variety of methods in order to reach as many as possible with the good news. This was especially important when ‘the workers were few.’ In the early 20th century, newspapers were used to reach large audiences in areas where Jehovah’s people were few in number. Each week, Charles Taze Russell would telegraph a sermon to a newspaper syndicate. In turn, the syndicate retelegraphed the sermon to newspapers in the United States, Canada, and Europe. It is estimated that by 1913, Brother Russell’s sermons were reaching 15,000,000 readers by means of 2,000 newspapers! After Brother Russell died, another effective method of spreading the good news began to be used. On April 16, 1922, Joseph F. Rutherford made one of his first radio broadcasts, speaking to an estimated 50,000 people. Then, on February 24, 1924, the organization’s first radio station, WBBR, began broadcasting. w15 11/15 5:10, 11

Thursday, June 29
I Will Become What I Choose to Become.—Ex. 3:14.
Jehovah also causes his creation to become whatever he chooses. In line with the meaning of his name, God caused Noah to be an ark builder, Bezalel to be a master craftsman, Gideon to be a victorious warrior, and Paul to be an apostle to the nations. Yes, God’s name has great meaning to his people. And the New World Bible Translation Committee would never undermine the name’s significance by omitting it from the Bible. Over 130 language editions of the New World Translation honor God’s name by including it where it belongs in the sacred text. (Mal. 3:16) In contrast, the current trend in Bible translation is to omit the divine name, substituting a title such as “Lord” or the name of a local god. This is a prime reason why the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses has given priority to making available to as many people as possible a Bible that honors God’s name. w15 12/15 2:7-9

Understand Jehovah's love

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I was just thinking how wonderful and loving Jehovah is and has been to me through the years. You see, I've hurt him terribly some years back, asked his forgiveness and he has given it to me and then some.And I truly don't deserve it nor ever will. At times I l can still hardly believe it! 
Take last night for instance. There I was, in my heart just a thinking some petty things in my heart about a particular brother in my congregation some time before I left for the meeting. Some time during the meeting, what happened? The same brother asked me how I was doing. I told him. Then he said "how are you really doing?" Then he began encouraging me with loving words. Only Jehovah could have made that happen, I know. THE SAME BROTHER! UNBELIEVABLE!
But I'm not stupid. Oh no. You can believe I'll watch my thoughts in the future. 
It's like Romans 11:33 says (I'm laying down without my Bible, so this is kinda paraphrased): "O The depth of God's riches. How unsearchable his judgments are..."

I am so happy that our God Jehovah is like a real Father. I lost my dad when I was a child and loving Jah has really filled that hole in my soul.
I was 15 and would write beautiful free style poetry to Jehovah when I would walk in the woods and ever since then Iknow he has watched over me,
I believe he takes care of the widows and orphans because they have no head no defender and thus he becomes that to them to me the one time orphan.
Thanks for listening
Rosy Gal

Thursday, June 22
See what sort of love the Father has given us!—1 John 3:1.
This statement by the apostle John is truly worthy of our deep and appreciative reflection. With the words “see what sort of love the Father has given us,” John was urging Christians to think about the nature and magnitude of God’s love for them, to consider how God loves them. Comprehending Jehovah’s love in those terms will surely deepen our love for him and strengthen our relationship with him. To some, though, God’s love for people is a foreign concept. To them, God is to be feared and obeyed. Or perhaps because of certain entrenched erroneous teachings, they feel that God is unloving, even unlovable. On the other hand, there are those who believe that God’s love is unconditional and that he loves them regardless of what they do or fail to do. As you studied the Bible, you learned that love is Jehovah’s paramount attribute and that his love moved him to give his Son as a ransom in our behalf.—John 3:16; 1 John 4:8. w15 9/15 4:1, 2

Wednesday, June 21
The objective of this instruction is love out of a clean heart and out of a good conscience.—1 Tim. 1:5.
Jehovah God created humans with free will, that is, the liberty to choose between one option and another. God provided a valuable guide for the first man and woman and their future offspring—the conscience, an inner sense of right and wrong. Used properly, the conscience can help us to do good and to avoid wrongdoing. Our conscience thus is an evidence of God’s love for us and of his desire that humans be united in doing good. Today, humans still have the faculty of conscience. (Rom. 2:14, 15) Though many have strayed far from the Bible’s standards of conduct, we find that some individuals often do what is good and abhor what is bad. The conscience holds many individuals back from committing deeds of extreme wickedness. Imagine how much worse world conditions would be if no one had a conscience! How grateful we can be that God has provided humans with a conscience! w15 9/15 2:1, 2

Yes, I always say he talks with his whole face..

I found this by accident.  It is reassuring to have the administrators keeping a close eye on it to ensure the it reflects Jehovahs standards.  I must admit I had a good look at it before joining as there are so many 'others' out there.

I joined JWtalk by accident...Had been tuning in to JW central ( a great repository of talks by our brothers) for a while...This particular day;....in this usual routine; I clicked on the JWtalk link on the browser; unintentionally, Had been quite wary of the JW -something websites ( either than JW.org)  as some of them are actually run by  apostates; but something told me that this forum is different....it just seemed led-git!!! Tried to join in.....discovered that  the entry criteria was quite stringent ( delightfully so).....It took me two full days to be accepted by the moderators ( my fault entirely)........three years down the line....I must say that I am happy I did...!!!