CONTENTS
1. in Times of Distress (an encouraging word) 
2. THIS SATURDAY - VSU Homecoming Booksigning (after game)
HARDCOVER "SEEKING SOLACE" FOUND!
The hardcover edition of Seeking Solace has been sold out for a while now, but I was just notified that VSU Bookstore has 8 hardcover copies remaining! One more chance to get an autographed hardcover copy this Saturday.
1. in Times of Distress (an encouraging word)
Hey what's up my people,
I have so much to say to you all, but I at least want to say this.
If you haven't noticed, the world is changing. And when the world changes, you too must change. Yet, do not change with the world. Do not learn the ways of the world to do the things the world does. Learn more the ways of God to do the things God would have you do. Many in the world have turned from God or become lukewarm toward Him to fulfill their own fleshly desires and have even compelled you to do the same so they can feel more comfortable in their error. The change you must make is becoming more dedicated to God and desiring to live His way more. Get a closer relationship with God. Get to know His Word better, and trust His way more than your own. Many of you have lived the way of the world and have sought to please as many people in society as you can, even if it means doing what may be less pleasing to God. Many of you have subscribed to world's own system of understanding and reasoning and have placed your trust in that, instead of placing your trust more in God's
Word. And look, the world's system is at last letting you down and has no promise for you.
Many of you are worried and your mind's consumed with even the current weather of the economy, because you have placed so much of your worth and wealth in the dollar and these stocks... this system that was all devised as a thought in some man's mind. Our dollar has it's worth based on how many people have bought into the dollar and decided to use it as their means of trade. Some of you, as the dollar weakened, wished you had your wealth in Euros because now you look and realize that it's worth more than the dollar. What if your wealth was in something worth more than both of those, something that didn't fluctuate?
Yet, all of this world's currency is in trouble now because we're finding out that it's all tied together when it really comes down to it. No matter where you've invested, the news reports have many of you biting your nails, living in fear that is growing daily. What are we gonna do?
If you have not been already, begin investing in something that is not tied to this world's system. Now regardless of what some of you have been told by man who you chose to trust, everyday, we're finding that God's Word is proving to be more and more accurate, even the prophecies of the Bible. And everyday, we're finding out that man's own understanding and theories are proving to have been more and more flawed even after all of our thousands of years of learning and technological advances.
Store up your treasures in Heaven. Invest in your eternal. Sure, go ahead and be good stewards, diligently handling your temporary form of finances and possessions, but don't place your trust in these things. Don't place your happiness or self-worth in these things because none of it is stable and none of it is truly yours to keep anyway. Sure your heavenly worth and values may seem quite worthless here at times, but it's like when you go into Chuck E Cheese and find out that WHAT?! nothing here accepts dollars and quarters. You have to put your real money in the token machine to get Chuck's tokens so you can partake in the things inside that place. You'll never get that money back, but being caught up in the moment what do you do? You change in your all valuable dollars for something that's only good inside this little building and of that, what you don't spend here is no good to you once you leave. Now say that you work at Chuck E Cheese, you live there, you eat there, you
sleep there, you play there, you've even got internet access! Sure, you see people come and go and you miss those that go, but you're still here in Chuck E Cheese and you spend so much time here and have no reason to leave that after twenty years you forget that there's something beyond these walls. Then you come to find out one day that your precious Chuck E Cheese is going out of business and it's time to walk out those doors, but you have nothing beyond these doors.
That's how it is with this world we live in. One day, it will go out of business, or perhaps you'll be fired or laid off, or (God-forbid) quit before that happens. So what do you have outside of this? The day will come. What do you have outside of this? If you don't have anything outside of this, then yes, perhaps you should be walking around worried and perhaps you should panic. After all, all you have is in danger of being snatched out from beneath you.
One of our presidential candidates, in a famous speech, said in so many eloquent words that we should operate by what all of us could universally see and hear and not by what we all can't see and hear. In other words, he said we should all walk by sight instead of by faith. But I'm telling you as Paul the apostle told you, walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). And not just faith in anything, but faith in God's word. When you walk by sight, our "leaders" who control the slide show can show you whatever they want to in order to control your actions. And all of your actions together will form the outcome. They control the slide show, which has become quite impressive these days. The outcome is something they can predict based on how many people they know they have following their slide show. If you are walking by sight, you are controlled by they which show you; you are not free. You need to get to a place spiritually where you can hear from God and understand God's
promises given to us in His Word, so you can have faith in His Word and have your joy and peace in His Word, which cannot be taken from you. As a reminder to my brothers and sisters in Christ, you shouldn't be worried. "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:7). One thing you should have above the Devil is that the Devil is not free from the spirit fear. Why do you think he works so hard and is always so busy? Because he is afraid. And he has reason to be afraid.
Furthermore, if you're seeking first God's Kingdom and His righteousness, you should know that your needs will be provided. There are too many testimonies of this for me to share with you, and besides, I only know mine and a few others. The testimonies that you should at least hear are in the Bible, though these are not the only ones. In one story, a type food fell from heaven for the people (manna). In two other instances, fish and bread was miraculously multiplied to feed thousands (in at least two instances, not one). There are some who don't want you to believe that these things really happened, because if you believe that they happened then you will know that they can and will happen again, and not just in regard to food needs, but all type of other needs as well, even the need not to get burned by fire (in a fiery furnace) if it be God's will. That's another story that I believe. I mention food, however because this is one of the areas mentioned by Jesus when He taught
his sermon on the mountain, referred to by one of your candidates as "the sermon on the mount." Some say that he mocked Jesus and the Bible and spoke against Jesus' words in favor of our defense department. After serious consideration, I would agree with them. This "sermon on the mount" is found in Matthew, chapters 5 through 7. Now as I was saying, in this sermon Jesus says in Matthew 6:33, "But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." This is in regard to food, drink, and clothing among other things. In verses 31-32 He says, "Therefore take no thought, saying, what shall we eat? or, what shall we drink? or, wherewithal shall we be clothed? (for after all these things do the gentiles seek:) For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things."
I've just recorded my reading of this "Sermon on the Mount" (Matthew 5-7) and posted it for you on one of America's favorite websites (Youtube), so you can listen to it. I'll share that with you in a moment.
Many of you have heard the song called "His Eye is On the Sparrow," or notice many Christians look at the sparrow as something that relates to their faith in God. This is referring to this part of the sermon, where Jesus makes the point that if God feeds the birds of the air, you should expect Him to surely take care of you who He made in His own image. However, remember though that He says "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you." Now there are some who will tell you that God needs you to tithe in order for you to unlock your potential to be blessed and provided for, and that you will be cursed if you don't. I'm not telling you that. I can speak more on this later, which I will probably need to for your sake, but for now I'll just quote Romans 8:1 "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
Whether it's in our time or after us, there are some things coming that will be even worse than the troubles we see today, but even in these things we have no true reason to fear or to lose our faith or joy about. Please remind me, and I'll talk more about those things too.
The word "careful" means full of care. "Supplication" basically means to petition or ask something from someone in a higher position than yourself, in this case, God. Here's a scripture that I always sign in my Seeking Solace book "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you" (Philippians 4:6-9).
As promised, here's the video/audio of Matthew 5-7 "The Sermon on the Mount" Along with another video of mine "Say Word."
Hmm, Youtube has deleted my video of reading Matthew 5-7. What's up with that? Haters
You can watch that one on Vimeo then. Long live Vimeo!
 
Please keep me in prayer to help me remember and do the things of God and be guided by Him as well.
Eric L Farrell
www.stagepoet.com
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2. THIS SATURDAY - VSU Homecoming Booksigning (after game)
Saturday, October 25, 2008
3:00 - 6:00pm
Virginia State University
Campus Bookstore
University Ave.
Petersburg, VA 23806
In-Store Booksigning by Eric L Farrell (books, DVD, poster)
Eric L Farrell
Author of “Seeking Solace: Finding Peace and Comfort in Times of Distress”
www.ericlfarrell.com (www.stagepoet.com)
Eric L Farrell’s books and other products are available at www.wordstage.com | 1-866-567-8999
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