Tag: Prayer

A tribute to Mom


Mother’s are the first person that we ever hear speaking to us, even before we are born.
Mother is the person, in many children’s lives, who personifies the qualities of God.
A mother is a person, and occasionally they aren’t even related to you but they treat you the same as your mother would, sometimes better.

What makes a woman into a Mother? It really isn’t a “what” as it is a Whom. God is the Creator and He alone knows who is going to be a real Mother. All of the qualities which every mother possesses are bound up in a few words but it is a job that takes a lifetime. Some days, you just can’t get it right and some days, everything falls into place just right.

Those are the days that you celebrate. You never get a day off or a sick day and there are no instruction books to let you know if you are doing it right or not. Just like becoming a parent, being a Mom is one of those learn-as-you-go jobs. Some are just born with the qualities for being a mother, but being a Mom takes time, hard work, days and nights without much sleep or rest.

What is the difference between being a mother and being a Mom? LOVE

If you have had a child, then you are a mother, but to be a Mom love comes into play from the moment that your child is born. Love can change you and mold you into a person who can work for hours, without much reward except for watching your child grow and become the person that God intended them to be.

Is there punishment in eternity?


I have seen people and I have heard some in churches and magazines claiming that there is no hell. God wouldn’t do that! A loving God wouldn’t do that! That is absurd!

OK, so Satan is going to be admitted back into Heaven and forgiven along with all of his compatriots, is this what that means? The Bible, the Word of God, has been speaking of Sheol and hell for a very long time. It was created for the punishment of Satan and his fallen angels.

But, those who oppose God and His teachings and who do not accept Jesus as their Savior are in the same camp, the same place as Satan. They are unwilling to give their lives and their hearts to Jesus, and they don’t believe in God. At least Satan knows that there is a God, he just doesn’t want to serve Him!

God loves all of humanity and everyone has been given a chance to become Christians and to serve God in whatever capacity that they can. You are not required to become a missionary or a preacher or an evangelist. Just be yourself, but reflect Jesus in all that you do!

There is no grey area where good and evil or black and white is concerned, it is a clear division just the same as the difference between those who believe in and serve God and those who refuse to do so. Anyone who believes that they can be a “casual Christian” on Sunday and then go out and do whatever they want until they come back to church or find that they really need God, is just wrong.

Just as you can’t have a kosher hog or even be “a little bit pregnant”, or have a dark sky with the sun shining, you can’t be a “casual Christian”. You either are or you are not!

Hell is a place just as Heaven is a place. It is not a state of mind. Why would the rich man ask Moses to allow Lazarus to dip his finger in the water to cool his tongue if it were a “state of mind”? It is not God who sends those who choose to refuse Jesus’ offer of forgiveness to hell, it is their choice. Believing that you are not going to hell, but then not accepting Jesus and living your life as you please will get you there just as quickly.

Read and pray your way through the Scriptures and ask God to give you the wisdom to learn and know His will in your life and for your life. Ask God to come into your life and repent of your sins so that you can know the peace of God and live it in your daily life.

If you don’t want to read the Bible or give your life to Jesus, then I suggest a different approach: A sure way to prove that there is a hell would be to refuse the offer of Jesus in your life. Live the way that you want to, do whatever makes you happy and when you can’t find happiness or contentment, seek out a place where you can access “assisted suicide” if you can’t stand to live this way anymore. When your eyes open on the other side of death and you are facing God, you will know but it will be too late.

Please, don’t take the advice in the paragraph above. Learn about Jesus and Who He is. Seek Him out, especially if your life has been or is hard in ways that I can’t imagine! He can save your soul and He will be with you from this point on, no matter what happens! You are valuable and important to God because you are His creation and He considers you His child whether you have yet to give your life to Him or not. You can do things for this world and for God’s Kingdom that nobody else can do! Consider this when the world is piling in on you and things just seem to be too much, God loves you!

 

Life…..


What does it mean to you? Liberty? Happiness? Freedom? Your pursuit of these things maybe? Life is more than just these feelings, it is more than we have been told to believe. So, how can we live it fully without knowing what it really is? This life that we live here and now is one that has been given to us by our Lord and Creator, God, who loves us unconditionally but this is something that we have to acknowledge about ourselves and about Him! We are here for a purpose and that purpose has nothing to do with stuff that we accumulate during our time here. I am talking about money, cars, houses, tablets and cell phones and any number of other “toys” that so many people chase after.

Your life and mine are short and since we are not guaranteed tomorrow by anyone, then what truly good thing will come out of all of the things that you have? Debt, bills, gas to be bought to run some, electricity to run others, cell phone plans and Internet connections to keep up with everything and everyone…all of this is like chains and shackles which confine and keep you from your real life. So, what kind of life am I talking about? I am not talking about living like a hermit and giving up all of today’s “wonderful gadgets” that we have come to depend on like some sort of drug but I am talking about getting your priorities turned around and going in the right direction.

God did put you here for a reason and if you are a child of His, then you owe it to Him and to yourself to find your purpose in Him. “What could that be?” you might ask? Well, the first step is to read the letters that He wrote to us and find out! The Bible is a collection of historical truths and poems which reveal God’s character to us and His purpose for us because it speaks to each of us in a way that nobody else hears. That is why it is called the Living Word, no one who reads it gets the same message as another person, and the next time you read a scripture it may say something different to you than it did the first time. Many people in the world that don’t know God can’t understand this and they won’t until they become Christians, if God calls them to Himself.

Yes, He knows who will accept the call and who will not yet He calls each of us. Whether we choose to accept that call or not is our own choice. He doesn’t shout or clout you upside your head to get your attention, but it is usually a whisper or a nudge and if you don’t recognize Him in it then you may not get another chance. Even if you do get another chance, you may not recognize His call on your life if you brushed Him off the first time. Life means more than many people realize, not only to you or your family but to God as well. Each life, each person is special to Him because no other person can do or say the things which you say like you can. Your ministry, wherever it may be, is special because only you can touch the people around you in the way that you can.

Your life here is a training ground for the eternity that is to come and the continuing work in eternity will depend on the answer that you give to God now. Believe in Jesus and the saving work that He did on the cross to redeem you. Accept Him into your heart and repent of the life that you had before, the words, the habits that you had need to be gone so that your life will point to a changed heart and one of purpose and meaning for all of eternity! The next person that you meet might take the message that spoke to them to hundreds or thousands of people! That is a life of true purpose and not just one that involves technology and stuff which has no good purpose in it except to enslave you to the world in which you live.

Give your life to Jesus and follow His example. Repent of the old person that lived in your body and their ways and determine to follow Jesus’ example. Learn His ways and His words, study the Bible and pray about the things which your heart and God brings to mind. He will give you the strength and the knowledge to carry out any task that He draws you to and He will bring you through the trials that come from this point on if you will walk with Him daily and allow Him to teach you the way that you need to go.

When bad things are happening….


What do most folks do when bad things are happening in their lives or in the world around them? Some resort to destructive behavior like smoking more or drinking alcohol, so just go out and do what I used to do and get drunk enough that they can’t remember why they did it. Others will call a friend or visit a friend and talk about their problem and together they can feel better about the situation. Then, there are those that really get crazy and get down on their knees and pray!

Why does the world and many people in it think that it is useless or crazy to pray when things are getting bad or when bad news comes. Prayer is one of the most powerful things that we can do, because God is the One who can do all things and He hears us when we pray. If you are not a Christian, the only prayer that will make a difference will be the one to ask Him to come into your life. He always hears that prayer.

The stuff that I used to do nearly killed me when I was a teenager, thankfully due to my mother and grandmother praying for me God was watching over me. The power of prayer is one that cannot be denied because many people use it in love. Prayer is the most useful tool that Christians have because God listens to it when it is done in love.

When you care about the condition of others lives as much or more than your own, then the prayers that you can pray will have an awesome effect in their lives but it will also have a great effect on you! Your life will be changed by the way that God will move in their lives, because when you see that prayer does work it will increase your faith and that will also have an effect on your life in Christ.

The way that things are going in our world, the tough times have not gotten here yet but they are coming. We cannot change this or stop it, it is going to happen and we have to depend on God and our faith in Him to get us through it. It is not something which some pastors will even tell you about, which is why many don’t preach from the book of Revelation, but it needs to be told and with God’s help, it needs to be explained to the best of our ability. We are approaching this time and after two thousand years some people have stopped thinking about it.

“It hasn’t happened and its not going to happen because it has been too long since it was foretold”; these are the words that you hear from skeptics and those who just don’t know better. The facts are, since the Son of God said that it would come, then it will. It will only happen when it is His time for it to happen, it could be in the next three to five years or it may be forty or fifty years but it will happen. Personally, I don’t think it will be more than ten to fifteen years away but that is just my opinion.

Your faith is what can and will sustain you during a crisis in your life, whether it was caused by a disease or an accident or even if you had a hand in its cause. The point to take away from this is that we should never count God out of a situation because He is in the situation with you. He never leaves you and is always there, all that you have to do is call on Him and ask that He come into your life. He won’t make all of your troubles go away, but He will enable you to bear them when they come.

Why are we living the way we do?


In many areas of the country, people just do as they please, as long as its not hurting anyone or is against the law. Which is fine, but what about the big cities, the population centers which control who gets elected to office. Most of them have high crime rates ranging from high numbers of thefts, and rape, to murder, and vandalism. What has happened to the American way of life, the one that many people claimed to enjoy about fifty or more years ago? The kind of life that many people came to America to enjoy seems to be slipping away, so what happened?

The thing that happened in our country and in our culture, to begin with, was the start of the Vietnam conflict and the civil rights marches, but those did not impact our culture to stop our embrace of morality and dignity. I am not sure what prompted the lawsuit that started our slide away from respect for each other and a moral way of living and character, but according to documents from the history books and from the government, it was prayer.

Prayer, by itself, is not a reason to move away from morality and dignity and character. The lawsuit was filed because a parent, who was an atheist, found out that his child was participating in prayer at school. Prayer that invoked the name of God, which this parent’s child was taught did not exist. A few years later, in 1963, the decision was handed down that prayer would not be allowed in schools anymore. The next year, the Bible was removed from all public schools.

When these two events happened, our schools and the achievements of the children who graduated from them began to erode. I am including the link address of the article where I got my information from here.

This decision, more than any other, has caused more problems and heartache and pain than many others that have come about in the past fifty years. Can we fix it or do we just have to roll with it until something blows up or shuts down, like our economy for instance?

Unfortunately, those in our nation’s capital don’t really seem to care what happens as long as their pension and their life is somehow protected from the fallout that is coming. The people which we elected to represent our wishes and the best paths for the country to follow are the ones who are making sure that they have an escape route to follow when things get really bad.

The only person that can change this sad chain of events is the one that has been shoved out of public arenas and education for years and that is God. He knows what is happening and is allowing it to happen because of our stupidity and unwillingness to acknowledge Him in all areas of our lives! The change that He will bring about is coming, it is just a matter of timing…His timing, not ours.

Consider the values of those who we vote into office, find out about them and what they stand for before you mark the ballot!! Don’t vote them into office and then go, “Oops!, we put the wrong guy in!!” By then it is too late. God gave us a brain and common sense, use it!

Pray like your life depends on it!


If you leave out the power of God that comes with fervent prayer that will not take no for an answer, none of your Bible study or church or choir practice or the church building will do you any good at all. By praying to God like your life depends on the outcome and you won’t take “No” for answer, your life can be immeasurably impacted by what He can and will do in your life!

Especially if you aren’t sure of your position in Christ, fervent prayer is what you need to do. Your life actually does depend on your prayer and how you approach God with it, your present life may not depend on it but your eternal life can be radically changed by what you pray for and how you pray!

For instance, consider how you would pray if your child were deathly ill or even your wife or husband were in such serious condition that nothing that modern medicine has will help. How would you pray then? If you haven’t given your heart and life to God and asked His forgiveness for your ignoring His grace toward you through Jesus Christ, then that is exactly how you should pray for yourself!

You can decide that you don’t want to believe that God would condemn you to hell for that, but it will have the same effect as not believing in gravity, it won’t go away because of your non-belief. Your life, especially your eternal life is in God’s hands but your fate in eternity is in yours. Believe or don’t, eternity is still ahead of you and the result and the consequences of your belief or lack of belief will be totally in your hands.

God loves you and never intended for you or any of us to be sent to hell. It was created specifically for Satan and those who have chosen to follow him by not believing in the saving power of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. This doesn’t mean that you have ever worshiped Satan, but by not giving your heart to Jesus you have put yourself in the same place, the same camp as Satan. Whether you believe that or not won’t change anything either. Your belief or disbelief won’t change anything unless your faith and belief is placed in Jesus. When you have done that, then your life really begins to matter because every word that you say, every action that you do can have a greater impact on those around you once Jesus is in your heart!

The grace and mercy that was imparted to each one of us on Calvary two thousand years ago is something that we can’t understand without Jesus. The love that the Father has for us is also something which we can’t comprehend, even with Jesus but we can get a taste of that love through Jesus’ presence in our lives.

So, what do we do with His presence in our lives once we have it? Jesus told us to “Go and tell the world the gospel, the good news of salvation that is available to all”. Granted, he didn’t say it in those exact phrases but that is what He meant for us to do with our salvation and the wonder of the grace that has been imparted to each of us. If you accept His grace and the salvation that it gives to you, then you are fortunate indeed, because the Creator of everything knew you from the beginning. He knows your name and everything that you do, whether you have given your life to Him or not, so why not make this relationship a two-way relationship? None of us can hide from God, Jonah found that out and many others have as well, especially me! God called me over twenty years ago and I heard Him, I just didn’t want to do what I felt He was calling me to do. So, I ignored Him for a while, like about eighteen years or so.

Then, when I heard Him again it was like He was saying “Can you hear Me now?”, “Are you ready now?” This time, I answered “Yes!” and I have been doing what He wanted me to do, to the best of my ability, ever since. I am not saying that my prayer life is better than yours or that I am more “righteous”, what I am saying about a calling from God is that we have to obey it, we need to obey it. Obedience is the one message that is echoed throughout the entirety of God’s Word, from the beginning to the end it is the one action that gets action in your life and the life of others because that is what God wants from us.

Just like parents when your child obeys you and it makes you happy and proud that they did what you asked of them, God feels the same way! Obedience to a calling from God will move you in directions that you never anticipated, maybe you don’t want to go in that direction, but if you obey the calling of God, it will work for your life and for His purpose.

This post is for Aurora, Colorado


I am praying for all the families and the victims of the horrific shooting that occurred last Friday morning. God‘s grace and mercy was shown in one young woman’s recovery though and I am posting the link to her story below. I pray that you will join me in donating whatever you can to help and send a prayer for God’s healing in her life and her family’s lives as well.

http://igg.me/p/177903

There have been so many tragedies in this, I pray that we, as a nation, will not allow this kind of violence to be used by the media.

The Hands that Pray


When you pray, do not do as the pagans do. With their many words they seek to impress; yet when you pray, do so in secret as your Father is in secret. (Paraphrase of Matthew 6)

 

Your hands were made by God as you were so when you pray take note of them.

Your thumb is the nearest finger to you when you pray. So, begin your prayers by praying for those closest to you. They are the easiest to remember.

The next finger on your hand is the pointing finger. Pray for those who are teachers or who instruct and heal. This includes teachers, doctors, and ministers. They need our support, and wisdom in pointing others in the right direction, so keep them in your prayers.

Next is your tallest finger. It reminds us of our leaders. Pray for the president regardless of who you voted for, and then pray for leaders in business and industry and administrators. All of these people shape our nation and guide public opinion and they need God’s guidance.

The fourth finger is your ring finger. It is usually the weakest finger as most piano teachers will testify. It should remind us to pray for those who are weak, in trouble or in pain. They need our prayers day and night. You can’t pray enough for them.

Last is your little finger, it is the smallest finger of all which is where we should place ourselves in relation to God and others. The Bible says, “The least shall be the greatest among you.” Your pinkie finger should remind you to pray for yourself because by the time you have prayed for the other four groups, your needs will be in their proper perspective and you will be able to pray more effectively.

This is just a prayer suggestion which came to me through email and I thought I would share it with you.

What we should be doing


praying-hands-258x300In our time alone with God, when we are not alone but with the Creator of everything, we should be praying. Our lives are merely His to work out His will on this earth, regardless of how we feel about Him or even if we acknowledge Him at all. If by some chance, you know Him but don’t pray much, He is waiting patiently.

All of the gifts and blessings of this life come from God. Satan has a hand in all of the bad things which happen to people, but only so far as God allows him to go.  God is in control and always has been, so there is no reason to worry about your life or what you will eat because God feeds the birds and He cares enough for you to do the same in your situation.

There is so much more that God can and will do for you and all that you have to do is ask Him into your heart and life. When you have done that, I am not saying that your life will be rosy from that point on, but He will give you the assurance that His love brings and the strength to carry you through.

A prayer for our Nation and the World


Thought you might enjoy this interesting
prayer given in Kansas at the opening session of their Senate. It
seems prayer still upsets some people. When Minister Joe Wright was asked
to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the
usual generalities, but this is what they heard:

Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask
your forgiveness and to seek your direction
and guidance. We know Your Word says, ‘Woe to
those who call evil good,’ but that is exactly
what we have done.

We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed
our values. We have exploited the poor and called it
the lottery.
We have rewarded laziness and called it
welfare.
We have killed our unborn and called it
choice.
We have shot abortionists and called it
justifiable.
We have neglected to discipline our
children and called it building self
esteem. We have abused power and called it
politics. We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions
and called it ambition.
We have polluted the air with profanity and
pornography and called it freedom of
__expression.
We have ridiculed the time-honored values
of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.
Search us, Oh, God, and know our hearts
today; cleanse us from every sin and set
us free.
Amen!”