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“The Fire is Coming Your Way!! Get Out!!!”

There are so many fires happening all over the Inland Northwest.  There are people who have lost their homes, others who have been evacuated but they don’t know the outcome of their homes yet, and there are still others that have stayed and are doing what they can to save their homes.

This fire danger is so real.  I know the other morning we had a short lightning and thunderstorm and I was praying!  We are so dry that one strike and a fire would start.

I remember as spring was coming in and we were getting so much rain, we were grateful.  The last three years with the fire dangers and actually having to haul water, we were thankful for the rain.  But now that we have had the longest and hottest period of time in years, we are still dry.

When I heard about some friends that were in fire danger and finally told to evacuate, it made me start to think.  They have chosen not to evacuate at this time but to prepare their house and property as much as possible to protect it.  They have just been rebuilding slowly from a few years after having a house fire caused by a wood stove.

My thoughts have started to collect in my mind what I would take with me if I had to evacuate.  There are things that are not replaceable, like family photos, the money you may have stashed away.  There is also all the important documents, like the marriage license, which I don’t even know where mine is, titles, etc.  Right now every thing is scattered here and there and it makes you start to realize how important it is to have things gathered in areas easy to grab.

Then I started to think about how this relates to our Christian walk.  I think a lot of times we get so caught up in everyday life that we forget that there is a “fire” coming and it is getting closer.  We need to be thinking about the things that are most important to save.

The one and most important thing that we can take with us when we leave this earth when Jesus comes is our character.  If we are hanging onto any worldly things our character will not be in the right place to grab and at that point, it will be too late.  Our characters need to be in the right place not scattered here and there.  We need to have a single mind toward God.

There are other things that are precious that we want to save from the “fire”.  We want to save our families.  The best way to do it is by our example.  How urgent are we?

If we were in the situation my friend is in right now would we be just sitting in our house not paying any attention to what is happening around us or would we be doing everything we could to protect our house?  Our family would feel our urgency if we worked urgently.  But if we were being lazy they would probably not feel the urgency.  The same is true of our spiritual urgency.  How urgent are we about the times in which we live?  Where is our focus?  If we want to save our families our focus needs to change from the world and its wickedness and problems to keeping our focus where it should be.  Our focus should be on Heavenly things.

Here are some things that I am working on to implement into my life.  Our life should be a life of joy, not negativity.

  1. Keep your eyes focused heavenward. There are so many things going on in this world that can discourage us if we focus on them.  We can even live in fear.  The best place to keep our focus is on heavenly things.  Let’s keep our eyes on the genuine Jesus Christ, that is the only way we are going to be ready.
  2. Remember, God, forgives. This is so amazing!  It doesn’t matter what we have done and how wicked we may have been God will forgive us.  He sent His only begotten Son to die in our place so that we can go to heaven and be with Him.
  3. Contemplate His love for you. We have already talked about His forgiveness, which is amazing.  It is good to write down all the things that He does for us that show how much He loves us.  Just the fact that we got up this morning is a miracle.  Our bodies run by Him.  He gives us the breath of life, etc.
  4. Spend time with this amazing God every day. Make sure to spend time in God’s Word each day.  Memorize scripture that can stick with you throughout the day.  And spend much time in prayer.

As we dwell upon these things and keep the right focus, people will be drawn to the love of God.  Love draws.  Fear of consequences can draw but not save.  Being drawn by love can save.

I believe that God is waiting for a people who will perfectly reflect His character (love) and then He will come to take us home.  How are we going to perfectly reflect His character as long as our focus is on the things of this world?  Whether we are doing worldly things or we are talking about the bad of this world and dwelling upon it, it leads to destruction, either of your life or the life of someone around you.  Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”  There is nothing else we need to focus on.

Dear Father,

Help us to realize the love that You have for us.  Continue to draw us to Your love.  Forgive our stubborn hearts, the hearts that want to dwell on the things of this world.  We can tend toward sensationalism.  Something new and exciting to report about the wickedness or the happenings of this world and it becomes the topics of our life.  You need to be our topic.  As we focus on You, people will want what we have.  Forgive us for focusing on the wrong things and help us to live our lives in full connection with You.  Thank You for Your love.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Keep your focus on Jesus and heavenly things.  Talk of heaven and what it will be like.  Talk of the love of Jesus and what He has done for you.  Then your life will be filled with joy.  And you will be preparing your “house” against the “fire” that is coming.

Love you all.

What do you do to help keep your focus heavenward?

 

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“Which ‘Bird’ Are You Feeding?”

Do you enjoy time in nature?  How do you feel when you are able to spend time in nature?  There are so many things that we can learn from nature.  If we really take the time we can “read” and learn so many spiritual lessons.  I believe God has given us nature as a second book He can communicate with us through.  Just like we should spend time in God’s Word, we should also spend time in nature “reading” it as well.

A friend was sharing with me just recently about a bird’s nest she had been watching.  The little eggs and the mother were so cute.  She was not sure what kind of bird it was but she enjoyed watching.  As the number of eggs increased she noticed that one egg was bigger than all the rest.  That was interesting to her but she could not understand why.  Finally, the day came when the eggs hatched.  She noticed that one of the birds was way larger than the others.  The little birds disappeared and all that remained was the big bird.  She talked with a friend and that is when she learned something that she did not know.  The big egg and big bird were a cowbird.  If she would have only realized she could have gotten rid of the large egg and all would have been well.

Cowbirds are not a very pleasant bird.  What they do is they lay their egg in another bird’s nest.  The mother doesn’t realize the danger.  She proceeds to protect and keep her eggs warm.  When the birds hatch the cowbird baby takes over and ends up destroying the other babies.  The cowbird is so much bigger it ends up taking all the food that comes.  He has the big wide-open mouth and the little tiny birds can’t even get past his body to get food to survive.  The mother ends up feeding this cowbird baby only.  It is a very difficult job for her because the baby is so much bigger than her own babies would have been.  She has to work very hard to supply the need.

It makes me think about our lives as a Christian.  We learn about God and we begin to lay our “eggs”, prayer, Bible reading, scripture memorization, listening to and doing what God tells us, etc.  But somewhere along the way the “Cowbird”, devil, comes along and places something into our lives.  He may draw us with what we are eating, watching, listening to, reading, who we spend our time with, etc.

We don’t seem to pay attention to the things that we have gotten caught up in.  We are just “sitting” on the “eggs” keeping them warm so that they will hatch.  We try to foster all the different things in our lives.  A lot of times we even know better but we want to ignore the voice of the Holy Spirit because we are really enjoying ourselves.  We argue with ourselves saying, “I am still spending time with God, praying, memorizing scripture, etc.  I am okay.

What we don’t notice is that the “big egg”, bad choices, is taking up more of the “nest”, our lives, than the other “small eggs”, the good choices.

Eventually what happens is the “eggs hatch” and the “big bird”, wrong choices, is so strong that it shoves out the “little birds”, good choices, out of our lives.  The things that draw us closer to the Lord start to diminish while the things the devil has tempted us with and we have given into, take over.

Whatever “bird” we feed the most grows.  If we feed the lust of our flesh it will grow larger and larger.  If we feed on the things of God our spiritual lives will grow.  It is our choice.  We have more power than we think or want to admit.  We have the power of choice.  God cannot make us choose.  Once we choose He can give us the power to overcome.

Dear Father,

Forgive us for being blind to the “large birds” in our lives that are crushing out the “little birds”.  We find ourselves many times if we are willing to admit, feeding those things that are displeasing to You.  Continue to prompt our hearts to focus on the things of righteousness and to take our focus off the things of this world.  Thank You for Your patience with us.  Thank You that as we choose Your ways, You give us the power to accomplish Your ways.  Thank You for Your promises that we can claim through the hard times.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Which “bird” are you feeding?  Give it some serious thought.  Recommit your life to God today.

Love you all.

Do you have a story from nature?  What spiritual application did the Lord show you?  Share it with us.

 

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“I Can’t Believe It, I Blew It Again!”

Have you ever felt frustrated because you blew it again?  I believe, on the most part, we are probably hardest on ourselves.  Maybe you have an area in your life that you are trying to over come.  Or maybe you are learning something new and you get so frustrated because you keep not getting it.

I have recently taken on a job I have never done before.  I work at a print shop and they are training me in to run their Digital department.  You wouldn’t think it is any big deal but I have found there are a lot of details that you have to make sure are in place.  If you just miss one detail it can be a misprint and you have to start it all over again.

The other day, because I missed one detail, I set to print 200 books instead of 100.  Fortunately I ran out of paper so I ended up printing 50 over rather than 100.  My boss is so gracious.  Of course he talks to me about where I went wrong and to make sure that I pay attention to all the little details but he was very kind.

For me though, it was agony.  I couldn’t quit thinking about what I had done.  This is not my first mistake, just my biggest.  I keep thinking he needs to just let me go but apparently he sees potential in me.

I remember when he hired me what he said, “I would rather hire a good person, one with integrity, fast, and conscientious, with no knowledge and train them.  Those that I can hire with knowledge are not always good game players.  I want people who are good people who can work together with others, making a good team.”

Basically what I got out of the things that he said was that education can tend to make a person stuck in their own ways and it is hard to change them into what you are wanting for your own business.  They can be in a mindset and it is hard to get them out of it.

We had a production meeting after my bigger mistake.  I wondered how it would go.  He let me know that he appreciated my work and that he was very pleased with what I am doing, being that I have come in with no knowledge.  It blew my mind, because I was thinking I might fire me if I was him.

As I was pondering this it made me think of Jesus.  If you have grown up as a Christian it is like you have received an education in Christianity.  You think you know because you have been a “Christian” all your life.  The reality is that God has a harder time using those of us who are more “educated”.  We tend to be set in our ways and God has a hard time changing us.  Oh, He has the power to change us but we get in the way.

The question is does He really have our heart or are we just going through the motions of Christianity?  How does God deal with our mistakes?  If we have pre-knowledge we are held more accountable for our mistakes.  Does God deal with us differently?  I do believe so.  If we have knowledge of the truth and we go against that knowledge that is willful disobedience.  So the big question is, “Who has the heart?”  And can God still forgive us?

Then I think of those that are “uneducated”.  They didn’t grow up knowing anything of Christianity.  So when they hear the gospel message they are amazed.  When they accept the truth they are moldable.  They are like an innocent child.  They take it all in willingly without any preconceived ideas.  God is able to work with them easier because they don’t have any pre-knowledge that hinders them.  We need to become “as little children” Matthew 18:3.

How does God look at their mistakes?  “And the times of this ignorance God winked at;…. Acts 17:30.  When a person is new at the truth and learning God looks at their mistakes differently.  But as they grow and learn they become more responsible.  It is still about “Who has the heart?”  It just seems that those with less education and knowledge have a more willing heart to learn.

What I am grateful for is no matter what category we may fall in God is forgiving, long-suffering and gracious.  Are we willing to accept what He offers us?

  1. He offers forgiveness. He wants to forgive us every time we make a mistake.  Gratefully if we ask He always forgives and He is kind and gracious.
  2. He offers strength. If we come to Him each day asking for His guidance, protection, and strength for the day He will provide it.  We need to accept His strength because we are not strong enough without it.
  3. Become as little children. We need to be teachable like a little child.  Little children ask a lot of questions because they are eager to learn.  We should be like little children always eager to learn.  And accept what God tells us just like a little child accepts our answers to their questions without hesitation.  The most wonderful part is God does not get annoyed with us as we do with our little ones.  He is there to teach us all the things we need to learn.
  4. Be humble.Too many times when we have done wrong we want to make excuses.  When we see we have done wrong we need to humble ourselves.  If we accept that we have done wrong we can learn from it.

Dear Father,

Please forgive us for taking Your kindness, mercy and graciousness for granite.  Thank You for Your love.  Thank You for Your continued patience.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Remember no matter how many mistakes you have made God is always forgiving.  Go to Him today and He will forgive and give you the strength you need to make it through.

Love you all.

Have you ever felt like you blew it again and there was no hope?  How did God see you through?

 

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“Well, That’s Just A Small Things!”

Have you ever felt that God does not answer your prayers?  You keep praying and praying about a particular thing but nothing happens.  At least we think nothing happens.

What I have found is that God is working every day in my life but I fail to see it a lot of times.  What we do is take for granite all the good that comes our way.  We don’t realize the good things are blessings from God.  We tend to look for big things rather than seeing all things.  If the blessing isn’t big we think of the blessing as just what life brings us.

On the other hand a lot of times we look at the bad things that come our way and whether it is a big thing or a little thing we tend to blow it out of proportion and the majority into the “big” category.  The devil brings the bad to try to discourage us.  God allows them to try to teach us to trust Him.  We are really such a stubborn people.

The other thing we don’t really want to think about is that some of the bad that comes into our lives we have actually brought upon ourselves.  We think that we can make any choice in life and God will make things turn out good, even though, we brought it on ourselves.  God does help us through our foolish mistakes but He doesn’t always remove the consequences.

I want to share what might seem like a little miracle that God did for our family.  This was something that I shared on Facebook a while back but it bares repeating.  Our family has gone through some really hard financial struggles.

“I debated whether or not to share this but I can’t help myself when it comes to sharing what God does. We have run into some hard times so we have been going to the food bank. My son, Caleb, was planning to make bean soup. He asked me if I thought I could get some greens after I went to the food bank, being one of the ingredients. I told him I would see what I could do. He proceeded to put the rest of the ingredients together. And as the Lord always works, when I got to the food bank looked at what was there they had just what we needed. I was able to get three big bags. There wasn’t much more food than that for what we eat but the Lord wasn’t done. I was just ready to walk up and check out when a whole bunch of other fresh things came in, lettuce, tangerines, and fresh-cut mango. I even had a lady come up and say can you use this orange juice. They were small containers. I said how many is allowed. She said just take this whole case. There were 24. They even had some vegan sour cream that Jeffrey had request for his birthday meal to go with burrito casserole, that we are celebrating this Friday. Some may call it chance but I call it God.”

Dear Father,

Help us to see You at work in our lives.  Prompt our minds each day with the blessings.  We can be such a negative people.  Help us to look at life through Your eyes.

Thank You for Your love and for all the things that You do for us each day.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

I would challenge you to get a blessing journal and start writing down the blessings that come your way each day.

Love you all.

What blessings has God done for you?  Please share in the comments.  It is the sharing the blessings with others that will help us grow as well as encourage others.

 

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“Should I Show Respect To Trump?”

It seems that our world is in such a mess.  If we look back to what this world was like 50, 60, or 70 years ago things seem way different.  We can see that the change has come gradually.  So gradual that a lot of us haven’t even noticed, until suddenly we woke up one day and said, “What happened?”  Nothing as big as this happens overnight.  The devil knows that if he would have brought things on suddenly none of us would have accepted or been deceived by it.

It is one thing to recognize that there is evil in this world but it is another to dwell upon it.  I believe that the unfallen Angels of God did not even really recognize the evilness of sin until Christ was hanging upon the cross.  At that point they could see the real evilness of the devil. We cannot really recognize the evilness of sin unless we focus our attention on Christ and Him crucified.

It was my sin and your sin that put Him there.  It is our sin’s that crucify Him afresh every time we choose to do things that are displeasing in His sight. (See Hebrews 6:6)

Does God really care about how I take care of this temple that He wants to dwell in?  Absolutely!  He cannot dwell in a polluted place.  So what do I need to do so that my temple is not polluted?  “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”  1Corinthians 10:31.  There are many aspects that can be addressed here but I am going to just focus on “whatsoever ye do”.  I just want to be clear that all is important.

I want to talk about the spirit of the law.  The letter of the law is important to obey.  Some may think that the letter of the law is easier to keep.  “What it says in black in white I will do.”  But the reality is keeping the letter of the law means nothing without the spirit of the law.

If I choose to obey the command, “Thou shalt not kill.” But show hate and anger toward ANYONE, it is the same as killing.  It is hard for our brain to comprehend and wrap our brains around.  But if we study the life of Christ and focus to be more like Him we will treat all people with the same respect.

Christ loves all people and we are supposed to do the same.  It does not matter what they do or say to us we need to love them.  We cannot do this without the power of Christ love.  But we have to surrender self to God and allow Him to love through us.  We cannot do it on our own.

The political bashing from Christians astounds me.  How should we talk about or treat those people who are doing and saying things we don’t agree with?

I think of David when Saul was chasing him.  Saul was trying to kill him but David refused to raise his hand against the Lord’s anointed.  I cannot recall a verse where he even spoke badly about him.

I think of Daniel.  He served in 3 different kingdoms.  He was taken captive by one kingdom, then that kingdom was invaded and taken over by another kingdom and so on.  How could he serve in a high position in each one of those kingdoms?  I believe one reason was that God was with him.  But I also believe it was because, it did not matter which power was in place, he treated them as the Lord’s anointed.

God is the one that allows those into office that He would have and He takes down others.  Ultimately He has the last word.  So the reality is God has placed Trump there.  What I think about him does not even come into the equation.  But how I treat him or talk about him does.

Remember all people were created by God and are loved by Him.

There is another aspect that I want to point out in Daniel.  The reason Daniel was in captivity was because Israel had not been following God, as they should have been.  Daniel was a very godly man.  We don’t read anything that would indicate that he did anything evil in the sight of God.  Yet, when he prayed about the sins of his people, he includes himself.  “Dear Lord, We have sinned.”  It is easy to point out the sins of our churches but the reality is we should be crying and sighing for the abominations we see in Christianity and we should include ourselves in those prayers.  We have all sinned.  I believe this to be true for our country as well.  We should be praying for the sins of our country and include ourselves in it as well.

We can get so caught up in being right and pointing fingers that we don’t love a Jesus loves.  The only way we can love as He loved is to allow Him to love through us.  But we have to surrender ourselves.  If we cannot learn to speak well of and to love these people now, when things happen that affect our lives in a negative way we will not love and speak well of them.

We need to pray for our leaders.  Whether they be political or church leaders.

A true Christian will be known by their love.

Dear Father,

We need Your love.  It is so easy to point fingers but in reality we are not any different from those we may be pointing fingers at.  We are all sinners in need of You.  Help us to focus on surrendering our lives to You.  Prompt us to pray for those that are leaders.  You have loved us with an everlasting love; help us to do the same.  We cannot do this without You.  Fill us with Your love and compassion.  As we see the leaders, whether leaders of the country, church or even our bosses, help us to see You hanging on the cross for them.  Thank You for the love and compassion that you show each one of us.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Let’s surrender all to God and have compassion for those around us.  Remember God has the final say.

Love you all.

I know what I have shared here does not seem politically correct.  What are your thoughts?  Please share respectfully.

 

 

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“You Can’t Trust Your Vision!!”

Have you ever looked at an example and everything seems so right so you followed it?  Your eyes, senses and every fiber of your being made it seem right but you discover after a time that it was totally wrong.

I am working at a print shop.  I run the digital copy.  You have to set everything up on the computer that speaks to the digital machine and thus you make your product.  It sounds easy but there are a lot of things you have to make sure you do right or it could turn out wrong.

One of the most important things is to read the jacket.  Every job comes with what we call a jacket.  Inside the jacket can be artwork or a sample of what the job is.  But the most important information is on the outside of the jacket.  It gives specific information.  For example, what kind of paper to use, what size the paper should be, whether your printing black and white or color, or whether it is printed on one side of the paper or two sides, just to name a few.

The other day I got the jacket and scanned over it.  I seen it was a spiral bound book.  In the jacket was a sample so I pulled it out and look at it.  I thought, “Great this is going to be an easy one because the pages are just one-sided.”  I was in a rush to get gone because I had an appointment to go to.  So I set it all up and started printing.

After it was done printing I had a question so I went to the guy that has been training me in and he looked at what I had failed to pay close attention to, the front of the jacket.  The sample was a one-sided print but the instructions on the jacket was a two-sided print.  I missed comparing the sample to the instructions.

I went to my boss about the mistake.  Here I had printed several pages and it was wrong.  When He looked at the jacket and the sample.  He even had some confusion on what it needed to be.  The jacket instructions seemed a little confusing.  But after looking things over thoroughly and talking to the one that had put the job together I figured it out.

This reminds me of our Christian walk. We have an instruction book, the Bible.  We need to be thoroughly studying the “jacket” (Word of God).  We cannot go by what we see or hear.

In this world today there can be so many things that we can get caught up in.  It can sound amazing and look amazing but is it really a true “sample” of truth.

There can be so many false things that are out there for us to get caught up in.  Some of those things may be perfectly harmless in and of themselves.  But is it keeping us from focusing on the things we really should be, the true directions for life (God’s Word).

It says in Matthew 24:24, “For there shall arise false Christ, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.”  We are in a time where we need to keep our focus on the study of the Word of God.  So that we can be so grounded in the true information that we will not be thrown off by what we see or hear.

I don’t think we begin to realize how closely Satan can make things look so real and right that it is very deceiving.  We cannot go by our senses.  We have to go by the truth of God’s Word only.

I could have totally done the job correctly if I had just gone by the instructions written rather than looking at the sample.  I would have been way farther ahead.  If I had been thoroughly studied in the truth of the jacket I would not have been thrown off by the false of the sample.

In the same way if we stay focused on the truth of the Word of God we will not be thrown off by the counterfeits that come our way.  But if we are spending our time focusing on the world and it’s counterfeits we are going to be unknowingly swept in to untruth, which can lead to final disaster.  The devil doesn’t care what rabbit trail he gets us going down, just as long as we are not focused on what we should be.

I was grateful that my boss was so understanding.  When we come to God and admit our mistakes, asking forgiveness He is so understanding as well.

Just like I needed to look at all the aspects of the jacket to know the truth, here a little there a little.  The same is true of the Bible.  We can’t make our decision based on one verse.  We need to study it carefully, here a little and there a little.

I also could not have figured out the jacket unless I had gone to the one who had put it together.  We are not going to understand what we study in the Bible unless we go to God asking for guidance.  Then the Holy Spirit will come and enlighten our eyes.  And those things that have seemed confusing will become clear.

Dear Father,

Help us to realize how important it is to stay focused on Your Word.  Help us to realize the sensational things that we can get caught up in can lead us in a direction to take us off the focus we should have.  Thank You for Your love and Your patience with us.  Continue to guide us.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Keep in the Word, it is the safest place to be.

Love you all.

Have you experienced a “rabbit trail” in your life at times?  What happened to help you get back on track?  What do you do to try to stay on track?

 

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“You Don’t Care!!”

Have you ever felt so depressed you just feel like you can’t go on?  Life is just too overwhelming and you can’t cope.  You no longer feel like God is really there.  The trials are way too heavy.

I am reaching back to the archives of Facebook post again to share.  You may be the one struggling right now and I pray this will be a blessing to you.

“My devotion this morning made me think back again to the time when I was in a deep depression. I had a dear friend that was such a blessing to me. She talked to me often with a listening ear and encouraging words. At the time I could not even pick up my Bible and read it because every thing I read did not seem to bless me. I could not see the love of God. My friend gave me a journal and she told me every time I read something or anything positive came to mind to write it in the journal with the date and when I felt down I could go back and read it again. I tried to come up with something but I could not. I did not throw God totally out; I kept trying to hang on. Then one day after a long period of time something so familiar became something so precious; ‘For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ John 3:16. I wrote that in my journal and for the first time in several weeks I realized God really did love me. I clung to that verse because that was all that I could find, where I felt God really cared.

Then one day I ran across something else I wrote in my journal; Psalms 121:1-8. ‘I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.  My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.  He will not suffer thy foot to be moved:  he that keepeth thee will not slumber.  Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper:  the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.  The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.  The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil:  he shall preserve thy soul.

The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.’

When I was done writing it I looked up at the first entry and it had been a year almost to the day. From that day forward I was able to see the love of God again. He carried me through that time and used a dear friend to keep encouraging me. Have I had down times since then? Yes I have but not to the depth of what it was then and I know part of the reason is that I am able to look at what God did for me in the past and it has helped me in the present. If there is anyone out there that is struggling please reach out to someone who cares. If you feel that you don’t have someone contact me.

Dear Father,

Thank You that I can keep my wants, joys, sorrows, cares, and fears before you. I am thankful that I cannot burden or weary You. You care about the number of hairs on my head so I know Your not indifferent about my wants. Thank You that You are very pitiful and of tender mercy. And that Your heart of love is touched by my sorrows and even by our utterances of them. So I know that I can take to You everything that perplexes my mind. I am so thankful that nothing is too great for You to bear, for You hold up worlds, and rule over all the affairs of the universe.

Father, I am thankful that anything that in any way concerns my peace no matter how small is noticed by You. There is no chapter in my experience too dark for You to read; there is no perplexity too difficult for You to unravel. Thank You Father that the relationship between You and I is as distinct and full as though there was not another soul upon the earth to share Your watch care and not another soul for whom You gave Your beloved Son.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

This prayer is for each one of us. I love you all.”

Have you felt this way at anytime in your life?  How did you handle it?  What gave you courage?

Are you going through this right now and you need someone to talk to?  Feel free to contact me.  revittalizen.your.health@gmail.com

 

 

 

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“The Path Is Too Narrow!”

How many of you are afraid of heights?  I sure am.  You know the feeling.  Your hiking a long a path and it keeps getting narrower and narrower.  And then you round the corner and it goes almost straight down on your left and straight up on your right.  At that point I am ready to turn around.  You feel like your going to topple down the cliff.

When I am in a situation like that I have found the solution.  It really is not an easy one in one sense but it is really easy.  Don’t look down.  The best place to keep your eyes is straight ahead.  Don’t look down at your feet, up the hill or down the hill just look straight ahead.  You have to be definitely keeping your eyes focused straight ahead and not allowing your eyes to wonder.  Can you imagine walking a narrow path in the semi darkness?  As you look you can see a light at the end of your destination and you know that if you keep your eyes on that light and just keep moving forward you will make it.  You might be fearful and shaky but you keep moving because you know that there is an end in sight.

I am sure you have seen pictures of horses with guards on their eyes so that all they can see is straight ahead.  We have to stay focused that it is like we have guards on our eyes.  If we don’t stay focused are chances of stumbling and falling are very high.

This makes me think of our Christian walk.  The path is narrow that leads to heaven.  Broad the way that leads to destruction and many find it.  But the way is narrow that leads to life and few find it. See Matthew 7:13, 14.

Jesus is the light and we need to keep our eyes focused on the light.  We need those blinders on like the horses so that we can’t see anything but Jesus.  As we come closer to the light (Jesus) the beam of light gets smaller and brighter.  We will see more and more things that we need to eliminate in our lives.

We cannot turn to the right or to the left or we will not make it.  If we turn to the right it will be an uphill battle because we have taken our eyes off Jesus, the One Who can help us.  When we think we can do it on our own we will end up struggling.

On the other hand if we turn to the left we will fall down the cliff because we have taken our eyes off Jesus and chosen the things of this world.  We may stumble along the path as we journey but as long as we keep our eyes on Jesus we will not fall down the cliff.

The narrower the path becomes the more we have to hold onto the Faith that we have in Jesus.  Each difficulty He brings us through will allow our faith to be strengthened.  It reminds me of an author’s depiction.  Imagine as you walk on this narrow path something like ropes hanging down out of heaven for you to hold onto.  Those ropes would represent faith.  As you go along the path as it narrows more and more the ropes become larger.   You faith is strengthened as you see the Lord work in your life.  As we continue our walk with Jesus our faith will grow.

Dear Father,

I am on this path of life.  I struggle with keeping my focus on You.  I need Your help and guidance.  I am so grateful to You that You are there for me and I do not have to travel this path alone.  Keep prompting me.  I ask You to put guards on my eyes so that I can only see You.  Thank You for loving me so much.

In Jesus Name,

Amen.

Stay on the path to life.  Don’t give up; Jesus is there to help you.  Reach out to Him today.

Love you all.

What has been the #1 help to you on your journey to Life?

 

 

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“Push, Push, Push, Keep Going!”

 

How many of you have started an exercise program knowing you really need it?  You know it needs to be something that really gets your whole body in shape.  

 

I just recently started a 90-day challenge to get into shape.  I am really finding out what muscles I haven’t been strengthening.  The older we get the more necessary this becomes.  The muscles are a part of what holds our body together and when we are not keeping them in shape things can start falling apart.  As we work those muscles it is a painful experience but as we keep going the benefits are immeasurable. 

 

I have found this very challenging because of the damage that I have received from having Lyme disease but I am determined to keep going despite the difficulties.  

 

When it comes to exercising all our muscles it takes making a decision.  Do I really want a healthy body?  Do I want to have more energy and stamina?  

 

My boys love to hike.  I’m not talking about a nice leisurely walk.  I am talking about, “Let’s climb this mountain”.  Because of my health condition it has been more difficult.  But I have determination to become more fit.  I do it with them now with difficulty.  But I want to get to the point that I can do it with them and keep up with them.

 

As I am strengthening my muscles and stamina I am accomplishing a desire in my heart to be more fit and to spend time with the people I love doing what they love to do.

 

This made me think about other muscles that I want to strengthen.  I want to strengthen my spiritual muscles.  If we don’t strengthen them they will get weaker and weaker.  And as we get older if we have not strengthened our spiritual muscles our lives will fall apart just like our bodies do without physical exercise.

 

Due to the fact that we all have the sin disease it makes it more difficult to strengthen our spiritual muscles.  It takes determination.  And believe me it will be painful.  But what we have to think about is what are we accomplishing and why are we doing this.

 

Just like I want to strengthen my physical body so that I can have the ability to feel younger and do the things that my young people do, there is good reasons to strengthen the spiritual muscles.  

 

Our goal is heaven, the most glorious place.  The place where we can be reunited with those that have fought the good fight, finished the course, and have kept the faith.  And the most glorious of all is to meet the One Who has done great things for us.  The One who has made it possible to be in Heaven, Jesus.  I am looking forward to that day.

 

Dear Father,

 

Thank You for Your love.  Give us strength as we continue to draw closer to You.  As we continue to strengthen our spiritual muscles, we need You.  We cannot do this alone.  Draw near to us.

 

In Jesus Name,

 

Amen

 

Make sure to strengthen your spiritual muscles each day with spending time with God in the study of His Word and prayer.

 

Love you all.

 

What is your favorite part of the Bible to read?  What other books have you read that have been a spiritual blessing to you?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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“Are You Going To Help Me??!!”

Have you ever felt like you really needed help but no matter how desperate you were no one would step forward and help you?  The One you know that can really help you seems to be silent about the whole matter.  You’re praying and praying but it seems your prayers are not going anywhere.  Then, if your like me the “why” question starts to occur.

It is funny how that is.  You know how children are; they are constantly asking the question “why”.  I remember how annoyed I would get at times with the whys.  I tried not to show it to my children but nonetheless I still would get to the point where I was struggling with always answering those questions.  I have discovered I am just like a child with God.  He knows way better than any earthly parent and I still ask why.

I was so grateful to the Lord when He provided a job that I so desperately needed.  They hired me on a temporary bases.  They liked my work.  They told me that they would call me in every time they had extra work and needed help.  I told the Lord I would take this job and rely on Him to provide the work I needed.  It was busy for a while and then things dried up.

At first when I was out of work for just a few days it was no big deal, I trusted the Lord.  But as a few days went into more days I was frustrated.  Then came the question why.

If we could only know the end from the beginning as God does.  But the reality is human nature is never satisfied.  All God wants from us is our whole heart.  He wants us to put full trust in Him that He is working out all things for our good.  He wants to create in us, patience. We live in a society that says give me what I want and give it to me now.  I don’t think we consciously think about it but we want God to be like a fast food restaurant.  I want to ask for my order and drive to the window and get the answer and it better be what I ordered not what God thinks I should have.

As I was struggling with the “why” I started thinking of things I wanted to do.  But if they called me in to work I would not be able to do them.  So at that point I even had the feeling that maybe I didn’t want to even keep praying for work to come in.  At that point I just let go of it and thought if I am supposed to do some of these things that I want to do no work will come but if not work will come.  I finally let go.

A couple of days later I went in to pick up my check and my boss offered me a part-time position.  Wow!  From coming in when needed to actually being hired to work part-time.  I realized the Lord knew what He was doing all along.  He gave me the time I needed to get familiar with the line of work, in coming in when needed, to prepare me for the part-time work.

I shake my head at myself.  Why do I keep doing this?  How many times does the Lord need to keep sending me through these things before I get it?

Dear Father,

Thank You for Your patience and for Your willingness to not give up on me.  Forgive me for my lack of faith in what You are trying to accomplish in my life.  Thank You for Your unfailing love.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Keep trusting Jesus with your life and if you do fail to trust, don’t give up and keep going.

Do you have an experience that you can share about trusting God?  Please share I would love to hear your experiences.