Journal 4-8-14

Maybe today we should all spend a little time praying for the people we love.

Matthew 21:22 – “and all things, what so ever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”

Isaiah 30:19 – “…He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when He shall hear it, He will answer thee.”

Isaiah 65: 24 – “And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking I will hear.” 

I pray for all of us, Lord, Psalm 51:10-12, “Create in us a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within us. Cast us not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from us. Restore us to the joy of your salvation and uphold us with a willing spirit.” And Psalm 90:14-17, “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days, make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. Let your work be shown to your servants (us), and your glorious power to our children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands.” In the name of Jesus, Lord I pray these things in the lives of us all, all of our friends, our family, and our enemies. 

Now I am going to pray a moment for my loved ones. I love you guys. 

Thoughts:

 How wonderful it would be if we were all found by God today praying for each other at the same time of day. I’m going to be silently praying at 9 p.m. tonight for all of us. Won’t you join me? 

Journal 4-7-14

 “Fear not my child – I’m with you always – 

I feel every pain – and I see all your tears –

Fear not my child – I’m with you always – 

I know how to take care of what belongs to me.”

ISAIAH 41:10 – Fear not, for I am with you; do not look around you in terror and be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen and harden you to difficulties, yes, I will help you; yes,  I will hold you up and retain you with my righteous right hand of rightness and justice.
HEBREWS 13:5-6 – “I will never leave you or forsake you.” So we can confidently say “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”

I have had to deal with fear many times in my life. Fear is not from God. It is a tool Satan uses to cripple us. He might use it to get us to make poor choices that will have negative consequences on our life or he may use it to hurt our friends and family. Either way, it is one of his tools. It is effective and it is evil. It is not from God. Some traits of Christ likeness would be: Patience, kindness, unselfishness, humility, love, forgiveness, honesty, morality, unity, peace, growth, knowledge, fruitfulness, etc. Now throw in fear – it just does not fit. It’s a good place to be in life when you can realize that fear is of Satan and that God can overcome that in your life if you align yourself to receive what He has for you. There are many people in this world that suffer from something that keeps them in the pit because Satan has them  fumbuzzled. They indulge in sinful things because it feels good for a while but the end result is them going further into the pit. They are afraid of change. Fear takes their ambition out of them and keeps them struggling and fighting for every breath of air they can get. I have been at that spot in my life and it is miserable. You don’t know what to do. You hear people say “look to Jesus” and you say “how?” So you call yourself looking to Him and you expect to be shot out of the pit and dropped on the mountain top! It never worked that way for me.  Sorry. But with consistent and sincere Bible reading, prayer, turning from sin, surrounding myself with people doing the same, and obedience to Christ daily God winched me out of the pit just like my buddy winched me out of the mud hole with his old ford. Slow and steady. Before long I was down the road at the car wash getting all cleaned up!

Prayer
Heavenly Father, I pray that you will give us all insight and direction to see clearly when we find ourselves in the pit. Some of us need a little extra help Lord. Help us to find that old winch cable so you can slowly and steadily winch us out of the mess we’ve stepped in. Amen

Thoughts: 
I realize that I may not appeal every day to my children and the things on their heart or the things going on in their lives at the time, but we are a team and we need to work together to be prepared to handle anything that comes at us. It is important that you guys read these daily so that you don’t miss any that you might need one day. You can just put it on reserve till you get to the spot in your life when you need it. Love you.

Journal 4-6-14

          Do you remember the song “let’s talk about love baby, let’s talk about you and me…” Looks like love is the topic today. Let me tell you a story. There was a blind woman who hated herself because of her blindness. Not only did she hate herself but she hated everyone else as well except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her. She said that if she could only see the world, she would marry him. So one day, anonymously, someone donated a pair of eyes to her and she had them installed. She could finally see everything just as she had always wanted, including her boyfriend. Her boyfriend asked her, “Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?” The woman was shocked when she noticed that her boyfriend was blind too and she refused to marry him. Her boyfriend walked away in tears that day and he never spoke to her again. One day the woman received a letter in the mail and it said, “I love you, please take care of my eyes dear.”

            This is how people change in the world today. Only a few remember what life was like before and even fewer remember who to thank for always being there even when times were painfully unbearable. Life is a gift, love is a gift, let’s share it together. 1 John 4:7-8 – “Beloved let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” 1 John 4:11 – “Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.” John 17: 26 – “I made known to them your name and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

            In telling this story and reading these scriptures I want us to see that most people go through life like the blind woman. When God bails us out and gives us eyes to see we turn our backs on Him. In John 17:14-22, Jesus says as He is speaking to the Father, “I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in your truth, your word is truth. As you sent me into the world so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself that they also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask for these only, but also for those (that is where we come in) who will believe in me through their word (his disciples), that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. (starting v.24) Father, I desire that they also (us), whom you have given me, may be with me where I am (at the right hand of God in heaven) to see the glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name. And I will continue to make it known that the love with which you have loved me may be in them.” –Wow- how could you turn your back on a man like that? He is our ticket to salvation, our only hope, our future together! Do you serve Him with all your heart? He gave His life for us. What are we doing for Him? Read, pray, turn from sin, and surround yourselves with people doing the same!

Prayer

Jesus, thank you for loving me and thank you for giving me your eyes so that I can see! Love you man! In Jesus name, Amen

Thoughts:

Are we aware of this: Our life is on the line! Psalms 145:20 – “The Lord preserveth all them that love Him but all the wicked will He destroy.” Ephesians 6:24 – “Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.” Amen 

Journal 4-5-14

“Everything that happens in this life is a gift. Even as you struggle through this difficult time, you are gaining strength and wisdom that will help you further down the road.”

            This is what was staring me in the face this morning. It is the encouraging words on the front of a card that a complete stranger sent me. It smells nice too. I sure needed to hear that on the day I received the card. On the inside it says, “Remember no matter what happens you will always have people who care for you.” I do not know the person who sent this card but it made me feel good. I thought that someone might like to hear that themselves this morning. I’ve been running circles with the wrong people in my life for a while now. It’s cards like these that have been sent that let me know “God’s Family” is where I want to invest my time. My family members and complete strangers have shown me support in this time of need. They have sent pictures, cards, money, and letters and once more my dope fiend friends have remained silent. I owe my family, friends, and the people in God’s family an apology for letting Satan get into my head and jeopardize my good relationships with people for ones that will not be there for you when you need them most. So to all the people who really care “Please forgive me.” – I really didn’t intend for my post to go this way, but it did, I’m sorry – maybe somebody out there needs to evaluate the company you keep and make room for the people who will be there for you when the going gets tough. “God’s chosen people.”

            James 1:2-4 “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” Sometimes this is hard to do. We are simply not taught to be happy when we struggle. I understand the idea here but find it tough sometimes to actually smile when I stub my toe! J But listen to this, Psalm 103:1-4 – “Bless the Lord O my Soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul and forget not all His benefits, who forgives all my iniquities, who heals my diseases. Who redeems my life from the pit and corruption (this is my favorite), who beautifies, dignifies, and crowns me with loving kindness and tender mercy.” In 1 Corinthians 1:9 – it says something like, God is faithful. That means He is reliable, trustworthy, and true to His promises. That tells me I can rely on Him to be there for me when I need Him. Isn’t that really what we all want? To be cared for, to have people who remind us that “no matter what happens in this life, no matter what struggles we face, we can hold our heads high because in God’s kingdom all is good.” Genesis 1:31 – “and God saw everything that He made, and behold, it was very good.” In closing, let’s think on this “I will praise the Lord no matter what happens. I will constantly speak of His glories and grace. I will boast of all His kindness to me. Let all who are discouraged take heart. Let us praise the Lord together, and exalt His name. For I cried to Him and He answered me. He freed me from all my fears. Others too were radiant at what He did for them. There was no downcast look of rejection. I cried to the Lord – and the Lord heard me and saved me out of my troubles. For the angel of the Lord guards and rescues all who reverence Him. I have put God to the test and have seen how kind He is! I have seen for myself the way His mercies shower down on all who trust in Him.” (Psalm 34:1-8).

Prayer

Father God, thank you in Jesus name for all these things and thank you for putting people in our lives who love us the way they are instructed to. Amen

Thoughts:

The Bible is “God’s word”. There is a lot of good stuff in it. Some of the best feel good recipes I’ve ever experienced are right under the cover. But you have to read it to receive it!