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Prayer is so very important. Sometimes God changes us; sometimes God changes the circumstances we are in. Sometimes God helps someone we love. And sometimes God changes the circumstances in countries far from us.

But God always answers Prayers. Sometimes God answers yes. Sometime God answers No. And sometimes God simply answers: not yet.

When God answers yes, or just not yet. We rejoice. But when God answers no, we sometimes find it harder to accept. That’s when we need to remember that God knows more than we do. We only know yesterday and today, but God knows all of our tomorrows 🙂

Follow Jesus & Keep Praying; Prayer Changes Things…

Peace seems like such a huge thing to pray for. So vast, so hard to define in our minds. So let’s define it. First, there is the peace among countries. So many are at war. Israel and the Palestinians. Ukraine and Russia. Syria. Sudan, Kenya, India and Pakistan have been fighting…Some say the Southern Border of America is under attack! So there’s that…

Then there is also Peace among men (and women :). How many countries contain people who are busy attacking each other physically and verbally? So we can pray for Peace among mankind.

And there is Peace in the souls and hearts of each individual. The kind of Peace that only God can give. The kind of Peace that is needed for Peace among mankind and countries to grow.

So how do we pray? We pray for complete Peace. The kind of Peace that only God can give. And we begin by sharing that Peace. We can reach out to each other, whether we like each other or not, whether we know each other or not, and be kind to one another, help one another and pray for ourselves and and each other.

For after all, Revival must begin with us.

Mary loved Her Son, and She loves us. Her love is special. It never lessons and it never leaves. We can count on it. And when we are hurting, we can turn to it.

Mary, our Blessed Virgin Mother can pray for us in a way that we probably don’t fully understand. Jesus is Her Son, so when She turns to Him and ask Him to help someone, it matters in a way that is special. Because Mary is Jesus’s Mother.

I think if Mary our Blessed Virgin Mother could share one thing with us, it would be that prayer is so much more important than we realize. Because prayer is what keeps us close to God, no matter our circumstances. And that is exactly what we need and Mary, our Blessed Virgin Mother, knows this.

I think that Mary would share with us that it is prayer that connects us to God, and reconnects us when we have drifted away. She would teach us that because She knows that we need to stay connected to God. She, more than anyone, knows how important it is for us to persevere in faith and prayer until the very end. And we can, but we need to stay connected to God to do that! And because she loves us so, She wants us to always be connected to our Lord.

This Mother’s Day I just want to thank Mary, Our Blessed Virgin Mother, for all that She has done for us. For the amazing way She loved Jesus and loves each of us. For always being there for all of us. And for the wonderful example She set for each of us!

Thank You Mary & Happy Mother’s Day!

One thing that the movie “David” also reminds us of:

It’s not about whether God IS with us, but whether we are with God!

Many of us have watched “David”. If you haven’t seen it, watch it 🙂

In this particular video clip, David tells Jonathan that “It’s not about the greatness of the giant; it’s about the greatness of God!”

We all have giants in our life, no matter what country we live it. Sometimes it’s the situation we find ourselves in, sometimes it is someone or something we fear and somtimes it is something we just can’t seem to do.

No matter what it is, remember that God is Greater!

Many of us have watched “David”. If you haven’t seen it, watch it 🙂

In the scene where David meets Jonathan there are some quotes that would really help us all. One is, “Am I the only one that remembers the old stories?” How easy it is to forget about the power of God. He made this world, created all of us! He created the mountains and the seas, the animals and all of the trees and flowers. Perhaps we need to realize just how much we need to respect that flower. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”

Follow Jesus & Keep Praying; Prayer Changes Things!

Many years ago, journalism was sometimes referred to as the “fourth estate”. This term referrenced the idea that journalism played a very large and influential role in supporting democracy. After all, how could Americans vote if they were not truly well informed on the issues of the day?

Sadly, while journalism used to to about reporting the truth, and only the truth. It has become, for many in the media, more about persuading Americans to believe and enact their agenda! Even when that agenda is morally bankrupt.

It’s not even just about the news that many in the media report; it’s also about what many in the media refuse to report. For example, how many Christians were murdered or imprisoned today?

The real truth is that many in the media have forgotten that God Himself will hold them accountable for all that they have reported (or refused to report). And God will hold them accountable for their many efforts to persuade Americans that faith in God and in the Bible is unimporant. That God does not belong in our public square!

But many of us Americans have also forgotten something. We are responsible for the amount of effort we put into finding out the real facts-the truth-regarding the issues of our day. And our first loyalty is to God!

God will hold us all accountable, for God is Just as well as Merciful. We need to remember that. Each and everyone.

Follow Jesus & Keep Praying; Prayer Changes Things!

In Indonesia, a Christian risks his life to help build a Christian place of worship. In many countries, all over the world, worshiping Jesus is extremely dangerous. Christians are imprisoned, tortured and killed. Reading the Bible is a crime. Sharing the Bible punishable by death. It is hard for us to even imagine how horrific life can be as a Follower of Christ, but it it true! A Christian dies every day for their faith in Jesus.

In America, there is no danger, no fear. But there is peer pressure. A lot of it. We have become so used to the freedom of worship that we have, that we often forget just how much our brothers and sisters in Christ are suffering!

And just how much we could suffer, if we are not careful!

There is a tendancy in this country to think that everyone wants to be like us. That our nation can never be defeated. But this is not true.

President Reagan once said, “Freedom is a fragile thing and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by way of inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people.  And those in world history who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again.”

If we want to continue to freely worship Jesus without fear, than we need to pay attention to the events in our world. We need to secure this nation and…

We need to pray-a lot.

 If ye love me, keep my commandments.”-John 14:15

Obedience seems like such an old-fashioned word, and yet it is so important. And yet not only was obedience so very important in the Old Testament, Jesus told us in the New Testament, “If ye love me, keep my commandments”

Although Saul became the first king of the Jewish People, his disobedience cost him greatly and he lost everything! And although God had done much for Moses, Moses disobeyed him and because of his disobedience, Moses was not allowed to enter the Promised Land.

In the New Testament, Jesus calls on us to obey His commandments. And we know that there are grave consequences if we do not. Revelations tells us that!

But perhaps most of all, we need to meditate on why God wants us to obey Him. God made us. And because God made us, He knows what will truly bring us happiness, and He wants that for us.

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”-Jeremiah 29:11

So if we want “peace”, if we want a “a future and a hope”, both for ourselves and those we love, than we need to obey God!

Follow Jesus & Keep Praying; Prayer Changes Things!

So often, we think that if we just follow Jesus and accept Him as our Savior, there will be no “troubles” in our life. But that is not what Jesus said. Jesus said, “in this world, you will have trouble” (John 16:33)

And we do. Someone we love is sick. Or someone we love is lost to us. Perhaps a war is being fought in our country. Perhaps our family is hungary and we can’t feed them. Whatever our sorrows, whatever our hurts, they are very, very real.

Since we are Following our Savior Jesus, why are we sometimes overwelmed with such suffering?

The answer is really quite simple. This is NOT Heaven yet. And it is in Heaven that all of our tears will be wiped away!

“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”-Revelation 21:4