The Intercessor

Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.-Isaiah 59:1-2

Later in Chapter 59, God does save them, but God asks an important question:

“And he saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor”-Isaiah 59:16

The Intercessor between God and man is Jesus 🙂

Prepare, Pray & Be Ready!

Those Who Do Not Truly Know Me…

We have been told so many times that Jesus did not condemn anyone, He didn’t even talk about sin. But that is just not true!

Jesus talked quite a bit about sin and about the need for repentance! And about the consequences if we don’t repent! And there are consequences:

 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”-Mathew :21-23

There are many who claim to know and accept Jesus, but the truth is those who truly know Jesus-Follow Jesus. And isn’t that the least we can do?

Prepare, Pray & Be Ready!

Do Not Fear :)

“The Lord is on our side; I will not fear what; what can man do unto me?” – Psalm 118: 6

We all worry about the future, especially if we have children. We’re human.

Often, we are told, if we truly trusted the Lord, we would not worry.

But this simply is not true. We know that bad things sometimes happen to good people. We know that there are sometimes things that can make us afraid. Which is when many of us pray for help!

But we also know that, if we have put our Trust in Jesus,, the final outcome will be good! And that even if something bad does happen, God will use it to the “good of those called to His purpose“.

God ‘s Word says repeatedly, “Do not fear!”. And we need not 🙂

Prepare, Pray & Be Ready!

Faith & Flowers

As spring returns, there are flowers that spring new, there are flowers that return and there are flowers that appeared dead, but are once again growing. And there are flowers that are, sadly, dead.

Just like our own faith and the faith of others, we can find ourselves in different places at different times. And that is okay, as long as we all end up in the same place: Home 🙂

It’s a Journey 🙂

Prepare, Pray & Be Ready!

Our Hope Is In God :)

“Violence shall no longer be heard in your land, Neither wasting nor destruction within your borders; But you shall call your walls Salvation,
And your gates Praise. The sun shall no longer be your light by day,
Nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you; But the Lord will be to you an everlasting light, And your God your glory.”-Isaiah 60: 18-19

We look around the world, indeed our own country, and we see violence and destruction in it daily. And it all weighs on our hearts. We can’t help but wonder just what kind of world our children will inherit.

But then we turn to the pages of God’s Word and we are reminded that our Hope is in God, not in this world. And one day, we will return home and worry no more. And our children will have that same path way open to them! 🙂

Prepare, Pray & Be Ready!

Asking Mary To Pray For Us!

There are many who feel we should not ask Mary to pray for us. There are many who feel that we should. My Pastor in Ohio used to say, “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity”. This quote has been attributed to (Saint) Augustine of Hippo.

I ask Mary to pray for me every day. I ask her to pray for me because I know that she loves me and that she is very close to Jesus. After all, she is His mother and Jesus loves her very much :). And so, it only makes sense to me, that Jesus would listen to her even more, because she is His mother :).

Mary always points to her Son and she has taught me so much about Jesus. And I am so grateful. For not only do I feel Mary enriches my faith in Christ; I know just how much she loves me 🙂

The first part of the Hail Mary comes straight from the Bible (see Luke 1:28) (The word Grace appears in the Greek Translation)

 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.”-Luke 1:28

The next part also comes from the Bible:

Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!”- Luke 1:42

The last part of the Hail Mary reads:

“Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us snners, now and at the hour of our death.”

Who wouldn’t want Mary to pray for them at the hour of their death?

But perhaps what we should remember most of all is the beginning of Revelation in the Letters to the Churches. One strikingly clear message comes from the Letters to the Churches: no church does everything right! There will be churches and people who ask Mary to pray for them, and there will be those who do not.

For me, Mary enriches my faith, provides for me a great example and prays for me because she loves me. I am so grateful to Mary and wouldn’t miss her presence in my life for the world!

Prepare, Pray & Be Ready!

We All Sin – But God Forgives Us :)

“Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord” – Jonah 1:1-3

Jonah did his best to flee from God. He knew it was wrong, but he did it anyway. But God forgave him and Jonah went on to become the prophet he was meant to be and to help the people of Nineveh.

We all make mistakes. Sometimes we even sin just outright and on purpose; we are disobedient. But God forgives us anyway, that’s why Jesus came 🙂

We need not fear to turn back to God when we have sinned; God loves us and He is waiting for us. And God will be filled with joy when we turn back to Him 🙂

Prepare, Pray and Be Ready!