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Matthew 18:19-20 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

The below devotion was written by George Whitten for Worthy Devotionals. Worthy Devotionals are wonderful and have taught me so much! You can sign up for them here :). A word about God-Incidence. God is with us ALWAYS. We just need to look for Him 🙂

“His nightmares began each day when he awoke. James Stegalls was nineteen. He was in Vietnam. Though he carried a small Gideon New Testament in his shirt pocket, he couldn’t bring himself to read it. His buddies were cut down around him, terror was building within him, and God seemed far away. His twentieth birthday passed, then his twenty-first. At last, he felt he couldn’t go on.

On February 26, 1968, he prayed for it all to end, and his heart told him he would die before dusk. Sure enough, his base came under attack that day and Jim heard a rocket coming straight toward him. Three seconds to live, he told himself, then two, then…

A friend shoved him into a grease pit, and he waited for the rocket to explode, but there was only surreal silence. The fuse malfunctioned.

For five hours James knelt in that pit, and finally his quivering hand reached into his shirt pocket and took out his New Testament. Beginning with Matthew, he continued through the first 18 chapters.

“When I read Matthew 18:19-20,” he said, “I somehow knew things would be alright.”

Long after Jim returned home, as he visited his wife’s grandmother, Mrs. Harris, she told him a night years before when she had awakened in terror. Knowing Jim was in Vietnam, she had sensed he was in trouble. She began praying for God to spare his life. Unable to kneel because of arthritis, she lay prone on the floor, praying and reading her Bible all night.

Just before dawn she read Matthew 18:19-20. Then she immediately called her Sunday school teacher, who got out of bed and went to Mrs. Harris’ house where together they claimed the Lord’s promise as they prayed for Jim until reassured by God’s peace.

Having told Jim the story, Mrs. Harris opened her Bible to show him where she had marked the passage. In the margin were the words — “Jim, February 26, 1968.”

I don’t think we are nearly aware enough of how crucial our prayers are for the lost and hurting. Sometimes we don’t get to see the fruit, but God hears and answers our prayers! Don’t be discouraged today — keep lifting your voice in intercession and expect great things! There’s so much work to be done!!”

Devotional Source: Jim L. Stegall, “Hardly a Coincidence,” Changed Lives: USA Testimonies.

The below devotion was written by George Whitten for Worthy Devotionals. Worthy Devotionals are wonderful and have taught me so much! You can sign up for them here 🙂

“When Jim Burke became the head of a new products division at Johnson & Johnson one of his first projects was the development of a children’s chest rub. The product failed miserably, and Burke expected he would be fired. When he was called in to see the chairman of the board, however, he met a surprising reception. “Are you the one who just cost us all that money?” asked Robert Wood Johnson. “Well I just want to congratulate you. If you are making mistakes, that means you are taking risks, and we won’t grow unless you take risks!” Apparently Mr. Johnson wasn’t joking! Years later, Johnson & Johnson remains one of the largest multi-national manufacturers of pharmaceutical, disgnostic, therapeutic, surgical, personal hygiene, baby and biotechnology products.”

“Likewise, we believers are called to take some risks so that God’s Kingdom may grow! So often, we cower at the opportunities He makes available because we are too afraid things won’t go the way we hope and others might be disappointed or sneer at our failure. But God wants us to go forth boldly, sometimes taking a risk or two, so that we may accomplish great things for Him! Yes, sometimes we’ll get it wrong and there may be a hard lesson to learn. But we will learn–and eventually great things will happen as a result of our courage and persistance!”

“My Friends, the time is short and there is so much work to do for the Kingdom! We cannot afford to stand on the sidelines any longer! Let’s ask the Lord to cause us to have some courage and go in boldness! God’s Kingdom won’t grow unless we start taking some risks!”

The Truth

The world has claimed that there are many truths and that in our lives there are many shades of grey. There are not!

There is really only ONE TRUTH. For Truth, by it’s very nature, has only ONE version. The Truth.

And the only Truth that really matters is God’s Truth. For God’s Truth is the only Truth that mattered yesterday,and that will matter today and tomorrow.

And that One Truth can only be found in God’s Word-The Bible and through a relationship with Jesus Christ. For remember my friends, we are “in this world, but not of it”!

Today we celebrate Easter. The day when Jesus rose from the dead and conquered all because He loved us. He paid a great price for our Salvation, as did all those who loved Him.

Accept His Great Gift and walk in the light of God’s Truth.

Thank you Jesus!

I often think of Mary with awe!  Although we often talk of Jesus’ Great Sacrifice, we don’t talk about Mary’s sacrifice nearly enough.  For she was as human as we are.  Her pain while watching Her Son on that Cross had to have been more than we could ever bear if it was our child hanging on that Cross.  But still She did it, because she loved our Lord and She loved us!

As a mom, I can’t even begin to imagine the horror and pain that Mary endured watching Jesus, her Son, die on that Cross.  The little boy that brought her pitchers of water, the baby she held in her arms… Jesus’ human side came from Mary 🙂

I couldn’t do it.  But Mary did, because She knew that the best way She could help her Son was to love Him and be there for Him.

And so Mary stood at the foot of that Cross.  The pain must have been unbearable.  But She did it.  She loved her Son and us that much!

A million thoughts must have raced through Her.  That She didn’t simply collapse Grace.

I know that I would have ended up begging God to spare my Son.  But Mary prayed that God’s Will be done.  Would we?  Could we?

As a Mom, the sheer horror of watching my son crucified would have broken me.  But Mary did not break, because Her love for Jesus was that strong and overcame all.  And Jesus loves her as only a Son can love His Mother.  And for that, I will always be grateful to Mary and hope and pray to be like Her.

Too often, Churches seem to argue about Mary’s “role in the church”, but the truth is there really is no need.  Mary was Jesus’ Mother and one of the best role models we could ever have.  As for the confusion about “praying” to Mary.  It’s  not that we “pray to her as if she was God”  We ask her to pray for us!  And why would we not!

Mary is in Heaven with Jesus, Queen of Heaven, and I talk with her often.  Sometimes simply to thank her for her sacrifice or for praying for me, sometimes to ask Her to pray for me or others!  And I know she will, because she loves each of us!  She IS our Blessed Mother!

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” – John 14:6

Prayer is a real place, so is Heaven!

As human beings, we want everyone to go to Heaven.  But whether we like it or not, not all people go to Heaven.

So the real question is not, “Who goes to Heaven?”.

The real question is “Did Jesus Tell The Truth”?  And millions, including me, say He did ?

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. ” – John 3:16

Just thinking of that verse, I can’t help but think of how much it must have cost our Father to give His only Son. How much pain it must have caused Him to watch His only Son suffer so!

Loving our children is as wonderful as it is all consuming. I can remember well when they were little and sick, my heart would hurt so for them. And as they got older and faced some of life’s challenges, my heart would hurt even more for them! And as they grew into young adults and faced hurts that we could not always solve, we hurt even more for them! I can’t even begin to think of the pain it must have cost our Father and Jesus’ Mother Mary, to watch their Son suffer so to save us.

Thank you Jesus, for saving me. And thank you Father and Mary for your willingness to hurt so much as you watched your Son suffer for our sins so that we might be saved!

How Blessed are we to be so loved. And although there will never be enough words to thank you, Thank You All The Same 🙂

When we are praying to our Lord, our prayer can be a “place”, if we let it. A “time out” if you will from the current state of our fallen world and a “time in” of joy, peace and rest in the presence of our Father. In Jesus’ Name. Amen 🙂

Father Benedict, who is on Spotify, did a wonderful recording of the Rosary. I pray it often. His voice is so soothing, it’s comforting to do so! He says that “the Rosary is a place”. And that is true. It is a “place” we can go to take a break from the world and be with Mary, our Blessed Mother. A respite from the world we live in, a visit to the world we are going to 🙂

Father Benedict once said, “Whenever good comes into contact with evil there will be suffering”. This is true.

But God will give us rest! And a place to rest 🙂

We need not worry about battles lost, for the minute Jesus gave His life for us, the war was already won! In these difficult times, we need only love God with our whole heart and soul, and love each other as ourselves. For the moment we accept Jesus as our Savior is the moment we “win” 🙂

And although we should, of course, always do our best to stand for our faith in Jesus Christ and all that He taught, we must also remember that although our efforts are our gift to God, the outcome itself – belongs to God 🙂