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Shine Your Light – Especially Today!

“Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you.” Isaiah 60:1-2

In Isaiah, God is simply letting us know to arise and shine. He’s simply telling us that God is will shine on us 🙂

And while it is true that “darkness shall cover the earth”. “Deep darkness”. It is also true that God’s Glory will be seen on us 🙂

So let’s share God’s Glory with all we meet! And help to lead people home 🙂

Prepare, Pray & Be Ready!

Warning: Sin Does Separate Us From God

“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

Our Father can always save us! There is nothing on this earth that is as powerful as God and He loves us. We can trust in that 🙂

But sin does separate us from God and that is why repentance is so important. When we ask our Father to forgive us in Jesus’ Name and change our behavior, than God is no longer separated from us 🙂

More difficult days are coming. During them, the last thing we will want is to be separated from God in any way! Fortunately, we can repent every single day:).

God loves us and no matter what occurs in our world, God will hear the prayers of His people 🙂

Prepare, Pray & Be Ready!

Warning: The Story of Baasha

“Forasmuch as I exalted thee out of the dust, and made thee prince over my people Israel; and thou hast walked in the way of Jeroboam, and hast made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins;Behold, I will take away the posterity of Baasha, and the posterity of his house; and will make thy house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.”-1 Kings 16:3

So who was Baasha? It has been written that Baasha was a king in the late 800s BC. He came to power by murdering the previous king. He was an evil man and was at war most of the time and lost much territory. Jehu the Prophet prophesied the downfall of his “dynasty” and it has been written that Baasha’s son Elah was assassinated and his “dynasty” did fall.

Baasha sinned in many ways, but perhaps the sin that angered God the most was that he “made my people of Israel to sin”.

Many in America have also committed many grievous sins without repenting! One has only to look at the recent headlines to see that! And in our country, we all know what is happening with the current presidential election. Will we even have a free and fair election?

While no man (or women) can make us sin, they can sure encourage it and make it very difficult for all those who choose not to. And how many times have we seen Christians persecuted in this country for following God’s Will? But God is stronger than all of those who want us to join them in committing these grievous sins! We have only to turn to Jesus and ask for His Help, and He Will Help Us!

Last note. Those who would destroy American had best read the story of Bassha and remember that God is NOT limited. Just because a story is in the Old Testament, does not mean that it can not happen today!

We don’t have to fall into sin and stop following God, it’s our choice, given to us by God Himself.

Prepare, Pray & Be Ready!

Thy Will Be Done!

“After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.”–Jesus, Matthew 6:9-13

How thankful I am that Jesus gave us these words to pray to our Father :). And the words “thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” may be the ones we need to focus on most right now. For in Heaven there is no sin, there is only God’s Will. And is that not what we need right now?

In Heaven, there is only Love, Peace and Joy. Could we not use a little of that right now? In Heaven there are wonderful hugs, friendships and God’s Will is always done. Because God knows us and loves us best :).

Prepare, Pray & Be Ready 🙂

Call Out To Jesus!

While praying the Rosary, I saw water that had come up on the siding of the houses and people swimming in the waters and I knew a flood had come. I heard “this is not your house, it is somewhere else in the future. Pray for them.”

And then I heard, that “even if someone cries out for Jesus at the last second, they will be Saved”. And “all children will be Saved”.

Prepare, Pray & Be Ready!

True Forgiveness Is Hard!

“And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us” -Matthew 6:12

I am so grateful that Jesus gave us this prayer, because I sometimes struggle with this. Deciding to forgive someone feels relatively easy, but forgiving as God forgive us seems so much harder!

“As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” -Psalm 103:12

This Bible verse is what I struggle with. I have sometimes decided to forgive someone (after all God forgives me :). But then I take it back! I start thinking of how much that person hurt me, and yet when God forgives our “transgressions”, our “transgressions“ become “as far as the “east is from the west”.

So what I really do sometimes I think, is I forgive someone, but then I take it back. As my friend often says, I am not Christian because I am so perfect, but because I need Help :).

And so when forgiveness is a struggle, I simply ask God for Help 🙂

Prepare, Pray & Be Ready…

Many American Churches Are Splitting!

“Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!” – Matthew 23:24

Many churches are splitting up these days. They usually split into two groups: The group who believes in God’s Word and those that do not.

Those who do not, usually want to rewrite the Bible. With their “anything goes” message, their churches expand and their coffers fill. But sadly, those that follow them, often follow them in the WRONG direction and AWAY from Christ. And we know what happens to those who do NOT follow Christ.

Then there are those who choose to attend the church that truly teaches God’s Word. They love Jesus and follow Him closely. It’s not that they don’t occasionally fall, they do. But they ask God to forgive them, in Jesus’ Name, to forgive them and they ask Jesus to help them avoid sin in the future!

And that is just one of the differences. Those who truly follow Jesus know what sin is. They have been taught how to live and how to love. And they do their very best to follow Jesus closely and to live as God’s Word has truly taught.

But the church with their “anything goes” mentality and the people who stay in it WILL suffer the consequences of their choices. Pray for them!

“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. ²People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, ⁴treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— ⁵having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.” -2 Timothy 3:1-5

Prepare, Pray & Be Ready!

Keep Praying!

“And the Lord said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.” – Exodus 3:7

When Moses led God’s people out of Egypt; they had been there awhile. They hadn’t suffered just a day, or even months. They had suffered for quite awhile! And yet, despite their harsh circumstances, their faith in God still filled their hearts as they cried out to God for help! And God heard their prayer!

Imagine how deep their faith must have been that they followed Moses out of Egypt because God sent him. Can you imagine?

There is no doubt that we face some difficult days ahead. In many countries, those who follow Christ are already suffering greatly! And that is one reason why it helps so much to read the Book of Exodus. God will not forget us and He will save us 🙂

G0d said: “This is my memorial to all generations” – Exodus 3:15

Prepare, Pray & Be Ready!

A Huge Mess!

A good friend of mine sent this devotion. It was so good, just had to share 🙂

Once upon a time, there was a child, who was 6 years old, who wanted his parent to take them to the store to “help” go shopping. The child knew that there was a good chance they would stop at the place next to the store and get their favorite drink – a “Slushee”.

As expected, the parent asked the child if they would like to go to the place next to the store. The child replied, “Oh, Yes!!”. They both got something and of course the child requested a “Slushee”. They both sat down at a table and wouldn’t you know – the child accidentally spilled their drink. We are talking blue and red goop all over the floor, the table – everywhere!

The child looked up at their parent and immediately apologized. Instead of getting angry, the parent said, “Hey, it happens. Let’s go get napkins and I can show you how to clean it up.” Then they calmly went to get napkins and then helped the child clean the entire mess. As they were throwing the napkins ways, the parent said to the child, “You’re going to be a human being for probably some time, and you have such a smart brain that it’s important you learn how to be more careful of what you’re doing. So next time, just be sure to pay more attention to your surroundings – so accidents like this don’t happen.

Accidents like these can be prevented, but it’s still okay if they happen. As long as you take responsibility for your mistakes, the clean up is a breeze. I know big messes seem overwhelming and you might feel like you can’t do it by yourself – it’s okay to ask for help. There is no problem with asking for help when you need it.”

Truly, God’s Children on this earth are born into human nature, which sometimes creates a huge mess. Your Heavenly Father knows this and even helps to guide you around those surroundings, that creates these. He lovingly still gives you a choice – whether to follow His Direction or to create a big mess on your own – all over you and even sometimes all over those around you. He also gives you His Word to help you prevent such problems you may encounter. The best you can do IS really try to follow His Voice in His Will and Purpose for you. When you make mistakes, take responsibility for them – ask your Father to forgive you. Even when they seem overwhelming to you, that you just can’t cope with it all – ask for His Help. He may even send one of His to help you clean up your mess. He IS SO Good like that!

My thoughts and prayers are that you do your best not to make a mess of your life. If you do sometimes, that you not hesitate to ask for your Heavenly Father’s help to wipe away your mess with His Living Water. That especially when you are overwhelmed with the world, that you give yourself to Him and thank Him for helping you. It’s okay to ask for help. In Jesus’ Name. Thy Will be done. Amen. Peace.

Prepare, Pray & Be Ready…

A History Lesson!

” And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.”

^”Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” – 1 KIngs 17:1-4

God has a history of punishing those who disobey Him, but Saving those who do 🙂

Prepare, Pray & Be Ready!