Tag Archives: Prayer

Hoping On

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Moments with my Father ~

 

Once again, my Father has me smiling as I hear His voice to me this morning.  If you are like me, you probably can look around and see difficulties in the lives of others or perhaps in your own life.  The enemy Satan is at work and the affects of sin that he has brought upon this earth are evident.  Despite this, my Father reminds me this morning that as His kids, we need to keep our eyes set on Him, the victorious One.  He says there is hope both now and forevermore!  How exciting is that thought!  What He is saying is that we do not have to wait until the next life after He returns to have victory.  We have hope now!  David used this very message to encourage Israel.  I find these two definitions of “hope” in my dictionary today 1)  favorable and confident expectation and 2) happy anticipation of good.  Oh, that makes me happy hoping!  Whatever we may be facing right now that may seem difficult, let’s rest it with our Father who tells us not to be anxious about anything, but in everything through prayer, present our requests to Him and we can have His peace about it.  He even said to present it to Him with thanksgiving – with an attitude of faith or expectation.  Why?  It is because He is victorious and in Him, we have hope now and forevermore!  Oh, I’m a gal all full of hope today!  I hope you are as well.  Love to you!  Singing this song to our Father:

 

Ps 60:12, 118:13-16,131:3; Php 4:6-7;

 

Always There

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Moments with My Father ~

 

One of the things that I love about my Father is that He is always there.  When I wake up in the morning, there is always so many things on my mind – things that I thought about as I was falling asleep, things I thought about when I woke up in the night and things that entered my mind when I awake for the new day.  It is always great for me to be able to talk with my Father about those things no matter when.  24/7, He is there for me to share my heart with. This is all part of the privilege of having the presence of Heaven on earth for us.  I guess I can relate to how Jesus is the same way and our Father’s love letter to us (the Bible) tells us Jesus lives to talk to our Father on our behalf. Jesus, I so love His heart! Doesn’t it make you feel loved to know that Jesus loves us and cares about us enough to talk to His Father about us?  It also blesses my heart to know Jesus cares enough about me to give me His written Word to help me and encourage me.  He hasn’t left me to myself.  Oh, how precious is His presence to me! So glad He is always there for me!  I can see in myself that I desire to love others the same way Jesus loves me.  My heart so longs to see others happy and at peace! May we all enjoy the loving presence of our Father today together!  Life is so good with Him here!

Jn 1:1-18; Ro 8:26-39; 2 Ti 3:16-17

 

 

He Has Our Back

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Moments with My Father ~

 

Idaho greetings to you all this new day!  I’m starting off today by asking you a question.  Do you ever find yourself in a quandary as to what is the right thing to do in life?  Sometimes there are issues that are so complex it is hard to determine what is the best way to handle them and to even know what to pray for.  It is good to pray for wisdom and guidance and if you have ever found yourself in one of those situations of uncertainty, Godly counsel is good.  Reading God’s Word and talking to other Christians can often help, but even then, sometimes we still are not sure what to do.  I find it such a comfort that in those times, that our Father’s Spirit is there to help us.  That hope in Him sustains me.  He tells us that His Spirit helps us in our weakness.  We do not know what to pray for, but His Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.  In other words, His intercession is beyond us!  He searches our hearts and He also knows the mind of the Spirit and intercedes for the saints in accordance with His will.  He also tells us that He works all things out for our good. That speaks to me that He has our back covered!  I don’t know about you, but these thoughts greatly help me to have peace.  Bless Him for caring so much for us!   He is our good Shepherd indeed!  I’m trusting in Him to lead me as I make the best possible decisions I can in the hard questions of what to do in life.  His best to you all as well ~

Ro 8:26-29; Ja 1:5; Ro 12:2; Ps 1:1-3, 73:23-24, Jn 10:14,14:16-18, 26

Faithful Ministers

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Moments with My Father ~

 

Have you ever thought of yourself as an athlete for Christ?  God’s Word talks about Christians as runners, in that we are running the race of life towards the goal of eternity. But another way it suggests that we as Christians can be athletes for Christ is as wrestlers.  My dictionary defines athletics as an exercise requiring physical skill, strength and endurance.  Epaphras was one whom Paul described as a wrestler because he “always” wrestled in prayer for the Colossians that they would stand firm in all the will of God, be mature and fully assured. Paul also referred to him as a faithful minister on Paul’s team’s behalf. Paul knew struggles in his life. His efforts for success or victory for Christ was not easy and Paul knew that he had to rely on his Lord through prayer for delivery. He also knew that beyond his own prayers, he needed prayer from others and he asked others to join him in his struggle by praying to God for him and the saints.  He said to “always”  keep on praying for all the saints.  He also stated that as people helped them with their prayers, the result would be that many would give thanks on their behalf for the gracious favor granted to them in answer to the prayers! Now how cool is that?  As I reflect upon these thoughts, I think about how we all as Christians have struggles in life that we need prayer for and I so want to make a difference in the life of all the saints, but realistically, I cannot physically pray for everyone “always,” but do my best to pray for as many as I can.  Some have more time to pray than others, but perhaps a good place to start for us all might be to pick one child, one person, one Pastor or one family or one church or one ministry and wrestle daily “always” as an athlete in prayer for them to help them win their struggles in life to have the victory for Jesus. If every Christian in the world would do just that, what a difference it could make in victory for Jesus!  It could be a great time of thanksgiving when we get to heaven!  Oh that thought drops me to my knees with excitement!   I’m a gal committing with you today to “always” exercise a daily prayer for someone special.  Let’s pray!

Col 1:7, 4:12-13; 2 Co 1:8-11; Ro 15:30; Eph 6:18

The Lost Art

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Moments with My Father ~

 

Mornings are so special to me!  It is the time of day that I spend time admiring the beauty of my Father who “art” in Heaven.  As I have spent time with Him this morning, I think back to my days as a young child and the visits that I had to the homes of my grandmothers.  One grandmother lived in an old Victorian house on a farm where my grandfather had sheep and the chickens scurried about free in the driveway as you entered their place. When we would go visit, my grandmother always prepared a meal for us and it was not something served out of a can or box back then.  It was her going out and breaking, then chopping off the neck of a chicken, plucking the feathers, cleaning it, cutting it up, cooking it and serving it with all the other homemade goodies that included bread or rolls, pie, homegrown vegetables from her garden and all of it cooked over an old wood stove in her lovely farm-house kitchen with wood she chopped herself.  Her home was decorated beautifully with the skills of her hands that to many has become a lost art.  She hand braided her own rugs with torn strips or rags of fabric that I’m sure came from worn-out clothing, handmade crocheted doilies adorned the backs and arms of her sofas and chairs as well as her tables that displayed vases of home-grown flowers and this is also true of my other grandmother who hand embroidered her pillowcases, dish towels and aprons that both grandmothers always wore over their dresses when in their homes.  I have fond memories of my grandmother who cared for me when my parents were both working.  She taught me the art of embroidery that in my days, I have spent hours at, but do not do much of today as my time is devoted to other things.  I have friends who spend hours working on artistic masterpieces of handiwork that they give as gifts and one friend who is a professional quilter.  I so admire their skills!  As I reflect on all of this today, my Father speaks to me how amazing these lost arts are in today’s society that is so full of fast-paced lives and easily bought everything. He also speaks to me of the danger of losing the lost art of our forefathers in this Country that is the beautiful art of walking in faith with our Father in Heaven and teaching our future generations to do the same.  Our Father who art in Heaven who is the creator of all art and the beauty of this world that is all around us should never become lost in our modern ways of thinking, but continually taught to a lost world that so desperately needs to see and know of Him!  It begins at home, with our own personal relationship with Him and sharing Him with our families.  I recently spent time with a child who is very dear to me and he told me about a video game he was aware of that had an option if you so choose it that you could play the game with all of the people images on it nude.  He told me how they chose not to view it that way which was great opportunity for me to speak into his life how proud I was of him for choosing the ways of Jesus and how important it is to not fill our minds with things that are not of Him because each time we do, we become a little less sensitive to our Father’s ways of thinking and the more we do that, pretty soon His ways that are the best ways of old become lost and we begin to think of the world’s ways of thinking as the normal, the accepted, then the beauty of our Father who art in Heaven becomes a lost art.  This was the Lord’s grief of the church in Ephesus.  He told them “you have forgotten your first love.”  Our Father is too beautiful to a life to become a lost art.  Your sister encourages us all to keep the art of walking with Him a daily practice so that we do not forget Him and so that future generations will know Him as well.  Let’s pray with our families and read our Bibles to them, model our faith before them and let them see us doing the works of Him as good ways of modern day living. Oh, ”Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name!  Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.”

Rev 2:4-5; Mt 24:12; Jer 2:2; Ro 12:2; Dt 4:9; Mt 6:9-13

Proclaiming Christ

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Moments with My Father ~

 

Talking with my Father and listening to Him as He speaks through His Word is good interaction in order to have a good relationship with Him.  Relationships are very important to our Father and He speaks to my heart this morning that as Christians, each person that He puts into our life, even if it is for just a few seconds, is opportunity to proclaim the mysteries of Christ. Paul understood this and he encourages us in Christ to be wise in the way of acting towards outsiders and to make the most of every opportunity.  Also, to let our conversations be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that we may know how to answer everyone.  To this end, Paul says to devote ourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful and to pray for our Father to open doors for the message of Christ to be proclaimed clearly.  In these modern days that we live in with all of the technology that we have, we have even greater opportunities to proclaim Christ and with all the technology that we have, we also have more opportunity than ever to become lost in unfruitful uses of our time and isolate ourselves from others. To proclaim Christ to a dying world is the most precious use of our time and in making the most of each day’s opportunity will bring eternal reward not only to our lives but to the lives of others.  Our Father’s Word speaks to their being the proper timing in life.  There is time for work and time for play and time for all kinds of things.  My Father asks me today to consider how I am using my time.  Am I making the most of the opportunities before me?  How can I use it more effectively for blessing others?  I’m praying about it as this gal wants to be all that I can to bring blessing.  I don’t want to live with regret.  How about you?

 

Col 4:2-6; Ecc 3:1, 8:5-6; Eph 5:15-17; Ro 12:2; 1 Co 3:10-15

Sharing Your Heart

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Moments with My Father ~

 

God’s Word.  It is the sharing of our Father’s heart that says He cares about us and He has gone to great lengths to communicate that to us.  He so longs to see us at peace in life, rejoicing in Him.  He longs for us to remember that He is near to us.  This is why He tells us not to be anxious about anything, but in everything to share our heart with Him in prayer and requesting His help, being thankful that He will help us in the very best way.  Oh, our Father - He gives me so much peace and I am so thankful that I have Him in my life.  What a true friend He is to us all the time!  Enjoying the gift of Him in our lives with you all ~

Php 4:4-7

God of Mercy

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Moments with My Father ~

 

I’m pondering a man with leprosy today as he steps forward to approach Jesus for help with his condition.  Leprosy was often referred to as one of several skin diseases that placed many restrictions on a person who was struggling with it.  Often in days of old, they were banned by society and the thought of approaching one such as Jesus was considered very wrong in the eyes of the Law and society.  Therefore, as the man with leprosy stepped out to approach Jesus, I have to say that I admire this man as he chose to act on his faith in who Jesus was rather than fear judgment.  In fact, this man had a very interesting attitude towards Jesus, in that he knew that Jesus had the power to destroy him for breaking the Law and if God chose to be a God of wrath, He was certainly capable and he also knew that if Jesus wanted to heal him, that he could do that as well!  The man could’ve let his fear of God and his own legalistic approach to life prevent him from approaching Jesus, but instead he chose to act on his faith that God was capable to help him and that He might be a “merciful” God, however, the man had some question about Jesus being merciful.  Sometimes it is easier to believe in God’s power than in His mercy, but God is indeed rich in mercy and this was very evident when Jesus responded to the man by saying “I am willing, be healed!”  In so doing, Jesus placed love and relationship over the Law.  This was His heart evidenced when Our Father demonstrated His love and mercy for us in that while we were yet sinners, He died for us so that we could have a relationship with Him.  His mercies are new every morning when we confess our sins to Him and He cleanses us from all unrighteousness!  He also promises to work all things for the good of those who are called according to His purpose.  Hallelujah!  Now how merciful is all of that!  Jesus is someone who understands us and sympathizes with us and the author of the book of Hebrews encourages us to approach the throne of grace (Jesus) just as the man of leprosy did, with confidence to receive of His mercy and grace to help us in our need!  Jesus was all about mercy over sacrifice, but in view of His mercy to us, let us do as Luke tells us to as a spiritual act of worship of our Lord - to be merciful as our Father is merciful. Jesus so longs for us to love one another as He loves us and that is with mercy.  Mercy is to have pity or compassion for the ills of others, to exhibit and feel compassion towards one another.  Mercy was shown to the leprous man and his life was forever changed.  That thought just has me all inspired!  Let us approach His throne of grace with confidence and pray for mercy and grace to have hearts of mercy with which to love others.  We as our Father’s children can do just as Jesus did – show mercy and change the world!  How wonderful is that thought?  Much love to you all!

Mk 1:40-41; Lev 13:45-46; Jn 3:16, 15:12; 1 Jn 1:9; La 3:22-23; Eph 2:4-10; Ro 5:8, 12:1; Lk 6:36, 10:30-37; Mt 12:1-14, 23:23;

 

Holding Fast

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Moments with My Father ~

 

Each one of us have a trail our Father is calling us to travel through life as He leads us to the promised land, just as Joshua and the Israelites did.  This morning, I see that we all have so many things in common with them in regards to how we travel.  1) Joshua knew that in order to be successful in his calling, he needed to be in constant communication with the Lord, sharing his heart with him and hearing from his Father. He also understood the importance of trusting and cooperating with His Father’s plans.  2)  He needed the cooperation of the people that the Lord had given him to lead.  Their hearts had to be with him and what the Father wanted. I’m thinking it is good to pray for those we are called in life to journey with that our hearts be united in our Father’s will and not be working against each other.  3)  They had to be strong and courageous and not let weakness and fear rule their lives. This meant looking to the Father for strength and trusting in Him to lead them and take care of them. 4)  The Father understood His children and He knew the dangers for his people as they traveled through the land filled with foreign gods that if they mingled with them, they could be influenced away from Him and His plans for them, tempted to hold to what was foreign, unite with them, become one with them, bow down to them and serve them as a god over the true God. Yikes!  Our poor Father – how this would hurt His heart who so loves His people and desires the best for them!  How easily we as His children can hurt ourselves!  5) Because Joshua heard from his Father all these things and he loved his Father and he loved the people he journeyed with, he was an encourager to them to “hold fast” to the Lord and he reminded them of the Father’s will and goodness towards them.  He helped them to see that it would be the Father who would bring them victory in life.  These thoughts this morning help me to see the importance of keeping with our Father’s desire for His children to encourage one another and help each other to have victory in life.  May we all be mindful of each other in these ways as we journey through life together.  How wonderful it will be for us and our Father to find ourselves doing the victory dance together when we reach the promised land.  That thought flat out just makes me smile!  Wherever we are today, let’s keep going, holding fast to our Father as He leads us.  I’m so thankful we are making the journey together as His kids!  Much love to you all!

 

Jos 23:6-11; Ex 20:4-5; He 3-12-14; Rev 21:1-5

What’s First?

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Moments with My Father ~

 

Good morning dear family! Do you ever find yourself worrying about your life?  If so, know that it is something that happened clear back in Jesus’ day and He understood how easy it can be to do so.  His response in it all was and is today, to not worry, but to set our minds on seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness and when we do that, then what we need in life will be added  We can best do this by turning to our Father in prayer – seeking Him who longs to be first in our life, Him who wants to fill us with His peace to guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, to Him who wants to meet all our needs, to Him who reveals to us His good and perfect will that we can walk in it to help bring blessing to our life  Let’s step out into this day, first looking to Him – it’s bound to be a worry-free day that way!  What do you say?

Mt 6:25-34; Ro 12:1-2; Php 4:6-8

 

There for Each Other

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Moments with My Father ~

 

New day greetings to you all, dear family!  Today’s study lays out a beautiful example of loving your neighbor.  It seems that the Gibeonites who had made the peace treaty with Joshua and the Israelites was thought of as an important city, a royal city by the surrounding kings and they were also known as good fighters.  These kings were upset that the Gibeonites had made a peace treaty with Joshua and his people. Hence, the surrounding kings decided to attack the Gibeonites and take the city from them.  Yikes!!!  What I see the Gibeonites do next I think is good for us to do as Christians when we find ourselves under attack by the enemy, in that they turned to God’s people next to them for support.  As a result, it made a huge difference as the Lord and His people had victory in rescuing the Gibeonites. It’s always a great thing when there is a victory dance!  Our Father’s Word in this story says that on that day, God listened to man.  In other words, God hears the prayers of His people.  In fact, Jesus prays directly to the Father for us.  Now how cool is that?  The Apostle Paul got this and he set an example of asking others to pray for him.  In application of this, maybe you need support?  Knowing our Father hears the prayers of His kids, who can you talk to about praying over a problem you have?  Also, let’s do as Joshua did to support someone we see in need by spending some time fighting for them in prayer?  Wouldn’t it be exciting to watch their victory dance?  Woohoo!  That thought just makes me smile!

Jos 10:1-15; Jas 5:13; Ro 8:26-27; 15:30-32; Eph 6:18

Have Peace and Go

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Moments with My Father ~

 

New day greetings dear brothers and sisters. I hope you all are well and have a peaceful heart today.  Our Father who loves us beyond what we can imagine greatly desires that we have hearts at peace.  This was His heart for Joshua also as He called Joshua to carry out His plan for him in the world of leading the Israelites to take possession of the land that He was wanting to give to them.  Our Father longed to bless the Israelites and just like them, He longs to bless us and take us to a new land as well.  Some day there will be a new heaven and a new earth that we will all enjoy – a gift from our Father!  Our Father understood the hearts of the Israelites.  He knew their nature to worry and He was always telling them to go and “Do not be afraid or terrified; do not be discouraged.” He told Joshua the same thing and that He would be with Him wherever he went.  Wow!  What a comfort that is to know my Father is with me wherever I might wander!  We do not have the knowledge that our Father has and so therefore, we do not always understand the outcome to things that we are experiencing.  But, our Father does understand.  He knows why we are where we are and where we are going and He promises that He is always working good in all things for those who are called according to His purpose and He says to trust Him and go.  He desires that we keep going in life as He calls us to and He tells us the trouble that we might see in our world as we do is not something for us to be afraid of, but to have His very special peace that only He can give our hearts.  So let’s take hold of our hearts and direct them to trust in Him as He says “Take Heart!”  Our Father is very capable of taking care of us so we need not worry about that.  He has overcome this world!   It helps me to remember that He makes the clouds His chariot and rides on the wings of the wind.  Yeehaw!  He is the ultimate cowboy!!!  With Him, all things are possible! Hence, why fret when we can rest in His promises, knowing we are in His care and His loving plans to bring us blessing. Fretting is kind of like rockin’ in a rockin’ chair – it takes lots of our effort, but it doesn’t get us anywhere, except worn out and tired.  It is better to just pray about a situation, give it to our Father and trust Him with it.  With all of this in mind, I’m stepping out in trust in Him and in obedience to our Father’s request to go.  I’m going in His peace, will ya go with me?   His peace to you!

Dt: 1:21; Jos 1:9; Jn 14:1,27, 16:33, Ps 104:1-3; Pr 3:5; Mk 10:27; Rev 21:1-4; Php 4:6-7;  Mt 6:25-34; Eph 3:20-21

 

 

Pray, Pray Pray

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Moments with My Father ~

 

Good day family.  I hope you all have a blessed day as you walk through this day with our Father.  This morning, our Father has laid it upon my heart the importance of praying for each other.  He says to pray on all occasions with all kinds of prayer and requests.   With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.  Jesus knew the importance of this also.  At one point during Jesus’ time on earth, Peter, who was considered “the rock” upon which Christ would build His church was the focus of Satan’s attack.  Jesus said of Satan that he wanted to sift Peter as wheat, but Jesus said that He prayed for Peter that his faith would be turned back and that Peter would strengthen his brothers.  Well, this story just has your sister all fired up against the tactics of the enemy and I ask you to please join with me in praying for others.  Let’s pray for our families, our friends and our church and ministry leaders this week that they will be strengthen in the Lord and able to stand to persevere in His will.  United with you in Him!  God bless you all!

Eph 6:18; Lk 22:31; Ja 5:13-20; Mt 16:13-19; 1 Pe 5:8

Burma Update Now Home

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The people of Burma and their land is unlike any place on earth, but the problems they face are present everywhere.  I could tell many stories from my 24 days of travel there, but if there is a message in all of it, this is it. Our greatest calling is to live in oneness with God and man.  In order for us to do this in a fallen world, we must know how to live out what is written on the shirt that every “Free Burma Ranger” wears.
   It says: “Unite and work for freedom, justice and peace. Forgive and don’t hate each other. Pray with faith, act with courage, never surrender.” This would only be a nice sediment if I hadn’t seen and felt what is happening through this family of courageous Kingdom warriors.  The following story was my greatest moment in Myanmar as I witnessed the heart of Jesus and the Eubank family (Dave, Karen, Sahale, Suu, and Peter and thousands of Burmese ethnics):
I got up early to have a bowl of rice and hear a five-minute brief from Dave Eubank as he made sure we all knew what to do as we made the two-hour walk into the enemies’ camp.  It was a mission that would give these newly-trained Free Burma Rangers their first real look at the very army that  had burned their homes, raped their women and killed their families.  As we began to walk, I had a sense of wonder of what was going on in the hearts of these young brave men and women as they marched directly toward the army they had been fleeing their whole life.  As we approached the place where we would get a look at the camp, the troops were silent and steady.  Our pace was just shy of a jog and their was an anticipation that felt more like I was walking into a fight than approaching a lookout point.  When we arrived, I watched the veterans set up to take videos and pictures and watched the new rangers stare with wonder.  We were close enough to hear the Burmese armies’ voices and the sounds of their illegal construction work. After they had all the footage needed, Dave signaled for everyone to gather around.  What happened next changed me forever.  These people that had just looked upon their enemy, got on their knees in the dirt and in the Karen language prayed two requests to our Father.  1) Show this enemy of ours mercy and not judgement as you have shown each of us mercy.  2)  Help us stop these people from doing wrong.  In Jesus’ name!
I don’t know what is troubling you, but I encourage you to gain a Kingdom perspective on the battle we are in.  It  is not battle against your perpetrator.  Is is a battle against hate and a battle for love.  Go rangers!  Never surrender!
Changed,
Todd

A Servant

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Moments with My Father ~

 

Have you ever thought about what you want to be in life?  Often as the new year rolls around after Christmas, people begin to think about plans for the next year and what they want to carry out in life.  Wow! The world has so many different opportunities and a person can actually see many years in and out, trying new things to find joy and excitement and to live their dreams in their lives.  Sometimes what we set out to be or do though, ends up suddenly changing and we find ourselves with new unexpected plans.  Mary had this kind of surprise in her life when she was told that our Father had a different plan in mind for her than what she had ever thought of and I have to say I marvel at her attitude as she said “I am the Lord’s servant.”  Her love for the Lord was such that she trusted in Him to lead her through life in the very best of ways.  His will was her plan for serving Him! This sounds like a pretty good gift to our Lord as we think about what to give Him this Christmas.  I’m joining you in looking to Him in prayer as we contemplate the year ahead and ponder how our Father might want us to serve Him.   I’m seeking to do so with a Mary attitude!  May His blessings be upon ya as you go and do as well!

Lk 1:38; Jer 29:11; Ro 12:1-2; Ja 4:13-15; Php 2:12-13

Vehicle Repairs

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Moments with My Father ~

 

Woohoo!  I’m traveling the road of life our Father has me on today in this ‘ole body or vehicle He has given to me to travel in and in thinking about His Word today, I have this thought:  I have been given this vehicle to travel life in and I realize our Father is a lot like an auto mechanic in my life. If you ever had a problem with the proper working of a vehicle, you know it can be frustrating until it finally gets figured out.  Well, when it comes to ourselves as vehicles traveling the road of life, our Father is the mechanic that knows exactly what we need to get us all fixed up and running properly.  His Word tells us to cast our cares on Him for He cares for us.  When we tell Him “See if there is any offensive way in me and ask Him to lead us in the way everlasting,” He is faithful to show us.  If we are downcast, He will give us hope when we seek Him out.  He loves us each just as we are, but sees the potential in all of us and believes we can be real “fixer-uppers”  when we are in need of repair or even just refueled.  I chuckle as I think about the difference our Father can make in a person – to the point they are often asked “Wow!  What happened to you?”  when someone sees the transformation in a person after our Father has done a work in their lives.  So, I ask you as I ask myself, got issues?  I’m thinking the best place to take them is to our Father’s fix-it shop.  There are people around that can help us find Him if needed, but basically, you get there by taking the road of prayer, the avenue of Bible Study and getting onto “Holy Spirit’s way!”  When we seek Him out, He can get us up and running at our best and in great shape to make it to the end of the journey.  Well, gotta motor on down the road!  Our Father’s best to you!

Ps 1:1, 42:5, 73:24,139:23-24; Pr 20:18; 1 Pe 5:7; Php 4:6-7; Jn 14:16; Ro 12:2; 1 Co 9:24; Heb 12:1-3; Gal 5:25

Love Is…

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Moments with My Father ~

 

I love it that we have a brand new day as our Father’s kids and I know from reading His Word that it is our Father’s will that His children love one another.  Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind. He then said the second commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves.  However, different people have different ways of thinking as to what makes them feel loved and what is love.   To truly love someone well, it takes time to know them.  Experience is a great teacher!  As time goes on, you learn more and more what blesses them and what hurts them, but the best way to love them is with Godly love. Have you ever wondered what it means to love someone with Godly love?  Our Father tells us “This is how we know what love is:  Jesus Christ laid down His life for us.  And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers (and sisters).”  In other words, be willing to  sacrifice to love others.  If someone sees their brother or sister in need and has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in them?  Sometimes, though, it can be difficult to truly understand needs – what is best?  It can also be confusing in how to love someone as sometimes we can have overly sensitive consciences and we also have one called the “accuser” who is the Devil who is always placing doubt, guilt and thoughts of failure before us.  Given all of this, there can be the questions of what to do to love someone and are we loving someone too much this way or too little another?  So how do we deal with all that?  Our Father tells us that He is greater than our hearts when they condemn us. He knows everything.   We can rest ourselves in God’s love for us and live in that love and by that love.  His Holy Spirit is our Counselor who lives in us, whose job is to teach us.  He is Truth.  His Word and His Truth are greater than our feelings or our overly sensitive conscience and gives us what we need to resist the Devil. Our Father says that we know He lives in us by the Spirit He gave us who calls out “Abba, Father.”   When we became a believer, we were sealed with His Holy Spirit.  So when in doubt how to love someone, the best thing to do is to ask our Father’s Spirit to guide us. He tells us that if anybody lacks wisdom, they should ask of Him in faith and it will be provided generously without finding fault.  Also, when we ask of Him in accordance with His will (His will is to love with Godly love), He hears us and if He hears us, then we know we have what we asked of Him.  Now that’s a promise that provides me all kinds of confidence to be able to love well the people in my life.   Woohoo!  I’m trusting Him for His Godly love to flow through us all today!  It’s a Godly love thing!

 

1 Jn 3:11-24, 4:7,13, 5:14-15; Ro 12:2; 14:16-17; 2 Co 1:21-22; He 4:16; Eph 1:13; Gal 4:6

The Miracle Worker

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Moments with My Father ~

 

Good day to you!  It is a new adventure today with our Father and just the fact that we are able to share this time together is a downright miracle!  How amazing is that?  Each one of us as we sit studying these thoughts are actually multi-tasking, in that we are at  the same time experiencing many miracles taking place not only in our bodies, but in the world around us.  While we as humans struggle over the possibility for us to be able to carry out the performance of a miracle, miracles are an every second occurrence in the work of our Father.  They are not a problem or concern to Him at all!  Jesus was the same way.  Can you imagine being Jesus and having to prove that you were God by performing miracles and that all of mankind’s salvation hinged on His ability to do miracles so people would believe?  You or I left to ourselves would be “up a creek without a paddle”  and headed straight for a waterfall that would drop us to our death. Yikes!!!  I don’t suppose many would believe in us in the end. The Good News is that we have not been left to ourselves!  Jesus became a man and walked upon this earth just as we do and He was someone who had great faith.  We see this all throughout His life how He with His Father in Him turned water into wine, gave blind men their sight, healed illnesses and diseases, provided abundance where there was too little, walked on water, rode a colt that was never ridden and doing so without a rodeo, changed murderers into saints and raised Lazarus from the dead.  We see the evidence of His faith in His words spoken to the people watching just before He raised Lazarus.  He said “Did I not tell you that if you believed, that you would see the glory of God?”  He then thanked His Father for hearing His prayer and in so many words told His Father, I knew all along that you heard my prayer – no doubts here that you are going to do a miracle.  I’m only saying this for the sake of the people that they might believe that You sent Me.  The scenario before Him, of Lazarus being dead in the tomb was a stretch of faith for Martha.  She saw the bleak circumstances, the possibility of the impossibility of a miracle.  For the stone to be removed from the entrance of the tomb was a step of faith.  As a result of this step of faith, a miracle happened and the glory of the Lord was revealed just as Jesus believed all along.  As I reflect upon this story, I ask myself and I ask you what might be happening in your life today where a stone of doubt needs to be rolled away revealing an entrance of faith for a miracle to be presented?  Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, but as He hung on the cross, people mocked Him for not being able to save Himself from death, but you know what?  They were wrong!  Woohoo!  Our Father raised Him from the dead and another miracle happening in our lives today is that Jesus is interceding or praying with complete faith to His Father concerning our lives.  Even when we do not know what to pray, His Spirit in us groans out in faith, believing in our Father to do great miracles as He is doing this very moment.  God in us makes each one of us a miracle worker.  It’s a miracle!  I’m stepping out with you in miraculous faith today, knowing our Father will be faithful to do great things.  How exciting is that?

 

Jn 2:1-11, 4:43-5:15, 11:38-44, 14:8-14; He 2:3-4; Mk 11:1-11; Mt 14:13-36; 14-27:41-44; Ro 8:26-39; Ac 2:14-41, 9:1-31

Christian Wrestlers

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Moments with My Father

 

I am all fired up this morning after reading about our brother Epaphras who was a famous wrestler.  Even his name is something to wrestle with  – amen?  He was made famous by Paul’s mention of him because Paul says that he “wrestled”  in prayer for the Colossians that they would be able to stand firm in the will of God.  Wow!  I guess this concept really brings out the point to me that we are in a spiritual war as His saints and we have brothers and sisters fighting the enemy.  I visualize the enemy having them down on the ground attempting to gain the victory.  Will we just stand by and watch?  May it not be!  It is up to us to wrestle him away from those we love so they can stand up firm in the will of our Father, mature and fully assured as it says was Epaphras’ prayer for the Colossians.  So I’m asking myself and I also ask you, who is the Lord laying on your heart right now that is struggling with the enemy?  My heart is burdened to take some time today to wrestle the enemy away from them by praying for them.  Let’s help each other to stand strong in the Lord!  Much love to you all ~

 

Col 4:12

The Car Wash

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Moments with My Father

 

Good morning to you! As I gaze upon our Father’s Word today, it is on my heart to write about the importance of putting off our old self which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires and to be made new in the attitude of our minds – to put on the new self created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. This is a message we have all heard before, meaning our old self is the sinful nature that lives within us, for which Christ died on the cross. This old nature within us misleads us from God’s ways and cheats us from seeing life at His best. Our Father mentions “attitude” of our minds in this passage. The attitude of our old self is one of worry, complaining and grumbling. Upon believing, He has placed His Holy Spirit in us to help us live our new self, to be like Him that is not anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, presenting our requests to God. And then the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things. “Attitude” is something we can all struggle with and a bad attitude is certainly something to work on. I like to think about it this way: When our attitude is bad, we need to think “going to the car wash.” Say what? Yep, I said “car wash.” After all, we are God’s vehicles, so to speak, that carries His Spirit that carries the Good News along the road of life. Our vehicles have a tendency to collect dirt and be unclean (due to our sinful nature). As a result, the view through the front window (our sight) can become clouded over so that we do not see well the way of the Lord. This calls for the need to hose off with His living water (the Spirit in us), to apply the scrubbing bubbles called “Gratitude” as you follow the Word instructions (the Bible) so as to dissolve away the muck of our sinful attitude and then, use prayer wax to help guard (our mind and heart) and the cleanliness and shininess of Him in us (the new self) will be the result. We can then head out onto the road of life with peace of mind and His ride into the world through us will represent Him well. I’m thinking toting a good amount of change is a good thing to do. How about you? See ya on the road. I can do that well with a clean window (a Godly view)!
Eph 4:1,22-24; Php 2:14-16, 4:6-8; Mt 6:25; 1 Co 3:16; 2 Co 5:20-21, Ro 12:2