Fact or Fiction? God Spot or Not?

“All the time that Peter was under heavy guard in the jailhouse, the church prayed for him most strenuously…

Suddenly there was an angel at his side and light flooding the room. The angel shook Peter and got him up: "Hurry!" The handcuffs fell off his wrists. The angel said, "Get dressed. Put on your shoes." Peter did it. Then, "Grab your coat and let’s get out of here." Peter followed him, but didn’t believe it was really an angel—he thought he was dreaming.

Past the first guard and then the second, they came to the iron gate that led into the city. It swung open before them on its own, and they were out on the street, free as the breeze.”

I was chatting on-line with a person yesterday who said they had lost their faith.  They didn’t believe the Bible anymore and felt like that was the truth.  I wonder why it is we believe what we believe?

It seems that even as Peter had an angel that encouraged him to believe in circumstances that appeared to only be a dream, we were sent the Holy Spirit so that we would believe.

The difficulty for those that don’t perceive the presence of the Holy Spirit is believing without seeing.  That is called faith.  In the midst of living life, our faith is challenged when God doesn’t perform to our expectations.  We conclude there must not be a God.

Oddly enough, it is those same circumstances that pulled us away from God that could have drawn us closer.  The missing ingredient is faith.  Without faith, it is unlikely you will know the presence of the Holy Spirit.  It all comes down to believing in what you don’t see such that you can see.

God is amazing!

When God Rejects Us

GUEST POST by: Marianne

We pray for legitimate help.   We wait, and there is nothing……..

Why?

Those who insist that every prayer is met with victory, if you pray hard enough, or tithe long enough, are wrong.

Jesus prayed to avoid the cross, but he died on it anyhow. The apostles were faithful in prayer, yet most were also crucified, as Jesus was, or put to death for their faith.

People get depressed when God does not seem to answer, or His answer is obviously “no.”

Sometimes God helps, sometimes He doesn’t. Why?

I have found that the longer I know the Lord, the less He helps me.

That does seem opposite of what I would expect.

But as I mature in faith, my faith is tested more. And I have to wait longer for anything, if I am to get it at all. God is present to help me grow in faith. If he answers too quickly, then my faith stays where it is at.

Many of us have legitimate situations. We are in serious difficulty: unemployed for years, out of money, terminal illness, etc.

We have to accept the reality of our situation.

If it is meant to be cured, then it will. If it goes on too long, we will die because of the situation.

Sometimes, we do not get another job in time, before we lose our house, and sometimes we do not survive cancer.

But this is the time to draw closer to God anyhow, because he may be all we have left. We need to also accept that it is not God rejecting our prayers for help.

God gives life and he takes it away. Our life is in His hands.

Maybe it is our time to go and be with Him.

Our heavenly reward will not be based on our success in life, or how well we got God to answer our prayers, or quickly overcoming an earthly problem.

It will be based on our faithfulness during a testing time, when God does not give us what we want.

It is the dark times when we are nothing, our life is nothing, and we have nothing, that we earn our crowns.

So when you see this happening to you, just look up to Him. He is watching you grow, and he knows the pain you are in.

He has allowed it, so that you will not only come to know Him and His sufferings, but also a greater weight of glory when you meet Him.

Do not give up. Be encouraged. God is not rejecting you.

You are closer to Him now, than you ever have been before. No matter how hard it is, just rest in Him.

Paid with GOLD! Winner or Loser?

   Peter,

   John,

   James,

   Andrew,

   Philip,

   Thomas,

   Bartholomew,

   Matthew,

   James, son of Alphaeus,

   Simon the Zealot,

    Judas, son of James

“They nominated two: Joseph Barsabbas, nicknamed Justus, and Matthias. Then they prayed, “You, O God, know every one of us inside and out. Make plain which of these two men you choose to take the place in this ministry and leadership that Judas threw away in order to go his own way.” They then drew straws. Matthias won and was counted in with the eleven apostles.”

Judas got the gold and died spilling his guts on the ground purchased with his gold.  The men left behind suffered hell on earth.  Who was the winner?  Who was the loser? Are you a winner or loser for the cause of Christ?

Winner or Loser?  At work you say, “Jesus is Lord and is the only way.”  You are fired for sharing Christ. 

Winner or Loser?  At your family’s Super Bowl, everyone is getting drunk and enjoying the effects of alcohol and drugs.  You are critized and called names because you choose to stay sober. 

Winner or Loser?  At lunch with your friends you bow you head and thank God for all He has blessed you with.  You are laughed at. 

Winner or Loser?  Every 60 minutes your beeper goes off.  You turn your thought to Christ.  The people around you get a chuckle out of your foolishness.

Do you get it? God makes the rules of the game. We choose whether to follow them. Judas chose. Judas paid. The desciples chose. The desciples paid.

You are in the game. God has made the rules. It’s not whether you will play the game. We all play. It is about what your choice will be.

James Harrison T-Shirt – What will you pay?

How much will you pay for an authentic James Harrison Superbowl record breaker T-Shirt?  I think this shirt may have been worn during the Super Bowl game and James made his record breaking touch down.  I think the guy that has this shirt stole it off his back while he was in the shower.

 Or possibly you’d like to bid on Aretha’s hat she recently wore at the Oh’Bama inaugeration.  She says she’s not sure if she is going to let the Smithsonian Institute have it.

 

And if nothing else you could always bid on Michael Swim Phelps’s hooka pipe.  He says he used bad judgement.  Probably thought the pipe was a bad fit for his teeth.

Or possibly my dirty socks. 

I don’t know.  I guess the Super Bowl brings out the best or worst in me.  Sigh…

 

Which item will bring the best price on ebay?

You do! I would never!

 What ever happened to love?  Remember the first time you looked in your Love’s eyes and saw the gentleness and peace of returned love.  Remember when there was nothing you wouldn’t do for your life mate?  Remember the kind words exchanged and that good morning kiss? What happened?

You worked hard to provide for the family.  Long hours at your profession or striving to keep the home pulled together while the world pulled it apart.  Running, constantly running from one sports event to another.  What happened to the love?

Somewhere in the mix of life, faithfulness slipped away.  There just wasn’t time for God if you were going to accomplish the things that were admirable and important.  Slowly, it became harder to spend time with a Father that was so distant.  It wasn’t long before you shoved Him in the back of your thoughts and quit caring.

Do you want your love back?  Return to your 1st love and love will return to you. 

Do this.  Buy the New Testament version of the Bible known as “The Message” and read it straight through cover to cover as fast as you can.  Write in the margins everything that comes to your mind. 

Read fast.  Write fast.  Don’t let anything slow you down or prevent you from consuming the Word.  Open your body, soul and spirit to God.  Somewhere,  sometime during the read you will find your 1st love.  Love will return to you.  It’s that simple. 

It only takes a few days to consume a good book.  The Message is THE good book.  It took me less than 30 days to read it the first time while I worked a full time job.   If your marriage has lost its love.  Read the book and then read it again.  You will find love.  Guaranteed.  But do you really care?

“Do you think their faithlessness cancels out his faithfulness? Not on your life! Depend on it: God keeps his word even when the whole world is lying through its teeth.” Paul

Till Death Do Us Part

Till death do us part… Excuse me!  But what does that mean?  Does it mean I will stick with you as long as I “FEEL” like I love you? Does it mean I will be faithful as long as you stay young and perky?  OR does it mean I will stay faithful and love you until death separates us?

Believers in our church are beginning a movement to turn our eyes and hearts to God every 60 minutes for 60 days.  God has impressed me that for now, I am to pray for specific marriages.  These couples include friends, family and even a new friend reqesting prayer in Barbados. 

Something really profound happened today.  A friend called today and said he was bringing his wife to town as a surprise and wondered if we could meet for dinner at the River Walk.  We hadn’t seen each other for years and he reminded me that they were in a marriage enrichment class we taught 10 or 15 years, ago. 

Our meeting was not a coincidence.  It was God reminding me.  The battle for marriages is worth the fight.  If I can pray for you or a friend of yours, let me know.  I will be honored to add your choice to my list.  God is in the miracle working business for those that love Him.

I look forward sharing some incredible “God Spots” with you as God rescues marriages!

God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are One.

^“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1

I’m up in the middle of the night, because I just had the most vivid dream of a life time.  I dreamed I had a poisonous snake trapped in a box and periodically I would let it out of the box.  The snake would then come after me.  It would stalk me and look for an opportunity to strike. 

I would beat it into summission if I could.  It would end up back in the box until I released it again.  Each time it got stronger and more difficult to subdue.  I woke up and begin repeating the name of Jesus over and over until my adrenalin eased and my heart stopped racing.

This has never happened before.  I believe I was visited by the evil one.  He was beaten by Jesus.

I believe this to be a revelation from God requiring soul searching for what in my life is of the evil one, that I periodically take out of the box, only to be stalked. 

I believe there are those of you out there that are reading this that are doing the same thing.  Without Jesus, you will never beat satan.

Thank you Jesus for being there for me in a time of need.

Jesus movement died… again.

Have you noticed there seems to be an awakening among America’s younger generation for the plight of the poor and destitute? It wasn’t that long ago when there was a movement among the youth that changed the world.  It began with the hippy movement and gave birth to the Jesus movement.

“The Jesus movement was the major Christian element within the hippie counterculture, or, conversely, the major hippie element within some strands of Protestantism. Members of the movement were called Jesus people, or Jesus freaks. The movement arose on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s and spread primarily through North America and Europe, before dying out by the early 1980s”.  Wikipedia

I wonder if the youth of today have the strength of voice that the youth of the ’70s had.  Will they stand up with a voice and pay a price or be pressed down and enjoy the fruits of complacency?  Time will tell.

I love odd people

“They went, and while still on their way, became clean. One of them, when he realized that he was healed, turned around and came back, shouting his gratitude, glorifying God. He kneeled at Jesus’ feet, so grateful. He couldn’t thank him enough—and he was a Samaritan.”  That’s a bit odd.

I love odd people.  I suppose it is because I am a bit odd myself.  I feel at home with odd people.  My dad was an odd person.  I loved my dad.  What is it about odd people that make my day?

I think maybe it is because they love life.  They appreciate what God has done for them and are confident enough in their identity to just be themself.  While most of the world looks at them and giggles behind their back, they have a smile and beauty that maybe only they appreciate.  They love God.

When I was a research scientist, I had a friend who wore different color socks.  He had more interesting things going on in his head than worrying about the color of his socks.  I had a mathmatician friend that took his toothbrush for a walk on a string.  I had another scientist friend who was comfortable peeling his toenails in the middle of a party.  These people were all brilliantly odd and didn’t fit in.  They were modern day Samaritans.

Samaritans don’t fit in, but do great things.  Wouldn’t you like the confidence to be a modern day Samaritan?

Be Prepared For Struggle

Cora and I have a passion for marriage. We know it is God’s will and purpose for all marriages to be fruitful and the partners enjoy an abundant life. It is heart breaking to see the results of failed marriages. There was a time in our ministry we hosted small groups of couples in our home to share what God was doing in our marriage. We wanted others to know they too could struggle and also enjoy a fruitful relationship with their spouse.

During the start-up of a new couples group, we warned everyone to get ready for a struggle. Satan would not like us to work toward a closer walk with God and subsequent closer marriage relationship. We knew this to be the case from warnings provided in the Word and our own experiences in life. To everyone’s surprise, I lost a great job the very next week. Everyone was blown away by our experience. Cora and I knew struggles come with stepping out for God and expected distractions to come. No big deal. Just life.

When have you stepped up to the plate, prepared to deliver a home run, only to have circumstances blind side you?

“You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom.” Matt 5:10