We are never too old to learn, and right at this point in my life I am overjoyed for that.

 

I have hidden away from life much of the past several years due to the scars and wounds from being a victim of spousal abuse.

I have been divorced for 8 years, and although that is not the subject of this blog posting, I wanted to put that out there first so some of you have a little background on why I am praising the Lord for monumental steps in my life.

 

I have separated my emotions from most things as a form of defense, to block out any more unpleasantness. I knew I was not living my life the way the Lord was calling me to do. I was allowing fear from the past to cloud my mind and put this wall up around me.

 

On January 3, 2013 we received a call from back home in Ohio, that my stepson (my current husband's son) had been involved in a car accident and was life- flighted to a trauma hospital. He had a tear in his aorta, which was found once arriving, it is common for that type of injury in most car accidents, if he had not been life- flighted he would have bled out at the scene.  The decision was made to call in a helicopter because he had told the medics he could not feel his legs. That terrible tragedy saved his life.

 

I also have two son's myself from my previous marriage, and my oldest son Rob has Muscular Dystrophy, he is currently living in Ohio in a small apartment, not ideal living conditions to say the least.

 

Fast forward to today, and after much pondering and praying, my husband and I feel led to bring them both out to Idaho where we currently live. The Lord has healed my scars and pain from the past and opening my heart more and more every day, allowing me to genuinely feel His love and to share His love with others.

 

We are not being heroic and we are not special, we are listening to the voice of our Lord and being obedient to His call, that our  and His children need our support and care.

 

Opening up and loving unconditionally is something reached only through Jesus Christ, we are unable to. If you still hurt or have scars from your past, and are withholding feelings turn to the Father for complete healing, and allow Him to nuture you back to health and to the kind of person He wants you to be.

A great posting, worth the read.


http://www.bereanwife.net/2008/07/ten-christians-god-will-not-allow-into-heaven/

Seek the Kingdom of God

A verse every Christian should commit to memory is Matthew 6:33: “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

What does it mean to seek first the kingdom of God? God’s kingdom is the rule and reign of Christ in our lives. Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done. On earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). This is praying for a day when God will bring heaven to earth and will bring His rule on this planet. God still has a plan for planet Earth. He will rule and reign here, and as believers, we will rule and reign with Him. So that is in the future.

But when we pray, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done. On earth as it is in heaven,” we are also praying for the rule and reign of the kingdom of God in our lives. This is when Jesus is in charge. On one occasion Jesus said, “For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21), where He was speaking of himself. When you are under His lordship, and when He is in control of your life, that is the kingdom of God. It is not rules and regulations, but “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17).

Have you, as a Christian, surrendered your life to Christ? Have you said, “Lord, I want Your will more than I want my own will. I am willing to surrender to You now”? Because you cannot pray, “Your kingdom come” until you first pray, “My kingdom go.” Have you done that yet?

A lack of faith can bring a lot of anxiety into our lives. So instead of worrying, we should put God and His will first in our lives. “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

Taken from “First Things First” by Harvest Ministries (used by permission). From Jesus.org

Psalm 23 by Justin Alfred

Psalm 23:3: “He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”




Two things that we immediately see in this verse is God’s sovereignty and His incredible grace and mercy toward us, His children.

He restores continually



The word for “He restores” in Hebrew is יְשֹׁובֵב (yĕšôbēb), and it is what is called a Polel verb form, which, like the Piel, emphasizes intensive action. In addition, this Polel verb is also in the imperfect tense, indicating an ongoing, continuous action. The root form of the verb is שׁוּב (šûb), and it means “to turn back, return, bring back, retore, refresh, and take back” – thus, as presented here in this inspired Psalm of David, God is the one, not us, who for His children is intensively “turning us back, bringing us back, restoring, refreshing, and taking us back” to a place of spiritual life and health in which our “soul” (i.e., our deepest, inner most spiritual, mental, and emotional being) is replenished with His eternal and life giving presence and truth.

God causes us to be guided



In addition to that, “He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake,” and this too is a reinforced picture of His sovereign grace and mercy as “He causes me to be guided in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” I put in italics the words “causes to be” because this is the expression of the Hebrew verb that is used here, which is יַֽנְחֵנִי (yanḥēnî) from the root נָחָה (nāḥâ), and it is in the Hiphil form, which, as stated above, emphasizes causative action. Thus, God is the one “causing me to be guided in the paths of righteousness,” not me by my own independent thinking and will, which thinking and will, apart from His sovereign grace and intervention, always lead me into self-destructive paths, versus His “paths of righteousness.” The word used here for “paths” comes from the Hebrew noun מַעְגָּל (ma’gāl), which in actuality is “an entrenchment caused by wagon wheels,” thus, these are wagon tracks.

A narrow path of righteousness



Consequently, these “paths” that God is causing us to walk in are narrow and specific because therein is the way to true life, versus an indulgent, all embracing, and inclusive view of beliefs and lifestyles that places no restrictions on one’s natural desires, narcissism, and self-deifying pride. In fact, we find this verse in harmony with what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel: “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it. 14 “For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). Jesus is certainly speaking about salvation and a true relationship with God as one’s heavenly Father, but He is also pointing to the walk of “life” that follows one’s salvation. This latter is the way of “holiness” and separation unto the Lord and separation from the very debilitating, deceptive, and self-destructive alternatives of the world’s ‘false life’ that are ever before us. We also see this very same truth enunciated in Hebrews with regard to God’s “discipline” of His children:



You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; 5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, Nor faint when you are reproved by Him; 6 For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives.” 7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness. 11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

(Hebrews 12:4-11)



The righteousness of Jesus Christ



The “righteousness” mentioned in verse 11 above is not a righteousness of our own, because we have NONE AT ALL (Isaiah 64:6), but rather it is the righteousness of God residing in us as believers through Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is His righteousness that is producing this “peaceful fruit of righteousness” within us, and it comes as a result of having been “trained” by His loving and corrective “discipline,” which includes learning to surrender to His Lordship and obey His guiding voice in our lives:


He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).


And He was saying to them all, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. 24 For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it’” (Luke 9:23-24).



Therefore, as we surrender to the Lordship of Jesus on a daily basis, and having been brought to that place of surrender through God’s loving “discipline,” then we will indeed begin to see His “peaceful fruit of righteousness” budding in our lives.

STILL The Greatest Story Ever Told

By Jack Kinsella



Good Friday is the day Christians commemorate the single most horrific event in human history -- the day that mankind turned on and murdered his Creator. But that murderous event was NOT the event that brought about our redemption. Instead, it sealed our guilt.


If Jesus Christ had remained in the grave, we would still be dead in our sins.


"And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins." (1 Corinthians 15:17)


The Crucifixion of Jesus Christ was intended to be the end of the story. At least, that is the way that Satan and his minions had it planned:


"Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." (1 Corinthians 2:8)


A few years back, then-Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey published a book entitled, "Jesus 2000" in which the Archbishop argued it wouldn't matter if that was where the story ends or not.


"Unlike the birth of Christ and the crucifixion," he says, "Christians cannot know with the same certainty that He was resurrected. . I can tell you frankly that while we can be absolutely sure that Jesus lived and that He was crucified on the Cross, we cannot know that He was raised by God from the dead."


Was he right? Is the Resurrection unknowable, apart from blind faith? Was Jesus a man Who, in the words of secular historian Josephus, 'did many amazing works' before being judged a political criminal and executed by Crucifixion, but wasn't literally resurrected?


There is plenty of historical evidence attesting to an historical Jesus. Is it possible that He was merely a wise man, and a good teacher, or, as the Koran claims, even a prophet. Was the Resurrection really a legend tacked on later by His followers?


Most Christians I know have admitted a momentary twinge of doubt at some point, wondering if it were at least POSSIBLE that guys like Archbishop Carey might be right.


That the Resurrection, if not an outright hoax, was a sincere effort on behalf of His followers to keep His teachings in the spotlight after His shocking and early death?


After all, it isn't uncommon for the Jews to carefully record and revere the words of the great sages of history, like Maimondes or Ramban, the author of the Mishneh Torah.


Is it possible to be a Christian and question whether Jesus was raised from the dead? If Jesus lived and died but was not resurrected, would His Death be enough to secure our redemption? In a word, no.


And Archbishop Carey is wrong when he says that there is no way to know with certainty that He was resurrected. And it makes a BIG difference.


"And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain." (1st Corinthians 15:14)


If Jesus Christ was not resurrected from the grave, then, by Paul's own admission, our faith is in vain. Our faith is NOT in the fact Jesus lived and died. Every man that ever lived has died. Or will die. There is nothing special about death.


"And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:" (Hebrews 9:27)


The fact that Jesus died on the Cross means, first and foremost, that Jesus was an ordinary man. He lived an extraordinary life. But He died, which is the epitome of ordinary.


We all die. Death is the penalty for Adam's sin. When Jesus died, the hounds of hell rejoiced because it reduced Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory, to the status of ordinary manhood. Indeed, if former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey is right, then the Greatest Story Ever Told should have ended at His grave.


And so it would have. And since the two greatest earthly authorities in Judea at that time wanted the story to end there, it should have.

Assessment:

The Sanhedrin controlled every aspect of Jewish religious life, while the Romans controlled every aspect of secular life.


The reason the Jews took Jesus to Pilate to be put to death was to put an end to the "Jesus movement". The reason Pilate agreed was to prevent a rebellion. Both had every reason to insist that Jesus died on Calvary and was buried, once and for all.


The death of Jesus was a major political event. As a consequence, so many security precautions were taken with the trial, crucifixion, burial, entombment, sealing, and guarding of Christ's tomb that the circumstances would be well publicized throughout the Jewish community.


Jesus' tomb was sealed with a Roman seal. The penalty for breaking it was crucifixion. The Apostles had proved themselves no heroes so far. All had abandoned Him and Peter denied Him three times. It is unlikely they would risk breaking a Roman seal to perpetuate a hoax.


When they found the empty tomb, the disciples didn't fan out to the far reaches of the Empire with their story. They went straight back to Jerusalem. If their claim was false, it would be the last place to try and preach it.


The story wouldn't have lasted a single day in Jerusalem if the empty tomb were not already an established fact.


In addition to the claims of the Apostles, both Roman and Jewish records of antiquity admit an empty tomb. People could come and see it was empty for themselves. They could see the stone that had been rolled back.


Coming as it does from such hostile sources, it adds even greater weight to the historical evidence.


The tomb was not just sealed with the seal of Rome, it was sealed with a two and a half ton boulder and guarded by Roman soldiers. If they WERE asleep (a death penalty offense) then somebody would have had to have quietly moved a 5,000 pound boulder without waking them.


Inside the empty tomb were the grave clothes, still bearing the form of a body, but empty. That precludes any possibility that Jesus was entombed alive and that He somehow escaped.


It also eliminates any possibility that His Body was stolen. In either case, the graveclothes would have to be unwrapped. Instead, they lay there as if the contents had vanished. The burial napkin was neatly folded beside where His head should have been.


The burial napkin sent a message all on its own. In local custom, when the master of the house finished a meal, he would wad up his napkin and throw it on the plate, signalling to his household staff that the meal was over.


If instead, he was excusing himself for some other reason before finishing, he would fold his napkin neatly and lay it beside the plate, signalling to his household staff that "I am coming back."


Then there are the Apostles themselves to consider.

Preaching a resurrected Jesus Christ meant social suicide. They were disowned by their families and their faith, were arrested, imprisoned and ultimately given the choice of a slow, painful execution or admitting they made it up.


"For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His Majesty," writes Peter. (2nd Peter 1:16)


If they KNEW that their 'preaching was in vain' as Paul called it, then they knowingly threw away their lives for nothing. What if it was you? What if you knew Jesus as well as they did? What if you had been with Him and witnessed what they witnessed?


You saw Him heal the sick, raise the dead, give sight to the blind and walk on water. You saw Him ascend into heaven. You heard Him promise you specifically that no matter what happens here, heaven awaits.


Then along comes some despot and says, "if you don't deny what you heard, saw, and experienced, we will send you to Heaven right now!"


So, you KNOW that Jesus did all those things and that He is God. OR -- and this is the BIG ONE -- you KNOW that He did not and is not. You were THERE. You KNOW.


Ok, got that? You KNOW, right? So when you are offered the choice of denying what you know or dying, what do you do?


Before you answer, since you were a witness, remember there are TWO possibilities. In the one possibility, you KNOW He is a fraud. In the other, He MUST be God.


Looked at from that perspective, figuring out which possibility was the right one is easy. Nobody dies to knowingly perpetuate a lie. One guy? Well, maybe he is nuts. But ALL of them?


Jesus Christ was executed at Golgotha in full view of thousands of witnesses. Three days later, He was resurrected bodily and over the course of the next forty days seen alive by thousands more witnesses.


The story of His resurrection was unchallenged by living eyewitnesses, and so profoundly changed them that Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee who despised Christ and persecuted His followers, became the Apostle Paul, the greatest witness to the truth of the Resurrected Jesus. As Paul wrote to his disciple, Timothy,


"For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know Whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day." (2nd Timothy 1:12)


The story was unchallenged because it was true then. And it is true now. He is Risen!


Happy Resurrection Sunday!

KIRK CAMERON AND THE LEFT

By Mike Taylor



I Corinthians 6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, (“gay” people!)



6:10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.



Kirk Cameron made the “politically incorrect” mistake of taking a biblical stance when pressured on a recent interview by a liberal commentator on CNN, one Pier Morgan who steered the conversation away from what Mr. Cameron was there for, which was plugging his new movie film, “Monumental: In Search of America’s National Treasure,” onto the left’s favorite talking point and badgered Kirk into answering to his views about homosexuality. How is a bible believing Christian to react and answer that question? They answer it just like Kirk Cameron did. He answered it from his bible. His remark told CNN’s http://godfatherpolitics.com/tag/piers-morgan/ Pier Morgan that marriage “was defined in the garden between Adam and Eve — one man, one woman for life.” He added that in his view, homosexuality is “socially destructive,” “unnatural,” “detrimental, and ultimately destructive to so many of the foundations of civilization.”



Immediately, the left was in an uproar. Hollywood and the gay community was on the attack mode. You can just imagine the vitriol that came from the lips of men and women who revel in unrigheousness and call good evil, and evil good. Isaiah,



5:20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!



5:21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!



The result?



5:24 Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom go up like dust; for they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts, and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.



God has warned us through His Word that the days would be as Sodom and Gomorrah in these last days. The tell tale sign of a society in decay and in decline is the sin of homosexuality and all sexual perversion that ultimately destroys any society. Jesus warned that the days would grow more ungodly as the time approached for His sudden appearing in the clouds of His Glory for the redemption of His Church.



“But of that day and hour no one knows, no, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.” Matthew 24:36-39.



Brethren, we are fighting a tsunami of social perversion that is trying to sweep over us. People like Kirk Cameron are the visible proponents of Christian living and opponents of the New Age morality that threatens to destroy everything that is good and right in our lives. We each must make our voices heard and take a firm stand against this evil that is trying to silence the majority of us that believe that historically, we were built on Christian values founded on the Ten Commandments and Judeo-Christian principles.



Quoting from the article I read on the stance that Mr. Cameron took on the question about homosexuality and his subsequent bashing by the left, I quote:



“We need to follow Kirk’s example. There is no call to back down from what we know is right. If we stick together on these issues, we can beat back the ideological bullies. One way to do this is to connect with others of like mind. Blog about it. Write your friends. Post on social media networks. Yes, you’ll be criticized. That’s what the Left does. But keep at it. We need to show the bullies that they are not in charge, that their views are minority positions. They get their way because too many conservatives compromise and back down.”



Christians are conservatives by definition, if they adhere to the Bible and its teachings. Why has the rhetoric become so offensive from the Left that they say such awful things that was reported in the article concerning Kirk Cameron’s stance on the issue of homosexuality? II Timothy 3:1-5,



But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!



Folks, it is where this world is headed and is now head long into the jaws of the coming Tribulation. As we grow closer and closer to the hour of the redemption of the Church by our Lord Jesus Christ, the hatred of anything that is pure and moral, that’s Christian and supported by the Words of your Bible, will grow louder and louder with more lewd and sacrilegious speech by the workers of iniquity and unrighteousness.



On the issue of homosexuality, the world embraces this satanic form of immoral expression. They put it in the category of equality vs. inequality. They try to make it their moral issue to the contradiction of what God wrote down for all of us in these last days for a guide to righteous living. They profane the clear instructions that come from a Holy God that proclaims what is truth and what is a lie. Homosexuality and its embracing is a lie and an abomination before God Almighty, and no amount of political correctness or coercion will change that simple truth. The truth of the bible says: Leviticus:



18:22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.



Paul wrote in Romans,



1:26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: (lesbians)



1:27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. (AIDS)



1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;……



1:32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.



This is the perversion that destroyed Rome from within, and Israel being exiled from the Holy Lands because of them taking on the sins of the people that they had displaced in the Exodus: I Kings 14:24,



14:23 For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree.



14:24 And there were also sodomites in the land: (homosexuals) and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.



Because of the sins of the people that committed such acts, God dispersed Israel for their many sins numerous times into other lands, until modern times according to prophecy brought them back into the land because of the promises God made their forefathers of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God has punished them for becoming like the people they replaced in the Holy Land and failing to becoming a nation of priest, a holy people as a guide to the rest of the world. How are we in this age any less guilty of the same sins that Israel committed in ancient times and caused their eventual downfall? We are not!! God has been merciful to Israel and has not destroyed them completely, but examples in your bible of gentiles doing the same thing received total destruction for their sins, including homosexuality.



The well known story of Sodom and Gomarrah when the Angel of the Lord (messenger) came into the house of Lot to spend the night, starting in Genesis chapter 18:



18:20 Then the LORD said, "Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomor'rah is great and their sin is very grave,



The messengers of the Lord went into Sodom and were given safe haven in the house of Lot, but after they ate and went to bed:



19:4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house;



19:5 and they called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them."



19:6 Lot went out of the door to the men, shut the door after him,



19:7 and said, "I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. Until finally the Messengers of God removed Lot and his family from this den of wickedness:



19:12 Then the men said to Lot, "Have you any one else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or any one you have in the city, bring them out of the place;



19:13 for we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it."



God destroyed these gentile cities for their grievance sins including the sin of homosexuality. Has God changed? Does He turn a blind eye to men who do the same today? Are we like Sodom and Gomorrah? I tell you, God has not changed and we are becoming Sodom and Gomarrah. God will judge a nation who continues to sin willfully like these infamous cities did, to their total destruction. When God removes His church, then the sins that are being done will flourish because there is no restraint from complete debauchery and I foresee the total destruction of America in the near future.



Malachi 3:6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.



Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.



God has NOT changed. He is still the same God, with the same Law, and the same judgments for the sins that we see people like Kirk Cameron stand up and take issue with. He did not compromise and neither should anyone of us. Mr. Cameron identified homosexuality as socially destructive, a detriment and unnatural to society. Has anything changed from the examples in your bible? No, it has not. We need to encourage any soldier of the Word of God that takes a public stand and stand with them. I sent Kirk Cameron an email blessing him for his righteous stand against this abomination before God, and I encourage every reader, each and every Christian that believes the bible to take that stand and encourage Kirk with your show of support. Email Kirk at his email address:



Kirk@monumentalmovie.com



I ask that each of us who fear and loath the sinfulness of what this nation, this world is engaged in, take a stand on blogs, news outlets, commentaries, sermons and face to face witnessing to all who will listen, that we will not be silent. We will not condone or turn a blind eye to the sins of “modern” man and “modern” women who try and force this abomination down our throats. They are powerful in political force, but we are powerful in the Spirit of God. I know that to take this stand in any public forum will result in criticism and emails dripping with sarcasm and condemnation will most undoubtedly come my way. I gladly welcome their outrage that comes from the Left. If I stir up their loathing, then I know I have done well in the sight of God. I fear them not, and neither should any of us, from the individual living a quiet life, to the most public figure in society that takes a stand for righteousness and proclaims truth from the Word of God. Hebrews:



13:6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.



I pray God gives us the courage, the faith, and the Holy Spirit provided strength to make a stand in word and in print for this denouncing of this wave of satanic influenced political power and debauchery. May we all make that commitment to stand before God and say, that I did what was right in the sight of the Lord. Take that stand as Joshua proclaimed in Joshua chapter 24,



24:15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.



This is Pastor Mike Taylor, praying God’s salvation through His Son Jesus Christ, be found in your life. If you have need for prayer, counseling, biblical instruction, or just need a listening ear to your concerns, drop me a line to realteam1999@sbcglobal.net, or visit me online at www.churchofgod-usa.org. God bless you till we meet at Jesus Feet.

Love is Patient

I was involved in a not so great conversation with my son this week, and he said some hurtful things to me, and I know now that most of that was based on resentment and anger because he is hurting over something. I believe we do hurt the ones we love the most, why? Is it because we are expecting that no matter what they will always love us and be there for us. We behave badly and say mean things to our loved one, believing that it will all be fine with an "I'm sorry"

One of the first scriptures I learned was 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. That is the perfect love from a perfect Father. I do not believe any of us are truly capable of that kind of unconditional love unless we belong to Christ, and we learn to love like He loves us. When people are left to their own our emotions can be selfish, we do anger others who love and care for us, and we do keep score on the wrongs someone has done to us. To love like the Lord wants us to we must commit our lives to the Lord, then we must forgive one another because forgiveness is love, in the greatest form. John 13:34-35 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
1 Peter 4:8  Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.