Ryan Callahan's Blog

Hello friends and family.  I hope this post finds you well.  I am writing this today because I am in pain and it is wearing me down.  I have been fighting Celiac and Cachexia for almost eight years now.  The new pain I have been suffering due to intestinal damage has been bad the past few months and it started about a year ago.  It was very painful over the weekend and it has been very painful today and I have had enough.  It is just more suffering on top of suffering and I am crying out to God for healing.  I have asked you all to pray for me many times because it says in the Word to pray for each other that we may be healed.  The doctors have told me they can’t do anything for me.  My trust and hope is in God alone.  He is the only One who can help me.  There is no cure for what I suffer.  The only cure is a miracle.

I am only 41 and most days I feel so broken that I don’t know how I am going to make it the rest of my life.  I am trusting in the Lord because I know He can do anything and nothing is impossible for Him!  He has done miracles in my life before and I know He can do it again!

I am going to be taking a break for awhile.  I don’t know for how long.  I will be taking a break from reading blogs and writing posts.  If you don’t see me on your blog, I’m not ignoring you, I just need to deal with this pain and be in prayer.  I just need rest.

I need to spend quiet time with the Lord.  I am trying to understand what has happened to my life and I am asking God to heal me.  I want to hear His voice clearly and I need to know where to go from here.  I will continue to draw near to Him and seek Him first and I am giving Him my pain and brokenness.  I have done what He asked me to do with publishing my testimony and writing this blog for Him.  May His will be done with it all.

My life is in His hands.  Whether I live or die is in His hands.  Whether I am healed or the thorn remains is in His hands.  All I know is a man can only take so much pain and humiliation and everyone has their breaking point.  I have cried out to God and I have plenty of faith that He can heal me.  I have seen Him move in power and do wonders!  He can do anything at anytime!  May His will be done with my pain and my life!  May His will be done in everything!

Thank you for your prayers!  I hope to be back soon!

Always remember that Jesus is love and He loves you!  I know He still loves me and He is with me even now as I write this through the pain.  I give it all to Jesus, may His will be done!

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Jesus speaking in John 3:16

Grace and peace to you all!

P.S.

October is my salvation month!  I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior in October of 1996 at the age of 18 my freshman year in college.  It has been 23 years now that I have walked with the Lord.  I look forward to writing more about that in October.  See you then!

 

I was reading in the Book of Acts this morning, and I was encouraged by the historical account of Paul and Silas in prison.  It is found in chapter 16 and I am excited to share this section of Scripture with you!  It is incredible what they went through that day and this is just one of the many incredible events in the Bible!  I invite you to read these verses with me and be encouraged by how the Lord works in our lives by the power of the Holy Spirit!

This story takes place when Paul and Silas traveled to Philippi to preach the Gospel.  Philippi was a thriving city in the Roman empire and it was the lead city of that district.  It was also filled with idolatry and violence and it was very dangerous for them to be there preaching about Jesus.

“From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia.  And we stayed there several days.”

Acts 16:12

What is so cool about the New Testament books is that they are very personal letters.  They are personal testimonies and eye witness accounts of what happened during the time of Jesus and what happened after He ascended into Heaven and sent the Holy Spirit to his disciples and all who would believe.  The Book of Acts is a historical record of Jesus ascending to the right hand of the Father in Heaven, the Holy Spirit coming down to earth like fire, how the apostles formed the early church, and how they went out into all the world to share the Gospel in fulfillment of the Great Commission by the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit.  It is filled with amazing miracles and after reading it, you will have a great understanding of what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit and truly follow Jesus!  The same miracles of Acts are still happening today and I have testified to that truth in my own life!  The Lord still sends angels, He still casts out demons, He still does miracles where He brings people back to life, and the Holy Spirit can still sound like a rushing wind, amen!

The author of Acts is commonly believed to be Luke, who also wrote the Book of Luke.  It does not specifically state who wrote Acts in the introduction, but Luke 1:1-4 and Acts 1:1-3 show it was Luke.  It was written sometime between A.D. 61 and 64 only 28 to 31 years after Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead.  Luke was also a doctor (see Colossians 4:14).

“Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word.  Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.”

Luke 1:1-4

“In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.  After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive.  He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.”

Acts 1:1-3

Did you know Jesus stayed with his followers for forty days after He rose from the dead?!  How cool is that?!  That is really cool, and how incredibly comforting that must have been to them!  That is just one of the many awesome things you will learn reading the Book of Acts!

Now that we have the stage set, let’s take a look as Luke shares the true historical account of Paul and Silas in prison:

“Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future.  She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling.  This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.”  She kept this up for many days.  Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!”  At that moment the spirit left her.

When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities.  They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”

The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten.  After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully.  Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.  Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken.  At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose.  The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped.  But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself!  We are all here!”

The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas.  He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved–you and your household.”  Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house.  At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized.  The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God–he and his whole family.

When it was daylight, the magistrates sent their officers to the jailer with the order: “Release those men.”  The jailer told Paul, “The magistrates have ordered that you and Silas be released.  Now you can leave.  Go in peace.”

Acts 16:16-36

What an amazing day Paul and Silas had!  First they cast a demon out of a girl, then they are arrested, stripped naked, beaten, flogged, and imprisoned, then God does a great miracle and shakes the earth for them, then Paul stops the suicide of a Roman guard, and then the guard and his whole family get saved and the man takes care of their wounds and feeds them!  Praise God!

You might wonder why the guard was going to kill himself.  The life of a Roman soldier was hard, brutal, and violent.  He thought the prisoners had escaped, which meant he failed at doing his job.  The penalty for such a mistake would have been death.  If the prisoners had escaped, he was already a dead man, so he was going to end his own life.  Paul had great compassion and love to stay inside the prison, so the man could live!

When the man washed their wounds that they had received from the severe flogging, what kind of wounds did you imagine?  The Roman flogging whip had sharp jagged bones and metal spikes and balls embedded in the whipping strands.  It was not just a whip.  It would literally cut into the person’s back and tear it with every horrible stroke.  They would have had large open gashes all over their backs and they were in excruciating pain.  And that is what happened to them after they were stripped and beaten first!  It was a great blessing that the newly saved Roman guard took care of them with such love and compassion.  The man just about ran his own sword through himself!  What an amazing miracle that he was saved in such a mighty way!

It is so beautiful that Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God while they were in such terrible pain sitting inside a Roman prison cell.  What a powerful testimony as the other prisoners listened to them sing and pray in the power of the Holy Spirit!  What amazing hope and trust in God!

Do you see how powerful the Holy Spirit truly is inside of us?!  Demons still have to flee when they are commanded to get out in the Name of Jesus!  Whether it is the Apostle Paul, or me, or you, those filled with the Holy Spirit have the power of God inside of them!  That is exactly what I said in December of 1996 (just two months after I was saved at the age of 18) when I ran from room to room in my parent’s house casting that demon out!  I said, “I cast you out in the Name of Jesus Christ!”  I had never felt such power inside me before!  The Holy Spirit is so amazing and beautiful and powerful, and trust me when I say that you need to know Jesus Christ to overcome evil!  I love how Paul just turned around and rebuked that evil spirit out of the girl!  So awesome!

What a simple, humble, and powerful question the guard asked Paul and Silas!  What must I do to be saved?  There is only one answer that Paul and Silas gave him: believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved!

That is the only answer that can save us still today!  If you want to go to Heaven, you must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and He will save your soul!  The stories in Acts are all true and similar miraculous events are still happening in our time by the power of the Holy Spirit!  The Lord is still moving in power among us and nothing is impossible for God!

Believe in Jesus today and you will be saved!  That promise is for you, your whole family, and everyone in the whole world!  Jesus loves you!  Just like with the Roman guard, Jesus does not want you to perish!  Jesus cares for you and He died for you, so you could be free from sin and death and have eternal life!  That is why Paul and Silas stayed in the prison!  That is why they could still sing and pray after being beaten so badly!  They had the love, compassion, and strength of Jesus inside of them by the power of the Holy Spirit!  What must you do to be saved?  Believe in Jesus!

“That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

The Apostle Paul in Romans 10:9

It’s just that simple, beautiful, and powerful folks!  The same amazing grace that saved the Roman soldier can save you too!  God can save anyone and no one is ever too far gone to be saved!

Grace and peace to you all!

 

 

 

 

There is a promise in the Bible that is so big it is for entire nations.  You will find it in the Book of Psalms and there is great blessing in obeying what it says.  Most nations do not do what it says, but if any nation does do what it says, it will bring great blessing to that nation.

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the

LORD,

the people he chose for his

inheritance.”

Psalm 33:12

Now we know the Old Testament is talking about Israel and they are “the people” David is writing about.  However, this promise is for any nation whose God is the LORD.  God loved the world so much that He died for us, all of us!  If the nations would just submit to the God of all creation, they would be blessed!  Blessed is the nation who believes in the LORD!

“When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

2 Chronicles 7:13-14

I am crying out to God for my nation and all the nations of the world and asking Him to spread holy revival!  Just as that promise holds great blessing, it also holds a great warning.  When a nation does not glorify the God of all creation and they reject Him, they also reject that great blessing!  “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD!”  It does not say blessed is the nation who believes in a god or gods or atheism or secularism.  It says “whose God is the LORD.”

How can the nations receive that great blessing for their entire nation to be blessed by God?  We must receive Jesus Christ!  Jesus is Lord, He was with God in the beginning, and all things were created through Him!  God came to earth as a man, the Lord Jesus Christ, and He died for us on a cross, so we could be free from sin and death and have eternal life!  When a nation submits to God and accepts His plan of salvation through Jesus, they are grafted into that promise of national blessing!

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Jesus speaking in John 3:16

Here in America, we have been in a serious political fight for a long time.  We are approaching the big 2020 presidential election and we are living in a time where those who don’t believe in God are continually pushing to remove all restraint from depravity and wickedness.  They arrogantly and violently march in the streets calling for sin to rule the day, and they demand that everyone submit to their sinful ideology.  We must stand firm in Christ!  There is no blessing for a nation that rejects God!

We must stand with the Lord against abortion, the homosexual agenda (which even includes pedophilia now!), and the tide of liberal wickedness as they push socialism and communism as the answer for our nation’s salvation!  Look at Cuba and Venezuela and every other country that has gone down that dark road!  That is not what we ever want here in America!  Only Jesus can save us!  Yes, the end is coming.  That does not mean we just give up and stop fighting back!  We fight the good fight until our very last breath!

“Fight the good fight of the faith.  Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”

1 Timothy 6:12

If we allow those who hate God to rule this country, there will be great suffering in our land!  I strongly disagree with anyone who thinks a believer in Christ should not speak truth to power regarding politics.  Jesus Himself spoke the truth to the rulers of His time, both Jewish and Roman!  Remember why John the Baptist was beheaded?  That’s right, because he told the king he couldn’t have his brother’s wife.  Don’t ever be afraid to speak the truth!

“When the righteous thrive, the people

rejoice;

when the wicked rule, the people

groan.”

Proverbs 29:2

I am sick and tired of the sinful liberal agenda in my country!  I am sick of them telling us we can’t talk about Jesus in the schools or have the Bible in our schools, but it is okay for them to demand that every part of their immoral and sickening gay agenda be taught to our kids!  Hypocrites!  Thank God for charter schools!  Our kids don’t have to listen to those sick lies full of sin and death!  Our family stands strong against the lies of those in our nation who hate God.

If you truly want America to be blessed, then pray for revival and ask Him to strike down the liberal agenda!  Ask the Lord to rise up righteous leaders who honor and glorify His Name!  Stand in the gap and ask for forgiveness for all the evils our nation has committed!  May we humble ourselves and seek the Lord’s face and pray!  May our whole nation turn from its wicked ways and may the Lord be glorified in our country!

People like to say that America is a Christian nation.  Yes, it was founded on Christian principles, but our country has wandered far from God’s Word and if our country continues to reject God, we will reap what we sow.  There are not an endless array of genders in God’s creation!  There are only two genders, male and female, just as God created us!  Abortion is murder!  Homosexuality is an abomination and a sin!  Pedophilia is a sick crime of abuse, not a sexual orientation!  Atheism is death and socialism is death!  Don’t let the God haters call good evil and evil good!  Call out sin and evil for what it truly is and fight back with the truth!

“Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God?  Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”

1 Corinthians 6:9-10

The liberals push socialism and communism because socialism and communism are rooted in atheism!  There is no freedom in those evil forms of government!  There is nothing but tyranny and suffering!  Socialism has and always will be a bridge to communism or some other form of tyranny.  Study history!  It’s not about sharing the wealth.  It is about those at the top consolidating wealth and power, so they will have absolute power over the people, remember that!

To any liberal reading this, go try and live in Venezuela and you will see just how bad the suffering truly is.  I have a neighbor two houses down that is from Venezuela and he has been trying to get his family out of there since before the country collapsed!  Try telling him America should be socialist!  Try telling the Cubans who have escaped to America that they should go back home and enjoy their communist oppression!  They came here to be free!  Give me a break!

I pray in the Name of Jesus that America never becomes socialist or communist and I pray the Lord smites the wicked liberal agenda!  We need our borders and our sovereignty!  Do not support the push for the coming one world government of the evil one!  They are using socialism to reach that goal!

Now they even want to impeach Trump?!  Impeach him for what?!  You can’t impeach a president just because you don’t like him!  You can’t impeach a president just because you have been throwing a violent fit since you lost the election and didn’t get your way!  That is not how our Constitutional Republic works!  Trump hasn’t done anything that is impeachable!  The only reason they are doing this now is because they know their love for abortion and the gay agenda and their hate for America is not going to win them the election.  They needed a distraction, so now they are pushing impeachment.  Ridiculous!

The more they keep screaming about taking our guns and destroying our borders, the more they will lose too.  The more they talk, the more it sounds like we might actually have another Civil War in this country.  They are not ever going to get what they want without a fight!  I am not ever going to submit to their demands for immorality and depravity to be accepted as good and normal in our society and nobody is taking my guns or my freedom either!  Amen, molon labe!

I will stand on God’s Word and I pray that our nation repents and we would truly be a nation whose God is the LORD!  Only then will our nation be blessed!  There is no blessing going down the dark paths of atheism, secularism, liberalism, and socialism!  None at all!  Those paths only lead to sin and death!

Remember, the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God.  We must choose life and reject sin and death!  We must choose the Lord and live in the truth of His Word to be blessed!  “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD!”

Grace and peace to you all!

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 6:23

 

 

 

 

 

 

That is a photo I took last year while driving by the Denver Rescue Mission in downtown Denver.  Take a look at the neon sign in the shape of a cross.  Just two short words are on that cross and they share a powerful truth that leads to the salvation of your soul.  Jesus Saves!  That sign is a beacon of hope to people who are suffering on the street.  That sign beckons the weary and burdened to come to Jesus as it lights up the darkness!  That is our main mission from the Lord, to invite people to come to Jesus!  What a beautiful truth!  We need a Savior and Jesus Saves!

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Jesus speaking in John 3:16

“I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”

Jesus speaking in John 5:24

“For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Jesus speaking in John 6:40

Those are the words of Jesus Christ folks!  Nobody else in all of history has ever made such a promise!  Only Jesus could say such life changing and soul saving truth!  If you want your sins to be forgiven and you want to go to Heaven, then remember that Jesus Saves and believe in Jesus!  He will give you eternal life as He promised!  Your sins will be forgiven and you will be made new by the power of the Holy Spirit!

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

2 Corinthians 5:17

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Ephesians 2:8-9

“That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Romans 10:9

Amen!  I could go on and write 3,000 words, but I would like you to focus on that simple powerful truth.  Jesus Saves…and He is the only One who can!  Keep your eyes focused on Jesus and pierce the darkness with the light of Christ that is in you by the power of the Holy Spirit!  If you don’t know Jesus, please come to Him today!  If you know Jesus, invite somebody else to know Jesus today!  Sharing the truth that Jesus Saves is the most loving thing you could do for someone!  Thank You Jesus for saving our souls!

Grace and peace to you all!

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

Acts 4:12

 

The Scripture above is one of the most quoted and most famous in the Bible.  It is found in the Book of Proverbs, which is a book of wisdom for living a righteous life that pleases God.  If you are a Christian, how many times have you read these verses?  My guess is many times.  Here in America, we see Proverbs 3:5-6 written on everything from magnets to coffee mugs.  It is a powerful Scripture, but how many times do we actually take into consideration the phrase “in all your ways?”

If you have walked with Jesus for awhile, then you know that trusting the Lord is not always easy.  In fact, sometimes it is downright scary and hard.  How do we trust the Lord?  Well, this Scripture in Proverbs is a great place to start!

We trust in the Lord with all our heart and we don’t lean on our own understanding.  That is the first step.  Seek the Lord first and ask Him for wisdom and understanding!  We should love Jesus first and set Him apart as Lord in our hearts!  Rely on Jesus to help you understand your life, and trust Him!

“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.  Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.  But do this with gentleness and respect.”

1 Peter 3:15

As we see in the Scripture, we also trust in the Lord by acknowledging Him in all our ways!  In all your ways acknowledge Him!  Not just some of your ways or the ways you feel comfortable handing over to Him; all your ways.  Jesus can be trusted to take care of all our ways and if we give it all to Him, He will make our paths straight!

When we lift up our cares, concerns, and everything else in our lives to the Lord, He guides us and shows us the way!  We will be lifted up like that hot air balloon in the picture as the Lord faithfully leads us in the plans He has for us!  Does your path feel crooked today?  Do you need some help?  Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean on His understanding, acknowledge Him in all your ways, and He will make your paths straight!  Jesus will help you!  Come to Jesus!  He loves you and He wants to care for you!

I have suffered two chronic illnesses for almost eight years now.  I can testify that the Lord has never left me and He has given me understanding regarding my suffering.  He always makes my paths straight as I acknowledge Him in all my ways!  That Scripture is a promise you can rely on!  Thank You Jesus!

Whatever you need help with today, give it to Jesus!  Acknowledge Him and trust in Him with all your heart and give Him all your ways!  If you don’t know Jesus, I recommend coming to Him today!  Today is the day of salvation because we don’t know if we will get a tomorrow!  Jesus died for us all, so we could be free from sin and death!  That is the greatest news the world could ever hear!

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Jesus speaking in John 3:16

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6:23

“That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Romans 10:9

We all need Jesus and Jesus is the only One who can make our paths straight!  We cannot rely on our own understanding of things.  We need the wisdom of God by the power of the Holy Spirit!  Do you want understanding?  Do you want the paths in your life to be straight?  Lift up all your ways, every single one of them, to the Lord today, and witness the power of that promise come alive in your life!  Jesus is Lord, trust Him!

Grace and peace to you all!

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

Acts 4:12

We had quite a scare tonight.  I’m still feeling a bit sick from it.  Earlier today I was sitting on the couch talking long distance with my Mom when I got a frantic phone call from my wife saying our son ran off at Walmart and was missing.  I told her I was on my way and told her to call the police.

I tore out of the garage in my Chevy truck and I hit the gas.  I must admit I was probably going 60 through my neighborhood and I was coming in hot!  As I turned the corner and headed down the hill towards town, I saw my son just sitting on the sidewalk looking hot and exhausted with bright red cheeks.  We live a good two miles up hill and through traffic from the store and he ran half way home!  I pulled over and ran over to him asking him what he was doing and what he was thinking.  He told me he couldn’t find my wife and he thought she left, so he left Walmart and started running home.  He is only nine.  I couldn’t believe it!  On the way down I was praying that the Lord would give angels charge over him and he wouldn’t get hurt and right after that I found him.  Praise God I found him and praise God he didn’t get killed crossing the highway!  Praise God he wasn’t abducted!

I told him, “Why in the world would Mom leave the store without you son?!  She wouldn’t just leave!  The whole store was looking for you!”  I gave him a hug and was so glad he was okay.  I called my wife and told her to tell everyone that I found him and I told my son to get in the truck.  Man folks, for a minute there I thought somebody had taken him!  I felt sick to my stomach!

My wife said the head of Walmart put out a “Code Adam” at the store, which causes every single employee in the store to stop what they are doing and look for the lost child.  My wife was just about to call the police when a lady told my wife that she had just seen a young boy running up the road towards the highway.  I found our son shortly after that.

The whole thing played out in a matter of minutes.  We have told our son a million times not to run off at the store.  We have also told him if he ever got lost, to immediately tell an employee of the store and they will help.  We never told him to leave the store and run home!  Man O man!  I can laugh about it now, but that was quite a scare!

You should have seen my son’s face when he saw me come roaring down the hill in my truck!  Priceless!  Thank You Jesus for helping me find him so quickly!  At least he knows how to get home on his own from the store.  What a crazy day!

We have hugged and kissed our son many times tonight and we always do, but tonight feels extra special.  We are just glad he is home safe.  I love my son so much and our daughter too.

Now I know how Joseph and Mary felt when they lost Jesus.  The sickening feeling of panic is not nice.  I immediately started praying as I left the house to find him.  Always keep an eye on your kids.  Our son could have been taken, hurt, or killed and we are just so thankful to have him home.

“When his parents saw him, they were astonished.  His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this?  Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”

Luke 2:48

Grace and peace to you all!

 

 

Good morning everyone and God bless you all!  It is a new day the Lord has made and we should rejoice and be glad!  That photo is of the road we take to go fishing and that is one of the first Scripture pins I made when I first started blogging.  We have a bunch of verses on the side of our fridge and one of them is Romans 15:13.  I was reading that today and I started thinking about what the Christians in Rome were suffering when Paul wrote that to them.  The persecution against them was the most violent and evil punishment the Romans could come up with, yet Paul prayed they would have all joy and peace.  Read that verse again with that in mind.

That is a photo of the Colosseum in Rome.  Many of our Christian brothers and sisters were slaughtered here.  Their blood still cries out and it stands as a testimony throughout time that they stood firm in Jesus and never gave up!

How did they do it?  How could they stand firm as they were thrown into the Colosseum with the lions?  How could they stand firm as they faced being burned alive, crucified, or killed by the sword?  I’ll tell you how, they did it by the power of the Holy Spirit!

Just like Paul prayed, our Mighty God of hope filled them with all joy and peace as they trusted in Him, and they overflowed with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit!  It is only by God’s power that a person could stand strong amidst such terrible hatred and violence.  Paul knew this very well as he himself suffered great persecution, and many times he was tortured for believing in Jesus and preaching the Gospel.  Paul knew the believers in Rome would need to dig deep into their hope in Jesus in order to endure.

“Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them.  And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.”

1 John 3:24

“We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.  And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.”

1 John 4:13-14

“For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

Jesus speaking in Acts 1:5

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Jesus speaking in Acts 1:8

We know He is with us by the Holy Spirit He put inside of us!  It is hard for unbelievers to understand when we talk about it.  It is literally the power of God inside of us folks!  He quite literally fills you up with His Holy Spirit and you have “streams of living water” flowing inside of you just like Jesus promised!  Jesus lives inside of us by the power of the Holy Spirit and through the Spirit we have great power to live a holy and righteous life that pleases God!  That is how Christians are able to stand firm against the tide of evil, sin, and death in this world!

“On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”  By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.  Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.”

John 7:37-39

Through the Holy Spirit we have all the power we need to stand strong in the face of persecution!  Jesus was glorified almost 2,000 years ago when He died for us and resurrected from the dead three days later, and He sits at the right hand of the Father in Heaven glorified forever!  After He ascended into Heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit down to earth in Holy fire on the day of Pentecost and from that day forward all those who believe in Jesus Christ have received power when the Holy Spirit comes on them!

“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.  Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.  They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”

Acts 2:1-4

“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.  Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession–to the praise of his glory.”

Ephesians 1:13-14

Believers in Jesus Christ have access to a never ending well of hope in the Holy Spirit!  Even as the Christians in Rome faced horrific torture and death, there hope overflowed to the point that they would never reject Jesus.  They stayed faithful to the very end!

Whatever we are facing, we can have all joy and peace as we trust in Jesus and we will have overflowing hope because of the Holy Spirit He gave us!  May we always stand strong like our brother Paul and our ancient brothers and sisters in Rome did, and may we always stand up for Jesus no matter what threats we face for proclaiming His Name!

Grace and peace to you all!

“They overcame him

by the blood of the Lamb

and by the word of their testimony;

they did not love their lives so much

as to shrink from death.”

Revelation 12:11