Category: Christianity

Hello everyone and God bless you all!  I took that photo with my phone last night when I was at our neighborhood mailbox at the top of our street.  I loved the hazy glow as the sunset emerged from the cloud cover.  So cool what God does in the sky every night!  We always read to our kids before putting them to bed, and last night I read the Bible to my son.  He is 8 years old and he and our 11 year old daughter love to read.  I turned to the Book of Psalms and read Psalm 86 to him.  I pray Psalm 86:11 for my family every day and I ask the Lord to give us all an undivided heart like that.  Psalm 86 is a prayer of David who was King of Israel.  He speaks of God’s character in his prayer and it is important to emphasize that God’s character never changes.  These attributes of God that David talks about are who God is and how He loves us.  God will not be anything less and He will always be this way throughout all generations.

I can relate to this Psalm deeply as I’m sure many of you can.  Let the words describing God’s character and love wash over you.  We can trust Him even when we don’t understand.  We can trust Him because of who He is.

“Hear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.  Guard my life, for I am devoted to you.  You are my God; save your servant who trusts in you.  Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I call to you all day long.  Bring joy to your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.  You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you.  Hear my prayer, O Lord; listen to my cry for mercy.  In the day of my trouble I will call to you, for you will answer me.  Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord; no deeds can compare with yours.  All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name.  For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God.  Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.  I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever.  For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths of the grave.  The arrogant are attacking me, O God; a band of ruthless men seeks my life–men without regard for you.  But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.  Turn to me and have mercy on me; grant your strength to your servant and save the son of your maidservant.  Give me a sign of your goodness, that my enemies may see it and be put to shame, for you, O Lord, have helped me and comforted me.”

Psalm 86:1-17

Psalm 86:11 is the verse that says, “Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.”  I have prayed that for years over my children and my wife and I.  I ask the Lord to give us an undivided heart that we may fear His Name and love Him first.  That is what I want most for my children.  I want them to follow Jesus with an undivided heart.  To fear the Lord does not mean to be afraid of Him.  His love drives out that kind of fear.  It means to have a great respect, reverence, and awe of Him.  We can have that in greater measure when we understand God’s character.

What do we learn from Psalm 86 about God’s character?

God guards our lives and brings us joy.

God is forgiving and good and abounding in love to all who call on Him.

He alone is God and there is no other.

God has mercy on us and will answer us.

God helps us in our times of trouble.

God is great and He does marvelous deeds that have no comparison.

God’s love toward us is great and He delivers us from the grave.

God is compassionate and gracious.

God is slow to anger.

God is abounding in love and faithfulness.

God protects us from our enemies.

God gives us His strength, and He helps us and comforts us.

That my friends is a God you can trust!  Thank You Lord that you are forgiving and good!  Thank You for your abounding love, compassion, and grace!  Thank You for being patient with us and being slow to anger!  Thank You for loving us so deeply even when we don’t deserve it Lord!  Thank You for saving us!  You alone are worthy of praise!

We can rest in His love today and every day.  God will not be changing.  That is who He is.  God is love and He will always be love!  Remember, fearing the Lord means to revere the Lord.  There is no fear in His love!

“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.  If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.  And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love.  Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.  In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.  There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.  The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

1 John 4:13-18

Grace and peace to you all in the perfect love of Jesus Christ!

 

God has really been moving today!  I asked Him yesterday to put a new song in my heart and heal my heart.  This is the song He gave me.  He will never stop pursuing us friends.  He is showing me that!  No matter what, He will never give up on us and He will always pursue us with an amazing reckless love!  I have been in tears for a good part of the day.  It’s the Holy Spirit moving inside me.  Tears of blessing and joy!  After all these years I still don’t fully grasp the depth of God’s love, but He is always showing me just how wide and long and high and deep His love truly is.  May His will be done in Jesus’ Name!

God bless you all!

“What do you think?  If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off?  And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off.  In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.”

Jesus in Matthew 18:12-14

“I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.  I and the Father are one.”

Jesus in John 10:28-30

“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

“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth drives its name.  I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.  And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together will all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge–that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

Ephesians 3:14-19

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!  Amen.”

Ephesians 3:20-21

Good morning everyone!  It is a new day that the Lord has made, so I am choosing to rejoice and be glad in it!  I hope you are too!  The Lord spoke a very encouraging verse to me last night and He reminded me of it again this morning.  I just took that picture with  my phone.  That is a little table that sits underneath the mantle where our TV is.  I bought those Bible verse cards at the little shop down the street.  They have a nice Christian section and I found those in a corner over by the Bibles.  They had three different types, so I bought all three: Words of Wisdom, Daily Light, and Daily Bread.

Every so often I like to read through some of the cards.  My kids do that too.  It’s a great way to have God’s Word easily accessible.  Last night, I picked up the stack from Daily Light and randomly picked out one card.  This is what it said and I felt like the Lord was speaking directly to me.  We know that every verse has a context, but the Lord also uses His Word to communicate with us and it was no coincidence that I pulled this card out of this particular stack.  Here is how the verse reads on the card:

“The Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end.”

Isaiah 60:20 (Ending of the verse)

I just froze standing there staring at the card.  I read the verse several times and praised God for it.  I am still kind of in shock over it.  The Lord does this for me a lot.  It’s like He just walks right up, taps me on the shoulder, and speaks directly to my heart.  He knows us folks and that is awesome!  I put that verse card in front by the way (see the stack on the left).  I will be reading it a lot!

The verse card didn’t have the first part of the verse on it, so here is the full verse:

“Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more; the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end.”

Isaiah 60:20

Thank You Jesus for your comfort and love!  Thank You for the Holy Spirit and how You speak to us through Your Word!  I receive this blessing and encouragement in Your Holy Name Lord, Amen!  May it be done as You said!

God is on the move!  Grace and peace to you all!

Hello friends and family.  I hope this evening finds you well.  I wanted to take a moment to explain a few things regarding the post I wrote on 1-6-19 regarding the 7 year anniversary of my Celiac diagnosis.  I have heard from many of you on the comments and privately through my blog contact page.  Thank you all for caring and reaching out!  Many of you have expressed concern for me.  Please know that I would never hurt myself.  I would never do that to my wife, my kids, or my parents.  I know it must be shocking to hear someone speak so openly, but that is how I am.  Those that have been reading my blog for awhile know that I speak the truth boldly and I don’t back down.  They also know that I love Jesus with all my heart.

I want you all to know that I care about each one of you as fellow human beings and I appreciate and value what you have to say regarding my writing.  You are my brothers and sisters and I am encouraged to know you all!  I know I can be rough around the edges sometimes.  Look, I’m from Denver.  I grew up in Littleton just a few miles southwest of the city.  I had tough friends and we went to a tough school.  Some of our friends were gang members.  I had to learn to become a fighter even though I hate fighting.  Then I ended up going to High School 35 miles west of Chicago and I encountered more fighting.  I grew up playing competitive sports and I’ve taken a few shots to the noggin while snowboarding.  Growing up like that toughens you up.

I’m not a pastor.  I’m not out here leading a church or shepherding folks.  I am just a guy who loves Jesus and I preach His Gospel because of what He did in my life.  Call me an evangelist if you like, but I’m just a normal every day guy whose had a very strange supernatural life, so I preach for Jesus.  He is the One who set me and my family free from evil and He saved my soul.  I will always follow Him.  I love you Lord!

If you are new to my blog, please know that I preach the truth here.  Although I appreciate all of the friends I have made through blogging, I don’t write for people to like me.  I write the truth, and sometimes people are not going to like that.  Truth is hard to hear sometimes, but it is always better than lies.  Those who know me know that sometimes I ask hard questions and sometimes I wrestle with God a bit.  Maybe it’s from growing up with friends that punched and wrestled each other for fun, or maybe it’s just a deeply inquisitive mind, but whatever it is I definitely wrestle Him at times.  I approach God with freedom and confidence like He invites us to do.  He already knows my heart.  I’m not ever going to hide it from Him.  I give it to Him raw and open and I allow my readers to witness it.  I won’t ever hide the truth I know I need to speak.  The Holy Spirit inside me wouldn’t allow that anyway!

So, sometimes what you read on my blog might be raw and hard to read.  Most everybody has been supportive when I write like that, but some have been judgmental.  Again, I write the truth on my blog and I will always be true to myself and I’m not going to be changing that.  If you ever find yourself having a hard time with one of my writings and you want to leave my blog, that’s okay.  No hard feelings.  Just know that I love Jesus Christ with all my heart.  He is my Lord and Savior and I submit to Him because He is King of kings and Lord of lords and He is Lord of my life.  I am not ashamed of Jesus and I will be serving Him for the rest of my life and for all eternity.  Amen!

The Lord drafted me into the spiritual war when I was 18 and my faith has been tried and tested many times and every time the Lord has made me victorious.  I am one of His soldiers and He always lifts me up again!  Remember, I’m not ever going to be a phony or be all polished up.  The Lord has used me for things like street ministry on Colfax in downtown Denver and casting out demons.  He has done amazing miracles in my life and I have a lot of phenomenal memories of what God has done since I started following Him in October of 1996.  His grace is sufficient for me and I trust Him!  I have no reason not to trust Him.  He has moved in power in my life time and time again!  I will never forget those angels or what He did for me when I stopped breathing!

That is my verse for the whole year by the way.  2 Corinthians 12:9.  I need to get back right and just refocus on Jesus.  He is the sole reason for this blog and I will continue to preach His message of salvation by grace through faith in Him.  Jesus is Lord!

Grace and peace to you all!  Thanks for sticking with me and thank you for your prayers!

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

2 Corinthians 12:9

 

I would like to introduce you to a very inspiring man.  His name is Bill Sweeney.  He has ALS and he is completely paralyzed.  Bill has lived through unimaginable suffering yet he still loves and serves Jesus with all of his heart.  He has been a great inspiration to me in my fight against Celiac.  Bill’s blog here on WordPress is called “Unshakable Hope.”  He wrote a post today called “Pressing On” that I highly recommend reading.  I also recommend spending some time on his blog reading his other posts.  The Lord is using Bill in a mighty way to touch lives for the glory of God.  You will be blessed reading what he has to say!  I recommend following his blog while you’re at it too.

Here is a link to his post from today:

Pressing On by Bill Sweeney

God bless you Bill, God bless you all!

“Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.  But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

2 Corinthians 12:8-9

Good morning everyone.  Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement yesterday.  I spent a long time yesterday just listening to all my Lecrae albums.  I want to share one of my favorite songs from his album titled “All Things Work Together” called “I’ll Find You.”  It is a song for those dealing with suffering and loss.  I pray it encourages you like it encourages me.  I want you all to know that I’m just going to keep going and following Jesus wherever He leads me.  I may be broken and beat down, but I am not forsaken.  I know God loves me.  He loves all of us.  God bless you all in everything you are and everything you do.  Through Jesus we have great strength and peace to help us in our time of need.  I might not understand it all, but I know I can trust Him.

Grace and peace to you all!  Thanks for not giving up on me!  Thank you all for your compassion, love, and support!

Your friend and brother in Christ,

Ryan

“Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish.  In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back.”

Isaiah 38:17

 

Good morning everyone!  I was reading out of 2 Timothy this morning, so I made this Scripture pin.  Those are all good things to pursue in 2019 and for the rest of our lives!  Righteousness, faith, love, and peace.  I definitely want all of those overflowing in my life every day.  We pursue all of those beautiful virtues by pursuing Jesus.  Have you called on Him today?  Have you ever called on Him in your life?  The Bible promises that if we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us.  Call on Jesus today and let Him build  righteousness, faith, love, and peace in your heart.  Once you belong to Jesus, nothing can snatch you out of His hand and He will sanctify you with His holy love!  I pray our hearts are pure and we would call on the Lord every day in all things, in the Name of Jesus, Amen.

Grace and peace to you all!

P.S.

I turned comments back on yesterday, but it didn’t work for some reason.  I hope it works today.  Sometimes it is difficult dealing with WordPress.  My post yesterday also didn’t show up on the Reader, which happens to me a lot.  I don’t know why it does that.  I publish a post, but then it doesn’t show up.  Weird.  Anyway, I hope this post shows up and I hope the comments section works too.  God bless you all!

Hello friends and family, our family made it through Influenza A!  All I can say is praise God!  Thank you so much for praying for us!  I cannot stress just how terrible that virus is!  Now I know why it kills people.  We are very thankful to be over it!  I want to tell you about the spiritual attack I was under during this illness.  This was one of the worst battles of my life and I fell into seriously deadly despair.

When I say deadly despair I mean suicidal despair.  The kind that grips your mind and soul and squeezes you to death with hopelessness.  My Christmas and New Year was a nightmare and coming into 2019 there is one thing that I want to stress to you all.  This war is real.  This is not a game.  There are real casualties, real pain, and real loss.  We have an enemy that wants us dead because we serve The King.  He hates us.  He hates me and he hates this blog where I preach the truth of Jesus Christ.  It makes him angry and he tries to kill me.

I have been a soldier in this war for a very long time now.  I am battle hardened and I am not going to stop.  I want you to know what I and my family suffered though during this time of illness because I was under relentless attack.  The illness was bad enough, but it was the enemy’s attacks on my mind that struck a mighty blow to my spirit and my hope.

Feelings of anger against God welled up again.  The physical suffering I was enduring reminded me of when I was first diagnosed and I became deeply angry at having to suffer it again.  I listened to lies that God didn’t care about me anymore and the despair was unbearable.  The enemy truly enjoys attacking us.  You must understand this.  If you are a Christian and especially when you are serving God in the war, you will be attacked at some point.  We are soldiers.  Soldiers fight wars.  Our commander is God Almighty and the King of kings and Lord of lords Jesus Christ!  The war is ancient and has been fought by many brave believers before us.  We must continue the fight!

God is dealing with me gently and I love Him and thank Him for that.  I am not going to repeat the conversation I had with God over this last 9 days of illness.  I was very angry and in deep despair over Celiac and coming up on 7 years of suffering on 1-6-19.  I was very angry that Celiac made the flu an extremely painful ordeal.  He knows my heart and He heard all of your prayers.  Your prayers lifted my soul and defeated the enemy’s attacks.  My family is healed and we are moving forward in His grace.

My discipleship mentor used to always tell me, “Ryan, life is a battleground, not a playground.”  At 40 years old after following Jesus for 22 years, I understand that better now more than I ever have.  This war is real friends.  Just remember, Jesus Christ already won that war when He died on that cross and rose again three days later!  Glory to Jesus forever!  I serve Him and I’m not going to quit now!  I am His soldier!  May His will be done!

Grace and peace and strength and power be yours in the Name of Jesus Christ!

“But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.  What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.  I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ.”

Philippians 3:7-8

Hello friends and family.  I am going to be taking a break from blogging for awhile.  My health is not well and I need time to rest.  I am turning off comments for now, but I can still be contacted through my blog “Contact” page.  I started this blog on 8-10-18 and since then I have written 257 blog posts plus this one.  If you have questions about faith in Jesus, I encourage you to take a look at some of the posts.  Check out the “My Beliefs” page too.  I appreciate you all praying for me and my family.

God bless you all

Hello everyone.  Thank you for your prayers for my family.  My wife and kids are just about over this flu that hit our home hard.  Guess what?  Now I’m sick!  I popped a 102 fever Christmas night and I got sick 5 times throughout the night and Wednesday morning.  I am feeling a little better today, but I am still around 100 degrees.  I am focusing on the day when their will be no more pain.  I am ready for the old order of things to pass away!  How about you?  I’m sorry I haven’t had the chance to read your blogs.  I have a lot of reading to do!  I will get caught up when I am feeling better.  At least I have enough strength to type this today, so that’s good.  Yesterday all I could eat was a few bites of banana and rice, and I couldn’t stop shivering.  I can’t take Ibuprofen or Tylenol because of Celiac, so I take White Willow for inflammation and Olive Leaf and Echinacea to boost my immune system.  I hope I can eat today.  Thank you all for your prayers!

Grace and peace to you all!