Category: Christianity

Hello everyone!  Blessings to you all!  I had to mow the lawn this morning.  I thought I was done for the year, but it is still growing!  Hopefully that is the last time.  As I was finishing up, our local neighborhood family of deer were moving through the open space we back up to.  We have lived here since 8-31-2006, so we have seen many deer grow up here.  This young buck is looking healthy and strong and he will be magnificent when full grown!  Seeing them today reminded me of God’s provision and care for me.  It also reminded me of the verse in Psalm 42:1.  Just like the deer pants for streams of water, my soul pants for God!  Our souls are thirsty and we need Jesus to quench that thirst!  Amen!

Here are some of the babies following their Mama!  They stick close.  They use the path just like we do!  Many nights they sleep close to our back fence and they use our backyard too!  They love to nibble on our big pine trees.  Pine needles are full of vitamin C and they actually make really good tea.  That’s an old Colorado mountain man recipe that I have done several times while camping.  Just boil some water and steep a few pine needles in your cup and you will have a refreshing and healthy tea that tastes kind of minty and piney at the same time.

Sorry for the rough photo.  Not my best shot for sure!  The camera focused on the tree instead of the deer.  The Mama is off to the left with babies in tow.  So cute!

Here is Papa again.  He has a nice velvet on his rack and he is looking good with his thick winter fur coming in.  We have to be careful with the deer in the fall.  October is the peak of the rut.  If you are not familiar with that, the rut is when all the bucks chase the does and make the babies that are born in Springtime.  They can be very aggressive and they want to fight.  Be careful walking your dogs!  Many of our neighbors have had dogs get attacked.  If you keep your distance, they generally stay calm.

This young buck really likes those purple leaves.  If I was a deer, I would be eating those purple leaves too!  I bet they are tasty to deer and packed with nutrients!  God takes care of all of us so good!

I love the look on the deer’s face in the photo below.  He is like, “Oh, what’s this?  A delicious purple tree.  Well, I don’t mind if I do, praise the Lord!”

May the Lord encourage and lift up your heart today in the Name of Jesus!

Grace and peace to you all!

 

 

Many people on this earth struggle with anxiety!  It can become so bad that it debilitates people.  Let me tell you a comforting truth: God cares about you and He does not want you to suffer under the weight of anxiety.  He has the perfect solution for that problem too!  Take all that anxiety and cast it onto Him!  Believe me, He can handle it and we cannot!  We were not meant to live this life without God.  We were created and designed to be loved by God!  That is why He came and died for us, so we could have a deep loving relationship with Him for eternity!

I am writing this today because I used to struggle with anxiety so bad that it would be hard for me to breathe and I thought I was going to have a heart attack.  It knocked me to my knees many times for many years as I fought to catch my breath as my chest tightened under the weight of all the anxious thoughts flooding my mind.

It all started a year or so after my Celiac diagnosis.  As it became increasingly clear that my suffering was going to be very long, I started having anxiety attacks that became more frequent and more severe over the years.  I couldn’t provide for my family and the physical suffering was unbearable.  The anxiety that caused was immense!

I would be walking through the house and out of nowhere a flood of thoughts and intense emotions tied to those thoughts would race through my mind.  Thoughts about being broken and not being able to work, thoughts about the disease and what was going to happen, thoughts about not being able to provide and the future, thoughts of what my kids thought of me, thoughts of my wife and what she thought of me, thoughts of my friends, parents, father in law, and the list went on and on.  I felt like a broken loser and it would knock me to my knees as I panted hard like I had just run a mile.  This went on for about three years.

The problem was that I was still trying to be in control over a situation that I had absolutely no control over!  When I finally gave it to God and realized that I am truly not in control as I watched God provide for my family and take care of my health, then I was at peace.  I cast all my anxiety on Him as He was caring for me.  His love and care for us are incredible!

The last couple days I have been getting hit with some of those same thoughts.  Yes, they are familiar attacks, but it still hurts.  I am so much quicker to give that anxiety to God though because I have learned my lesson!  I rebuke those attacks in the Name of Jesus and I give it all to Him!  He has my Celiac!  He has my finances!  I am not a loser!  I am victorious!  I am redeemed!  I am loved!  I am forgiven!  I have purpose!  Our family is provided for and protected!  God’s got this!  C’mon man!  Get back up!

I literally cannot stand under the weight of anxiety.  None of us can because we were not meant to carry it!  Whatever it is, take a big ol’ deep breath right now, and just chuck that anxiety and cast it onto God who cares deeply for you!

Thank you Jesus!

Grace and peace to you all!

Alright, here is some TobyMac to dance and praise God to!

 

 

 

 

 

Good morning everyone!  The Lord spoke this verse to my heart today.  It is a simple and powerful prayer that I have been praying for many years.  It is a great way to start the day and a great way to start a new week!  Whatever you have going on this week, give it to the Lord, commit it to Him, and may all the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in His sight!  Amen!

There is great blessing in pleasing the Lord!  I am praying for everyone as we start another week!  Remember, God is in control and we are not, and praise God for that!

Grace and peace to you all!

 

Hello everyone!  Blessings to you all!  I hope you are having a wonderful Sunday of rest and peace!  I wanted to share a song that really lifts my heart up!  It is called “I’m Good” by our brother in Christ Tedashii from the 116 crew.  I love the message of standing firm in the Lord in this song, and the beat is soooo nice!  Enjoy!

Oh yeah, I made a couple more Scripture pins too!  Lovin’ it!  Thank you Jesus!  Man, I am soarin’ in His love and I pray you are too!

Grace and peace friends!  Jesus loves you, and that is no slogan–that is eternal truth that saves your soul!

Bless you all in the Name of Jesus!

 

 

The Lord is giving me a good rest today, and I am just keeping it light with the blog.  I wanted to bless you all and say rest in His grace and peace today.  May the Lord strengthen you and encourage you wherever you may be on your journey in life.  Let your heart be comforted in the truth that God loves you and He has forgiven all of your sins through Jesus!

God bless you all!  Grace and peace to you all!

 

 

 

 

These are photos I took on 9-27-18 during the trip to the mountains that became my “Fall Time in the Rockies” post.  These are two of my favorite photos from that day!  May God’s creation and God’s Word inspire you today!  I’m having fun making these Scripture quotes!  Enjoy!

Grace and peace to you all!

 

Hello everyone!  Blessings to you all in the Name of the Lord Jesus!  I hope this fine Saturday finds you well and at peace.  I am praying for all of you and your countries daily!  I’ve been having some fun with my photos today!  I made these Scripture pins on PictureQuotes.com with photos I took with my Canon PowerShot SX50 HS camera right here in Colorado.  I am still playing around with it and I’m not quite sure if I want to put my website on them or what.  Please feel free to use them on your blogs!  I made different variations of them.  Let me know what you think!  If you have a better way to make these types of pins, please let me know that too!  I love to learn new things, especially when it comes to making cool Bible verse picture pins!  Enjoy!  God bless you all!

I am praying that all of you have a blessed weekend!  Jesus is Lord and He loves you!

Grace and peace to you all!

Man I love that verse!  Through Jesus every single person on earth can be forgiven of every sin and justified completely before God!  Please take that in for a moment.  That is a whole lot of sin folks, and the Blood of Jesus paid for it all!

The Bible talks a lot about forgiveness.

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

Ephesians 4:32

“Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”

Colossians 3:13

“For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.”

Matthew 6:14

I have found that one of the biggest goals of our enemy, the devil, is to steal our joy.  I have also found that his sharpest weapon in accomplishing this goal is with reminding us of our past sins.  The devil loves to beat us over the head with everything we have done wrong, and he will bring it to our attention, so that it paralyzes us from accomplishing our work for the Lord.  That kind of regret is from the devil and he uses it to steal your joy that you have in the Lord!

Do you know how to beat that attack?  You rebuke his lies by proclaiming your forgiveness and freedom in Jesus Christ!

I want to ask you something important.  We talk a lot about forgiving each other.  I want you to ask yourself something, have you forgiven yourself?  Have you proclaimed your freedom in Christ over yourself?

For years I suffered under the weight of shame and regret that I could not seem to shake off.  I had asked for forgiveness from God and from everyone I had hurt, but I was still suffering from the onslaught of bad memories.  The enemy loves to accuse us and it hurts enough to drive you insane if you let it.

The Lord showed me that I had asked for forgiveness from everyone, but I had not forgiven myself.  Not only was the evil one beating me up about it, but I was beating myself up about it.  The Lord had to show me and remind me that I was forgiven and clean in His sight through Jesus and there were no chains on me!

Don’t ever let the evil one chain you up in a dark corner of past sins and regrets!  Rebuke his lies in the Name of Jesus and proclaim your freedom and forgiveness in Christ!  Please, in the Name of Jesus who loves you, forgive yourself!  You are forgiven and those chains are broken!  Amen!

Rest in His love and forgiveness and give Him praise!

Grace and peace to you all!

Check it out!  I just made a picture quote with one of my photos from the trip to the mountains yesterday!  I have been praying and trying to learn how to do this.  God answered!  PictureQuotes.com is cool!  Feel free to use this pin on your blog!  Praise God!

 

Proverbs is the Book of God’s wisdom.  God gave His wisdom to Solomon who was King David’s son.  Solomon wrote Proverbs by the power of God and by God’s wisdom that he was given.  I highly recommend that you read the entire book!  I read Scripture from it every day and pray that the Lord will give me such wisdom as I pray through the verses!

There is an exciting promise from God regarding wisdom too!

“If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”

James 1:5

God wants us to have His wisdom, so we can live wisely, which will result in praise, honor, and glory to God!  He does not want us to suffer under any kind of foolishness.  Ask God to give you His wisdom, and He will give it to you generously without finding fault!

I can’t tell you how many times the above Proverb has blessed my life!  When I was a younger man starting out in the work world, there were many times I had to speak my mind bravely, and that Proverb was always right there with me!  I never backed down from speaking the truth because God is with me and I don’t fear man.  I even had to speak up in truth and rebuke a couple of my managers at my old job, but I never once got fired.  Fear of man is a snare, and I won’t get caught up in it!  The Lord keeps me safe.  It was intense at times preaching on campus in college, but the Lord was always with me!  I still don’t back down!  If I was afraid of man, I would not have ever published my book or done this blog either!  Thank you Jesus for your courage and strength!

That Proverb is just one of many amazing pieces of wise advice for living a righteous life!  I encourage you to read Proverbs today.  Ask God for His wisdom, and it will be given to you!

Here are the first 7 verses in chapter 1 to get you started.  This is what you will attain and acquire by reading Proverbs!  May God bless you with His wisdom!  Pay attention to verse 7 about the “fear of the Lord.”  Remember, Jesus is Lord!  Your eternal relationship with God is through Him!  He is the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega, and He loves you so much He died for you!

“The proverbs of Solomon

son of David, king of Israel:

for attaining wisdom and

discipline;

for understanding words

of insight;

for acquiring a disciplined

and prudent life,

doing what is right and

just and fair;

for giving prudence to the

simple,

knowledge and discretion

to the young–

let the wise listen and add

to their learning,

and let the discerning get

guidance–

for understanding proverbs

and parables,

the sayings and riddles of

the wise.

The fear of the Lord is the

beginning of knowledge,

but fools despise wisdom

and discipline.”

Proverbs 1:1-7

Grace and peace to you all!

Did you know the Bible tells you how to fulfill everything written in it?  Yeah, God is cool like that!  The entire Bible is summed up in one mighty word: Love.  Let’s take a look!

“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.  The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  Love does no harm to its neighbor.  Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”

Romans 13:8-10

That is awesome!  We learn in 1 John that God is love.  We learn in 1 Corinthians what love really is and that God’s character is 100% love!

“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.”

1 John 4:15-16

“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.  Love never fails..”

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Love is so much more than what the world says it is!  We would not even have love if it wasn’t for God!  He is love and He is the one that made it exist!  In order to truly love each other like 1 Corinthians 13 says to love, we must have God and His love inside of us.  He empowers us to love like He does through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit!

“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

1 John 4:9-10

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Romans 5:8

“This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.”

1 John 3:11

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.  And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”

1 John 3:16

So, through Jesus Christ, we can have God and His love inside of us and love like God loves, and through His love the entire Bible is fulfilled!  Praise God!  Here is how you get that victory and live life victoriously in love!

“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.  This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands.  This is love for God: to obey his commands.  And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world.  This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.  Who is it that overcomes the world?  Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”

1 John 5:1-5

“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

1 John 5:11-12

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it the full.”

Jesus speaking in John 10:10

That’s it folks!  If you believe in Jesus Christ, you will have God’s love inside of you and be empowered to love like He does, which fulfills the Bible!  You will be born of God, you will overcome the world, and you will have life and have it to the full!  Hallelujah!  What a powerful grip of promises that is!

Thank you Lord for your love!  May we all love each other just like God loves us as He makes us perfect as we see the day draw near!  In the Name of Jesus, Amen!

Grace and peace to you all!

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Matthew 22:36-40