A Christian author helping people come to Jesus, helping people understand the Bible, ministering to a lost and hurting world, and speaking truth to power.
This is a powerful testimony that was a blessing to me and I pray it is a blessing to you as well! Scotty Smiley was a soldier in the United States Army Rangers and he was blinded in the fighting in Mosul, Iraq. He shared his testimony with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association podcast ministry called “God. People. Stories.” It also includes a powerful sermon from Billy Graham on our hope in Jesus. May it encourage and inspire your faith as it did mine! God bless you all!
“It was nothing but fear, anxiety and stress and I didn’t know what to do.”
-Scotty Smiley
“Scotty Smiley lost his eyesight in Iraq after a suicide car bomb blew shrapnel into his eyes. His world went dark, physically and spiritually, and Scotty was furious at God for letting it happen.
Today, though, Scotty has an “unseen hope” that stems from his relationship with Jesus Christ. Scotty and his wife, Tiffany, share their story on this episode of GPS: God. People. Stories.”
-BGEA
Please click the link below to listen to the GPS Podcast from the BGEA:
Good morning friends and family! We are on Thanksgiving Break now and we are so thankful for that! My wife and kids don’t go back to school until the 26th, so we get 9 days off to chill and spend time together! I love them so much and I’m so glad they are home! The Lord spoke that verse in Micah to my heart this morning. It has been a rough week of spiritual battle and the Lord has been speaking to me about my questions and this ministry He has called me to. I just about shut down my Twitter and I almost walked away from this blog this week, but I have the victory in Jesus and He will not let me be defeated! Yesterday, the Lord reminded me about my baptism and that I am not my own. This morning He spoke to my heart about how I am to walk with Him as I live out the plans He has for me. He brought to my mind that one simple yet powerful verse with three ways the Lord wants me to walk with Him.
Act justly
Love mercy
Walk humbly with your God
Seems simple enough, but it is not and we desperately need the Holy Spirit to help us with every step of our walk with the Lord. The one part of that Scripture God had me focus on the most was “walk humbly with your God.” It reminds me of the other verse the Lord always speaks to me regarding Hezekiah from the Book of Isaiah:
“But what can I say?
He has spoken to me, and
he himself has done
this.
I will walk humbly all my
years
because of this anguish of
my soul.”
Isaiah 38:15
If you have never read about Hezekiah, you can read about his illness and healing in Isaiah chapter 38. That is exactly how I felt in the worst throws of my suffering. I understand great anguish to the point of death.
“I said, “In the prime of my life
must I go through the
gates of death
and be robbed of the rest
of my years?”
Isaiah 38:10
The Lord has also shown me what is good as He restored me to health and let me live! I am here doing this blog today because He gave me my breath back by a miracle! I shouldn’t even be alive, but I am, and it’s all because of God and His love, mercy, and forgiveness!
“Lord, by such things men
live;
and my spirit finds life in
them too.
You restored me to health
and let me live.
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 38:16-17
If you believe in Jesus, all of your sins are behind His back! God restores and heals us because He loves us! I should have died during my suffering, but God kept me from the pit of destruction and I give Him praise for that!
Yes, the Lord has shown me what is good. I am very thankful to be alive and I repent for any discouragement I may have caused with my prayer request earlier this week. It is good to approach the throne of grace with freedom and confidence, but I pray I would approach God with humility…even when I’m angry.
The Lord showed me that He created us because He loves us. He does not want anyone to perish! The Lord showed me that free will is the answer regarding fairness and I will take that on faith in agreement with the Lord. We didn’t ask to be here, but we were created because God loves us and we were created for eternal life with Him! He gives us free will, so we can choose, and He gives everyone a chance to receive Him. I am so thankful for the gift of life that God gave me! I am so thankful for my wife and children and their love! I have breath in my lungs because of Him, so I will breathe out life and say, “Glory to God!”
“But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
2 Peter 3:8-9
Moving forward I want you all to know that I will always be real, but if I need prayer I will ask for prayer without the angry outburst at God. Please forgive me. I am one of God’s soldiers and I have been through many battles over the last 22 years following Jesus. Sometimes I get beat up in battle, but praise God I have the victory through our Lord Jesus! He is always, and I mean always, faithful to lift me up again!
God bless you all! Thank you for all the love, support, prayer, and encouragement you have shown me! Yes, the Lord has shown me what is good in so many ways and I pray that I will be a good and faithful servant who acts justly, loves mercy, and walks humbly with our God–the Almighty I AM–in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Grace and peace to you all! Have a beautiful weekend wrapped in God’s love!
“To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy–to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”
Baptized into the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit! It was fall and I was freezing!
That’s me getting baptized in October of 1998. Man it was cold! That dude in the shorts standing next to me is my great long time friend from college. He was baptized right before I was. We both accepted Christ our freshman year at the University of Northern Colorado in ’96 and we are brothers in Christ to the end! Getting baptized was awesome and the Lord moved in power in the Holy Spirit while I was under the water!
Many of you know I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior in October of 1996. Why I waited two years to get baptized, I don’t know. I was 18 when I got saved and there was a lot going on in college. My friend grew up Catholic, but he had never accepted Christ. I was just an unbeliever who liked to party. We both started going to Campus Crusade for Christ and God used that ministry in both of our lives in mighty ways and we both got saved! Praise God! Love you brother!
How did the Lord move in power when I was under the water? God spoke to me! I did not fully understand what God had said to me at the moment you see in the picture, but He taught me and He is still teaching me what He meant by it. While I was under the water for those few short seconds, I heard God say to me:
“You died.”
That’s it, nothing more. Those two words have stayed in my mind and heart ever since. I was eating breakfast this morning after my first blog post and the Lord reminded me of my baptism and what He had said to me. He wants me to remember that my life at age 40 is still not my own and it has not been since I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior when I was 18. Those two words God spoke to me are encouraging, humbling, and convicting and it puts my focus directly where it needs to be every time God brings it to mind.
I think the Apostle Paul does an excellent job of explaining what God meant when He told me, “You died.” Let me direct your attention to Paul’s letter to the Colossians to gain a deeper understanding of my underwater message from God.
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”
Colossians 3:1-4
Man, let that sink in for a moment if you belong to Christ! We died when we accepted Jesus! That is, our old self that did not submit to God and was controlled by the sinful nature. That man or woman died when we accepted Jesus! Why do we set our minds on things above? Because we have been “raised with Christ” where He is “seated at the right hand of God,” that’s why! If you belong to Jesus through your faith in Him, then you died and your new life is now hidden in Jesus. He is your life! The life we live now is “hidden with Christ in God” for all eternity and someday we will “appear with him in glory!” Praise God!
I’m glad I died and I’m really glad God told me, “You died.” I don’t want to have anything to do with the old me. That guy can stay dead. Jesus Christ is my life and He is the only reason I am alive!
What kinds of things belonged to my old self that died? What are the things that need to stay dead in my life? Well, Paul has some excellent practical advice on living our lives for Jesus since we died and our “life is now hidden with Christ in God.”
“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.”
Colossians 3:5-11
Praise God that I died and Christ now lives in me! I don’t want any of those nasty sins of my old self in my life with Jesus! Since we know what kinds of things belong to the old self that needs to die, what are the attributes of the new self that is “being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator?” Paul has something to say about that too!
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”
Colossians 3:12-14
That is the new self that God gives to every person who believes in Jesus Christ! He puts to death your old self with all the vile sinful rebellion and He renews you into His own image full of His beautiful and holy virtues wrapped in love! Those who believe in Jesus are being renewed every day and we are called holy and dearly loved! May the Lord clothe us with all of those virtues and may we live abundant lives in His forgiveness and love, in the Name of Jesus, Amen!
Paul also gives us very practical ways to live life peacefully in our new self that is hidden in Jesus. Living this way will help us strengthen our new self and make sure that old self stays dead.
“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Colossians 3:15-17
I am so glad my old self died! Thank You Jesus!!! May we never forget that truth! When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we die and we are given a new life in Christ that far surpasses anything we could have ever lived in our old life of sin and death. We have been raised with Christ and filled with His love! Praise God we will appear with Him in glory! I pray we all let His peace rule in our hearts, we would be thankful with a song in our hearts, let His Word dwell in us richly as we share the word of God in His wisdom, and live our lives fully for Jesus no matter what we do, in Jesus’ Name, Amen!
“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 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ–the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.”
Philippians 3:7-9
“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”
Philippians 3:20-21
Remember, if you believe in Jesus, then “You died,” and you were given a new self with a new life and that life is Jesus! He has raised you up and He is your life, and when your journey is complete, He will take you home to Heaven to rest for eternity in His glory!
Grace and peace to you all!
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
Good morning friends and family! Blessings to you all in the Name of Jesus! Consider that verse in Romans this morning. We all need clothes to go about our day. We have our undies, shirt, pants or dress, socks, and shoes and we all have to put on our clothes before we walk out the door. Before we start our day, the Lord wants us to think about clothing ourselves with one more very important covering, and that is Jesus Christ!
We live in a battlefield and we need to clothe ourselves with Jesus just like we clothe our bodies. Cover yourself completely and wrap yourself in Jesus! Let His love warm your heart and let his forgiveness and mercy cover all your sins! Whatever you do, just don’t leave the house without clothing yourself in Jesus first!
Through Jesus we can overcome our sinful nature and not even think about how to gratify its evil desires. I don’t know about you, but I don’t ever want to leave the house naked, and I definitely don’t ever want to leave the house without covering myself in Jesus! Jesus is our protection and comfort. Jesus is our peace. Jesus is our defender. Don’t leave home without Him!
That is a powerful verse of truth we can truly rest in! Jesus Christ is the Righteous One and He speaks to God in our defense! That is incredible! No matter who you are or what you have done, when you believe in Jesus Christ you are forgiven and He defends you! Even if we stumble, He defends us and lifts us up again! Praise God!
Check out what the next verse says:
“He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”
1 John 2:2
It is through our faith in Jesus that we find forgiveness of sins and are reconciled back to God. Don’t ever forget that! Jesus is the only One, the Righteous One, who died for your sins. Jesus is the atoning sacrifice. Not works or religion or any other way.
What does atoning mean? In the dictionary it means “to make amends, to appease, to reconcile, to bring into agreement, and to bring into unity.” That is what Jesus did for us when He died on that cross! Through Jesus Christ the whole world can make amends for their sins! Through His sacrifice Jesus appeased the wrath of God as God’s wrath was poured out on Him for our sins. Through faith in Jesus Christ the whole world is offered reconciliation with God the Father and He alone brings us into agreement and unity with God! Jesus Christ is the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the whole world!
Keep that truth deep in your heart and let it grow! Jesus is the Righteous One and He “speaks to the Father in our defense!” There is no other name that we can be saved by (Acts 4:12) and no one else will speak for you before the Father in Heaven. You must know Jesus to be saved!
Consider the verses just before chapter 2 of 1 John:
“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”
1 John 1:5-7
“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.”
1 John 1:8-10
God is NOT a liar folks! We all know deep in our souls that we have sinned. All of us have, and we all desperately need forgiveness from our Savior.
“But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
Romans 3:21-24
“God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished–he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”
Romans 3:25-26
That is why Jesus is called the Righteous One and that is why He has the power to speak in defense of every single person who believes in Him! Jesus is our atonement and we are justified and redeemed through His blood alone! That my friends is real hope! Thank You 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. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile–the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Romans 10:9-13
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.”
Romans 8:1-2
Grace and peace to you all in the Righteous Name of Jesus!
I have always liked watching the clouds roll by to reveal blue skies and I have always liked watching the morning mist evaporate in the glorious rays of sunrise. The book of Isaiah prophesied the coming of Jesus and how He would bring forgiveness to the whole world. The name Isaiah literally means “YAHWEH is salvation” in Hebrew. The major message throughout the entire prophetic book of Isaiah is a call to return to the Lord, and forgiveness of sins and salvation through the Messiah Jesus. Last night, the Lord showed me the above verse in Isaiah 44:22 and it is a beautiful image of how we have been forgiven through Jesus!
Remember that today! If you believe in Jesus Christ, then your sins have been swept away like the clouds and morning mist! If you have stumbled, get back up because you are redeemed! Press on and return to the Lord! He is waiting for you with open arms!
I pray we rest in the deep and perfect forgiveness of the Lord. A forgiveness that sweeps away our sins as if they never happened! God, YAHWEH, the Great I AM, is loving, forgiving, and good and He longs for us to return to Him moment by moment every day!
If you do not know Jesus yet, please know that He longs to sweep away your sins and redeem you! Let the God of all creation save your soul! God is love and He longs to forgive you and receive you as His child!
Grace and peace to you all!
Be blessed and rest in the forgiveness we have through Jesus!
Good morning everyone! My son has caught a cold, so he is home with me today. Prayers are appreciated! I prayed about what to write today and the only verse that popped into my mind was 1 Timothy 6:6. The Lord has used that verse many times during my suffering. It is one of 7 verses that He has used to help me over the last almost 7 years since I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. It will be 7 years on 1-6-2019.
Contentment is not something most people have in this world. That’s because we can’t truly be content without God. We can’t have godliness without God, and more specifically without His Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit of God inside of us that makes us godly and it is His godliness that leads us to contentment.
I need to remember that today. We can rest in God’s love for us. We can rest in His forgiveness through our faith in Jesus Christ. We can be at peace in His mercy and grace. Yes friends, godliness with contentment is great gain!
The things of this world will never ever satisfy your heart. The things of this world will not lead to contentment in any way, shape, or form. We all have a God shaped hole in our hearts that only He can fill. We were purposefully designed that way!
No matter how much money you have or how many things you possess, it will never fill your heart and lead to contentment. When everything in your life is stripped away and all you are left with is God, it is easier to realize that. Unfortunately, many of us have to go through that and God has to teach us that He is in control by removing the things in our lives that are holding us down or holding us back from being truly content in Him.
I am most likely still going through that and the Lord wanted to remind me that although I have lost many things in my life, I have great gain in Him! Yes, godliness with contentment is great gain and I am learning that more and more as I walk with the Lord. No amount of lost money or health or anything can ever take away the great gain I have in Jesus! I pray all of God’s people can be content in that truth!
Something very encouraging and funny happened to me this morning. The Lord spoke a very familiar verse to me that He has used many times during my time of suffering. When I was first starting the blog earlier this year in August, I wrote a post about how He has used this verse in my life titled “Boomerang Blessing!” The verse is Jeremiah 29:11 and the Lord just keeps using it to remind me that I am under His care and protection and that is very encouraging!
So, this morning I was looking through my Twitter notifications and I saw a new person had followed me. This person is a Christian and wouldn’t you know it, the verse they chose to put along with the title of their account is Jeremiah 29:11 written out just like I have it in the Scripture pin above! I just started laughing and praising God! He wanted to make sure I knew that He is still with me and He has a plan! Thank you Lord for continuing to use that verse in my life! Amen!
When I saw that verse this morning, I immediately thought of the post “Boomerang Blessing!” because that is exactly what just happened to me again this morning. I was hurting bad yesterday and I was not exactly thinking about Jeremiah 29:11, then this morning that same boomerang blessing comes flying into my heart to lift me up! God is awesome how He encourages our hearts!
Thank you to all of you for praying for me and thank you for reaching out yesterday! I appreciate how you received my difficult post with grace and understanding. The Lord is speaking many things to my heart. A great sister in Christ I met here on WordPress when I first started the blog contacted me yesterday and she let me know that God impressed upon her to tell me that He is not angry with me. It brought me to tears and the Lord moved in my heart in a new way that I am praying over and learning to rest in. Thank you for listening to the Lord sister! Thank you all for obeying the Lord! I praise God for every word of encouragement and edification I received yesterday. May His will be done!
May we never forget (that includes me) that God has an awesome plan for us and we can trust Him no matter what–even when we don’t understand! God showed me last night before I went to bed that my questions do not bother or anger Him and they are not too difficult for Him. He is glad I give Him my heart. I am looking forward to seeing how God blesses and delivers us and I am looking forward to telling you all about it! Let us never forget that He loves us and He will never leave us nor forsake us!
Grace and peace to you all!
“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.”
John 3:16
“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
“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.”
I wanted to take a moment and recognize Stan Lee. He died today at the age of 95. I loved all the Marvel Comics and I had a bunch of them growing up. I still have a box under the stairs filled with old comics. Spider-Man was my favorite and I loved hulk too. I had a Spider-Man big wheel in the 80s folks! I loved reading about all the super heroes in the comics and I watched all the cartoons growing up. Stan Lee definitely had a big impact on my childhood, so I wanted to pay my respect to him and his family.
“Stan Lee, the writer, editor, and former publisher and president of Marvel Comics who co-invented Spider-Man and was responsible for turning superhero comic books into a phenomenon, died Monday at the age of 95. Lee was taken to Los Angeles’ Cedars Sinai Medical Center on Monday after suffering a medical emergency; he was declared dead shortly afterwards, Lee’s daughter confirmed to Variety.” -Douglas Wolk, Rolling Stone
Ron Galella, Getty Images
It always amazes me when someone lives to be over 90! Stan was a great writer with an incredible imagination and his stories will continue on. My son loves Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor, and Hulk and we have enjoyed the cartoons and movies many times together. It is always fun to see Stan’s cameos in the movies! I have always loved the lessons in Stan’s stories of standing up for what is right and doing the right thing even in the face of adversity. His comics sparked dreams of what could be for many young kids and who knows, maybe God even used my love of comics to draw me to Jesus.
I love that cartoon pin! Jesus truly is our ultimate super hero who has conquered sin and death and saved the world! He even gives us “super powers” in the Holy Spirit too! Super heroes are so popular because deep in our hearts we all desperately want to be rescued! We were designed to need God. The Marvel characters are fun to read about in comics and watch in movies, but the truth of God’s power and love in real life are so much better because in the end we need more than a super hero. We need a Savior!
May God bless and comfort the Lee family.
Grace and peace to you all!
“I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.”
I want to first say thank you to everyone who reached out to me today! Thank you all for your encouragement and your prayers! I’m going to be okay and I have not lost my faith in God for a second! I know He can do anything. He had an angel pick me up once for crying out loud! He is the God of all creation and He can do anything! God gave me an intensely inquisitive mind and I just have questions that I am not afraid to ask because I take God at His Word when He says I can approach Him with freedom and confidence. It’s not a lack of faith. It’s quite the opposite! I have so much faith that I get mad at times when God doesn’t move because I know how He can move in power and I fully expect Him to! It’s just He usually doesn’t do it the way I think He will, but it always ends up better than anything I could have imagined anyway.
And that leads me to the title of this post. It’s funny what God will use to help us. Today, I was beat down and broken. You all know this. I was honest about it and I asked for prayer. Well, God is answering your prayers and this is how He did it!
I sat down to eat lunch and God told me to watch the movie called “All Saints.” I had seen it this weekend on Starz, but we didn’t watch it. The Lord reminded me of it and clearly gave me a nudge to watch it, so I said, “okay, Lord, I will watch it.” I am glad I did!
The pain and hardships in this true story are so real and raw and I related deeply to the main Pastor Michael Spurlock and the challenges he faced. What God did for Michael and his family, the church, the people from Burma, and the whole community is beautiful and it continues to this day. I don’t want to say too much about the movie and I don’t usually plug movies, but I recommend watching it. It is how real life feels and it shows the real challenges, hurts, disappointments, and questions we deal with as we follow the Lord. It is also about the love and faithfulness of the Lord and that is the best part! I was in tears through a lot of it, so grab a tissue box.
God gave me a new perspective today and I praise Him for that! I am still struggling through my challenges, but I’ll be alright and I will be back at it tomorrow. I hope and pray that sharing my questions, hardships, and struggles will help somebody else who might be feeling the same way. Jesus will always be there for you! He cares about you! And He loves you!
Thank you all for being such great friends! Grace and peace to you all!
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