Tag: Love

Good morning and happy Friday to everyone!  My kids are on fall break for the next 10 days starting today, so I will be spending a lot of time with them.  My wife had to work today, but her break starts this afternoon!  My wife teaches at the charter school our kids attend, which is a huge blessing for our family!  I will still be checking my messages and doing posts to my blog, but not as frequently.  We will be enjoying time together as a family and doing some traveling around our great state of Colorado taking the kids to new places!  I hope to get some great pictures for the blog too!

I have been thinking about the above verse in Ephesians lately.  Read that again please, and take time to consider it.  If you believe in Jesus Christ, then you have been given EVERY spiritual blessing in Christ!  That is phenomenal to think about!  When I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior in 1996, God blessed me in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing He gave to Jesus!  You were blessed in the same way when you accepted Christ!  For those of you who don’t know Jesus yet, you will be blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ once you receive Him!

That is incredible folks and that is a very positive truth to think about!  God loves us so much that He blessed us like He blessed Jesus!  What a humbling and encouraging truth!

Grace and peace to you all!  Jesus loves you!

 

 

 

 

Did you know Jesus prayed for Himself before He was crucified?  Yes, He prayed for Himself, His disciples, and for all believers before He died for us.  Today I want to focus on the prayer Jesus prayed for Himself.  What He prays is beautiful and it is clear that He knew what His purpose was and that He knew His time had come.  As you can see in the above verse, Jesus also made the definition of eternal life very clear.

Here is the prayer Jesus prayed for Himself before he was brutally executed:

“After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:

“Father, the time has come.  Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.  For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.  Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.  I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.  And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”

John 17:1-5

That last line is especially amazing to me!  Jesus was with God before the world began!  That is what the beginning of the Book of John talks about!

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of men.”

John 1:1-4

Jesus is the Word!  He is God in human flesh!  That is why He prayed, “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”  Our Creator died for us, so we could be in Heaven with Him forever!  That is mighty!

Jesus has authority over all people, so He can give us eternal life!  Jesus is our eternal life!  His prayer was answered too when He was crucified, dead and buried, rose back to life on the third day, and ascended into Heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father!  He was most definitely glorified in the Father’s presence just as He had prayed!  Amen!

Jesus loves you and that is why He died for you.  Don’t ever forget that!  There is no fear in coming to Jesus.  His perfect love drives out fear (1 John 4:18)!

Grace and peace to you all!

P.S.

I took the above photo with the flowers while sitting at a red light on the way to pick up my kids from school yesterday.  God’s beauty is everywhere!  God bless you all!

 

 

 

 

Yes, Jesus said that!  He is the only One to ever say that in fact!  Read those lines carefully, for they hold a truth so important that it can save your soul!  God has made the way back to Him very clear, and that way is Jesus.

Be encouraged!  God has provided a way out of the valley of the shadow of death!  You do not need to fear death any longer!  Hallelujah!

God bless you all!

 

 

I am praising God right now and I want to share why!  I also want to share a prayer request tied to that praise!  I just received the opportunity to share the Gospel by giving my book to the plumber who came to our house this morning to fix our leaky shower!

Only God could take a leaky shower and turn it into something good!  This man has come to our home before and his name is Jacob.  He looks to be in his late 20s or early 30s.  He did an excellent job fixing our sump pump back in 2016, and he did an excellent job on our shower today.  He makes it look so easy!

I let Jacob know that I am an author and I have a book on Amazon.  When he was outside writing up the invoice, I went downstairs and wrote a note to him in one of the paperback versions I have on hand.  After I was done paying the bill, I handed him the copy of the book and said, “I want you to have a copy of my book, especially with Halloween coming up.  I appreciate you Jacob.  Thank you for the good work you do.  God bless you.”  As I blessed him I patted him on the shoulder and smiled.  With that, he thanked me and smiled back as he looked at his new book and we shook hands.  God is so good folks!  What a fine day the Lord has made!

Holy Spirit filled prayer warriors, please pray for Jacob today!  The Lord struck a blow to the evil one today!  Pray Jacob is safe as he does his work.  Pray that the Lord will open his heart to the truth and he will receive it with joy!  Pray he comes to know Jesus!  Pray for him in the Spirit!

Thank you Jesus!

Grace and peace to you all!

P.S.

What really amazes me is that God set that appointment up before the beginning of time!  He is I AM!  Try wrapping your mind around that one!  Glory to God!

 

 

 

That is a powerful promise for every believer in Jesus Christ!  No matter what you are going through right now, God is working it out for your good!  That is eternally encouraging!

The above photo reminds me of God’s goodness!  I took that photo on our vacation to San Diego this summer back in June.  At one point during my suffering with Celiac I thought I was going to die.  The doctors said what I suffered was very similar to cancer suffering.  I can relate to Hezekiah (Isaiah 38) because that is exactly what I felt like!  I was laid out in the dust of the earth and I was done!  I could not imagine ever going on vacation or doing anything ever again.  I was making preparations to go home with Jesus!

 

I had no idea what God had in store for me and my family!  After over 6 years of suffering where I was pretty much home bound, it was amazing to be able to get on a plane again and fly to California!  I felt so free!  I love Cali and San Diego was beautiful!  The people were super cool too!  The Lord even used me to minister to some guys from Mexico who came to the rental house to help with the pool.  I shared Christ with them and gave them each a paperback version of my book with a little note I wrote to each one of them.  I was able to hold hands with them and pray with them, and the one guy got so excited that he was jumping up and down and waving his arms around praising the Lord!  It was awesome!  You know me, vacation or not, I’m going to preach and help people!  All glory to Jesus!  It is awesome to watch Him work!

It was a great vacation and the Lord proved to me that He is not done with me yet!  He continues to show me that every day too!  He is working out this Celiac Disease for good!  I know I can trust in Jesus and so can you!  He has it all!

If you don’t know the Lord, then today is a good day to know Him!  Come to Jesus today, receive His love, and let Him work out all things in your life for good!

Grace and peace to you all!

 

Why do I hate Halloween?  Because my family lived with a literal demon from hell the entire time I was in high school, that’s why!  There is nothing fun about a haunted house.  It was terrifying and it almost ruined our lives!  Hear me now, the only reason, and I mean the only reason our lives were not ruined is because of Jesus Christ!

I am warning anyone who thinks Halloween is a joke to not be so careless with your soul!  Anyone who has read my book knows what I have been through.  I love Jesus with all my heart because He rescued me and my entire family from real evil!  I don’t make any money on my book.  I give it away for free!  I have only sold a little over 100 copies and I purchased about 100 of those and gave them away to my entire family.  It is my testimony and I am sharing the Gospel through it.  If you would like a free copy, just contact me through my blog contact page, give me a good email address, and I will email you a free copy of my eBook directly from Amazon.

Here is something I just wrote in the comments section under a post I read regarding haunted cemeteries:

“I must caution anyone who might want to mess with these things on Halloween or any other day.  As someone who lived in a real haunted house all through high school, I must warn everyone not to mess with these evil spirits unless you believe in Jesus Christ and are called to do battle against them by the power of the Holy Spirit!

If you do not know Jesus, please stay away from any place that is said to be haunted! It is no joke!  Angels and demons exist, and if you don’t know Jesus, then demons can mess you up real bad!  Read my book!  Demons masquerade as many things and they can manifest visibly and audibly, and they can touch things in our physical reality.  I hate Halloween because demons love it and satan uses it in a big way.  It is not funny, nor is it fun, and it is no joke!  Our family was delivered from that evil because of Jesus!  My advice to all is to take the spiritual realm very seriously, don’t mess with demons, and give your soul to Jesus!  You need the protection of His blood over your soul!”

-Ryan Callahan (Author of One Man’s Very Strange Supernatural Life)

I am dead serious folks!  Do not mess with the spiritual realm or provoke demons!  Run to Jesus and receive His salvation, forgiveness, and protection!  I plead with you with all my heart, run to Jesus!  He loves you and you need His protection from the very real evil that exists on this earth!

You cannot imagine the fear our family lived through!  Lights turning on and off!  Our dog getting kicked by a force out of thin air!  It made a breathing sound in my ear!  That demon terrorized our family for four years night and day!  That is why I hate Halloween!  I had to live that nightmare every day 365 days per year for four years!

Does it make more sense now why I love Jesus so much and why I am on here preaching about Him all day?  We are in a spiritual war folks!  Whether you like it or not, you are in it too.  You must choose a side and choose wisely before you die.  I am here trying to help you make the most important decision you could ever make regarding your soul!  I know it is not easy and there are a lot of cultural differences in the world, but Jesus died for everyone!  He wants to save your soul!  God does not want anyone to perish!

Yes, there are “spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” just like the Apostle Paul said in Ephesians!  I have lived through it and so has my little sister, my Dad, and my Mom.  I have also engaged in spiritual battle against those forces!  After I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, I went home in the power of the Holy Spirit and cast that demon out of our house in the Name of Jesus!  No more demon after that!

I hate Halloween.  No, we don’t celebrate it.  Our church does a thing for the kids where they can get dressed up, but it is called “Fall Festival” and it is an outreach to share Christ with all the families that come.  Our kids know what happened to me and they know we don’t celebrate it.  I don’t hand out candy either.  I hate scary movies too and I won’t let that filth into my home.  It is real and it is not to be messed with!  There is nothing funny or fun about demon possession of homes or people!  My younger sister woke up one night and saw the thing standing in the corner of her room watching her!  People, listen to me, I am pouring out my heart here!  The spiritual realm is as real as this one and everything the Bible says is true!

Please accept Jesus and His love for you!  He defeated sin, death, and evil when He died on that cross and He did that for you, for me, and for everyone!  God has me out here telling my story, so that people can make a more informed decision about their souls.  He knows most people have never experienced angels and demons.  He knows I have, so He wants me to be brave, and tell people.  I must obey Him, so here I am.

I pray this post encourages you and helps you come to Jesus if you do not know Him yet!  I pray you are all reconciled with your Creator who loves you so deeply it is beyond all we could imagine!  Jesus has already defeated the evil one!  Claim your victory in Christ and overcome the world!

Grace and peace to you all in the Name of Jesus Christ!  Confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” believe with your heart, and be saved!  God bless you all!

 

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!