Author: Inspirations By Katheryn

I am kind of a world traveler. I have lived in Korea, United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka, Tokyo, Canada, Afghanistan, India and USA. I remember when President Kennedy was assassinated, watched the first human walk on the moon, Alaska became a state, President Kennedy & Martin Luther King were shot, and the first human walked on the moon. I remember when the first Star Wars movie came out, 900 religiously misguided humans committed suicide in Guyana, when Microsoft was "invented" and the Ayatollah Khoumeini took over Iran, kicked out western companies (employers) and returned his country to the dark ages. I WAS THERE WHEN MOUNT SAINT HELENS BLEW. I remember when the Berlin Wall fell, the Internet was created, the first warm-blooded animal was cloned (a sheep) and the Hubble Telescope was launched - all in the 1980s. And you?

Monday 9/10 ~ In comfort or pain

On September 10, 2018 By Inspirations By KatherynIn blessings, discouragement, eternity, Loss, problems, victoryLeave a comment

The scripture for today, September 10 (9/10), is Psalm 9:10 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.”

What if we had a friend who we never called by name? It was always “Hey, you”. Our friendship wouldn’t last long because the other person would feel like we weren’t friends after all. Makes sense.

So, what does “Lord” mean in the original Hebrew language of the Old Testament? It is Yahweh, translated into Greek as Adonai.

In Exodus 3:15b God told Moses what his name was: ” ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers…This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.’ ”

And what does Yahweh mean? Exodus 3:14 explained, “God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites; ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” God is the great I AM.

Today’s verse does not say the Great I Am will keep you from all harm. What it says is that he will go with you into that harm and stay with you the whole way, giving you strength and courage.

And so, in peace or war, in comfort or pain, in well-being or devastation, he will be right there with you. He will never forsake you. Therefore, never forsake him. Keep on worshipping ~ the Lord our God, the Great I AM.

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Sunday 9/9 ~Donkeys and Mules: The Ride of Kings

On September 9, 2018 By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, Inspirational, judging, knowledge, Life of Christ, truth, worshipLeave a comment

The scripture for today, September 9 (9/9), is Zechariah 9:9 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

Most people think Jesus riding on a donkey made him humble. Not at all. Donkeys and mules were rides of kings.

Judges 5:9-10 says, “My heart is with Israel’s princes….you who ride on white donkeys.” Supreme Judge Jair led Israel 22 years and had 30 sons who rode 30 donkeys (Judges 10:3-4). Supreme Judge Abdon, who ruled Israel 8 years, had 70 sons and grandsons who rode on 70 donkeys (Judges 12:14).

II Samuel 18:9 says Absalom, King David’s son, rode on a mule. In I Kings 1:33,38,44, David ordained that his son, Solomon, ride on his own mule through the street as one proof that he chose Solomon to be the next king.

The people of Jerusalem knew Jesus was not only riding the ride of kings when he entered their capital city, but he was also, at last, fulfilling the centuries-old prophecy they all knew so well (today’s scripture).

This is the humility that Jesus did exhibit: He rode on the colt of a donkey.

Do we blindly follow whatever our religious leaders tell us? Do we know the scriptures as well as we think we do?

Let us glory in learning new things about our King of Glory.

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Saturday 9/8 ~ Governments and Martyrdoms

On September 8, 2018September 8, 2018 By Inspirations By KatherynIn death, discouragement, Enemies, governments, Inspirational, power, prayer, weaknessLeave a comment

The scripture for today, September 8, is Daniel 9:8 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“O Lord, we and our kings, our princes, and our fathers are covered with shame because we have sinned against you.”

Daniel was what some might call the prime minister of Babylon. He was part of the government. Before that, he was of the royal house of the Jews in Jerusalem. He was part of the government there too. Both governments needed prayer. Have you prayed for your government lately? I Timothy 2:1 & 2 says “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made for everyone ~ for kings and all those in authority.”

At the time of this writing, Nero Caesar. The first-century historian Tacitus said this about Nero in his Annals 15:44: “But all human efforts, all the lavish gifts of the emperor, and the propitiations of the gods, did not banish the sinister belief that the conflagration was the result of an order. Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called “Christians” by the populace.

“Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilate, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their center and become popular.

“Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired.”

If the Apostle Paul could pray for such a government leader, can’t you follow his instructions? Why don’t you stop and pray for your own government right now?

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Friday 9/7 ~ You mean I don’t have to tithe?

On September 7, 2018 By Inspirations By KatherynIn blessings, Inspirational, joy, judging, loveLeave a comment

The scripture for today, September 7 (9/7), is 2nd Corinthians 9:7 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

There are many religious leaders who insist that Christians tithe. But that was part of the Law of Moses, which we no longer keep. If we pick one item, we have to pick them all including stoning people. Let’s look at Law-of-Moses tithing:

Actually, the Jews were required to give more than a tenth. (1) Deuteronomy 26:12 said the Jews had to give an extra tithe every three years for their welfare program. So, if someone tithed $900 a year, s/he would have to tithe an average of $300 more per year for the welfare program, equaling $1,200 year. If the yearly income was $9000, this would take it up to 13.3% a year.

(2) Also, according to Leviticus 27, they had to pay for their vows, which in many cases were really special prayer requests. (3) They also had to buy animals for sacrifices for intentional sins, unintentional sins, and sins requiring restitution.

(4) If they wanted to thank God for anything, they had to buy grain for a sacrifice (Leviticus 1-5). If they didn’t have to buy the animals or grain, they had to take them out of their own supply, thus depleting their own “paycheck.”

(5) And every time one of their flocks or herds had a first-born, they had to sacrifice it ~ another depleting of the “paycheck.”

So the good Jew under the Law of Moses did not just tithe. He ended up giving about one-third of his income. Galatians 5:3 says that, if we keep one part of the Law, we have to keep all of it. There were over 600 burdensome commandments in the Law of Moses!

In today’s scripture, Christians are being released from this burden. Instead, they are being told to decide in their own heart. Christians are released from serving and giving through obligation and set free to serve and give out of love.

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Thursday 9/6 ~ God is One!

On September 6, 2018 By Inspirations By KatherynIn blessings, Inspirational, Life of Christ, power, praise, truth, worshipLeave a comment

The scripture for today, September 6 (9/6), is Isaiah 9:6 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible.

“For to us a child is born! To us a son is given! And the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace!”

This is one of the most amazing scriptures in the entire Bible explaining how God is One and self-existent. It is as astounding as John 1:1,14 that says, “In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God…The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

This child predicted to be born unto us was both Father and Son and God. He created Himself. He was self-existent.

He is the image of the invisible God. ”For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell” (Colossians 1:15, 19; cf. 2 Corinthians 4:4). The men who saw Jesus Christ saw God (John 12:45, 14:9). God’s blood (God’s Word in flesh) was shed on the cross (Acts 20:28).

In America, we sometimes say about a son, “he is the spitting image of his father.” Jesus said, “If you want to look at the Father, look at me.” God is a Spirit but created us in a material world. So, sometimes God materialized in the Old Testament. In the New Testament he materialized as Jesus.

This is so amazing. And we have been so blessed beyond full comprehension.

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Wednesday 9/5 ~ Stand up and do what?

On September 5, 2018 By Inspirations By KatherynIn Inspirational, joy, praise, Thanksgiving, worshipLeave a comment

The scripture for today, September 5 (9/5), is Nehemiah 9:5a as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“And the Levites ~ Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherabiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah and Pethahiah ~ said ‘Stand up and praise the Lord your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting.’ “

Who in the world are these eight men? We know nothing about them before this event and nothing about them after this event. But they are forever memorialized in the Bible because, on this one day, within this one hour, in this one moment in time they “stood on the steps of the temple…and called with a loud voice” (Nehemiah 9:4) for the people to “stand up and praise the Lord”.

Can we do that? Can we stand and shout to people around us, “Stand up and praise the Lord your God”? Yes, we can. We can write letters to the editor, we can encourage other students of the Bible, we can start Bible studies in our home or even the internet for adults or children, we can take scripture tray favors to a hospital or nursing home.

In what way can you tell people around you to “stand up and praise the Lord your God”? Write down some ideas. Then act.

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Tuesday 9/4 ~ Shhh. Listen. Do you hear him?

On September 4, 2018 By Inspirations By KatherynIn attitude, Daily, eternity, Heaven, humility, knowledge, truth1 Comment

The scripture for today, September 4 (9/4), is Daniel 9:4 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: ‘O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands….’ “

A lot of people in the world think God should feel obligated to take them to heaven. After all, they are fairly good, and better than some. God couldn’t possibly in all good conscience turn them away.

Yet, their entire life they resent God. They don’t like his few commands; they don’t want anyone telling them what to do or not do. Or they claim to love God but create their own commands that just aren’t in the Bible, making themselves God. What confusion!

Ultimately, heaven is God’s home, not ours. He is not obligated to invite anyone into His home. Besides, only perfection can live with God who is perfect. It only takes one sin to make us an imperfect sinner.

So how do we become perfect? That’s where God’s awesomeness is demonstrated. By following Jesus who was perfect and never sinned, and obeying Jesus’ few commands, God considers us perfect by proxy.

But it’s like a boomerang. God treats us the way we treat him. If we don’t take time for God, he doesn’t take time for us. If we don’t like to spend time praising him, he doesn’t spend time praising us. Actually, if we don’t really like anything about God, we would be miserable in heaven.

God never forces himself on anyone. But he keeps on calling. Shhh. Listen. Do you hear him?

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The Spirit of Labor Day

On September 3, 2018 By Inspirations By KatherynIn InspirationalLeave a comment

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Have we lost the spirit of Labor Day?

Today Labor Day is no longer about trade unionists marching down the street with banners and their tools of the trade. Instead, it is a confused holiday with no associated rituals.

The original holiday was meant to handle a problem of long working hours and no time off. Although the battle over these issues would seem to have been won long ago, this issue is starting to come back with a vengeance, not for manufacturing workers but for highly skilled white-collar workers, many of whom are constantly connected to work.

If you work all the time and never really take a vacation, start a new ritual that honors the original spirit of Labor Day. Give yourself the day off. Don’t go into work. Shut off your phone, computer and other electronic devices connecting you to your daily grind. Then go to a barbecue, like the original participants did over a century ago, and celebrate having at least one day off from work during the year!

The Eclectic Economist

Monday 9/3 ~ Are you God’s forever temple?

On September 3, 2018 By Inspirations By KatherynIn blessings, eternity, Inspirational, joy, problems, worshipLeave a comment

The scripture for today, September 3 (9/3), is 1st Kings 9:3 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“The Lord said to him, ‘I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.’ “

The New Testament builds spiritual concepts on the basic material patterns of the Old Testament. For example, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” (1st Corinthians 3:16). This is the temple God wants now, not the old material temple of the Old Testament.

Just as there was just one material temple of God in the Old Testament, God looks upon each Christian as though we are the only temple; for he is with us constantly and hears our every word, our every song, our every prayer.

Is your heart troubled today? Is your heart joyful today? Are you at peace with everything around you? Do you see conflicts that you do not know how to solve?

As God’s temple, God’s eyes and heart are with you. God sees and watches out for you in everything you do. He knows your cares, your heart’s desires, your joys, your worries. God’s eyes and heart are forever with you, for you are God’s temple!

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