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?
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The scripture for today, April 14, is Esther 4:14b as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

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Today’s scripture is about a reluctant young lady who won a beauty contest and was chosen to be queen of Persia. Time has passed, and now a command had just gone out to kill all Jews. Esther was a Jewess but had not told anyone at the royal court. She could continue to hide her nationality and let all her people die, or she could intervene with the king. She was the only Jew the king would have listened to. So she took the chance that she, too, would be killed and spoke on behalf of her people. They were saved.

There are always situations in life in which you are the only one who can accomplish something very needed. Perhaps you are the only adult standing near a strange child who is about to run out into a busy road. Perhaps you are tall and a short person needs to reach
something at the store. Perhaps you know a particular language and others around you need you to explain something to them. Perhaps someone called a wrong number on the telephone and reached you instead.

As we go through life, there are situations in which you are the only one who can handle them. Do you? Do you watch for those situations, or do you walk around in your own little world?

Listen! It’s the silent cries of people only you can help. Do you hear them?

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The scripture for today, April 13, is Philippians 4:13 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

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Life is not easy. Plans are scattered, dreams are shattered, and even predictable every-day things sometimes give way to the unknown and unpredictable. Maybe you have made bad decisions, or you weren’t prepared for emergencies, or you are an innocent victim of someone else’s problems.

But there is Someone who knows everything that is happening to you and who will walk beside you down whatever path you find yourself. Further, even if you lose faith in Him, He will not lose faith in you.

When you don’t feel like it, reach out to God. Pray, even if all you can think of talking about is how terrible things are right now. At least you’re talking. And read the Bible, for that is God talking to you. Keep the two-way communication going. Amidst your weeping when you fall, God will give you strength and once again lift you up.

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The scripture for today, April 12, is Colossians 4:12 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BOOK 6-PROMISE KEEPER-Cover-Createspace“He is always wrestling in prayer for you.”

Do you have fast-food prayers? Drive in, ask for something for yourself, and drive out two minutes later?

How about trying gourmet prayers ~ where you gather many ingredients, not just one? They take longer, but are very special and rewarding.

Your menu is your prayer list. People on your list don’t even have to be people who know personally. They can be from the newspaper, teachers at a local school, government officials, your neighbors, your congregation. List people by name. Pray for them by name.

Then tell these people you are praying for them. You may think you’ll get some strange looks, but mostly, even from the unreligious, you will get a smile and a whispered thank you. Some will actually reply, “No one before has ever told me they were praying for me.” After awhile, you will begin receiving word from some of them, “I am praying for you too.”

Prayer is wonderful. It is most wonderful when it centers, not on yourself, but on struggling in prayer for others.

One by one you will begin seeing amazing answers in the lives of those you pray for. And that’s a promise!

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The scripture for today, April 11, is Exodus 4:11 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord?”

This is a dynamic verse, for it helps answer questions of, “If God is so good, why did he allow me/my relative to become deaf/blind?”. God gives each of us an assignment in life. Everyone has something to overcome. The challenge is for us to do it with the smile of faith 0-BOOK 2-DREAM MAKER-COVERon our lips.

Paul said in 2nd Corinthians 12:10, “For Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses ….For when I am weak, then I am strong!” If God did not believe you or your relative or friend could handle your affliction, he would not allow you to have it. It’s almost as if the more affliction you have, the more faith God is showing in you. And the more we have to rely on God, the more faith we can show in God.

After all, 2nd Corinthians 6:1 says we are workers together with God. This is your assignment. What a privilege!

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The scripture for today, April 10, is Zechariah 4:10 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

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We tend admire big things ~ big buildings, big empires, big trees, big causes. Sometimes it is difficult to remember that those things started out small.

Have you been wanting to accomplish something big? All buildings started out with one board or one stone. All empires started out with one person. All big trees started out as one seed. All big causes started out with one dream.

Perhaps your desire in life started out small, but stayed small. Doesn’t mean it will always be small. It may become big years from now, or even in someone else’s lifetime. Don’t despise what you have now.

Or, if you have been putting off trying to do something big for a long time, make today the day of your beginning. Let no one despise your day of small things.

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The scripture for today, April 9, is 1st John 4:9f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BOOK 7-SHADOW OF DEATH-Cover“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.”

We human do not have the will to live perfect lives. We give in to sin. We can never get it right. Romans 6:23 says the wages of sin is death. In the Old Testament era, God let people kill an animal in their place whenever they sinned, but it had to be done over and over.

Then God put a stop to that by sending his Son to us for awhile with a body, so his Son’s body could be killed (paying our wages) in our place.

Finally, God invited mankind to “live through him” ~ that is, become Christians. How do we become alive through Jesus? Of course we know about believing Jesus was the Son of God and repenting of our sins. Also Romans 6:4 says when we are baptized, we begin to live a new life, we are born again.

But it does not stop there. We must try the best we can to live as Jesus lived, speak as Jesus spoke, love as Jesus loved. We are not saved by good works because we are still sinners, but we do demonstrate our salvation through the love of God by good works (James 2). With Jesus living in us, we are his mouth, his hands, his feet. It is then that we offer our own bodies as daily sacrifices (Romans 12:1).

This is love.

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The scripture for today, April 8, is 2nd Timothy 4:8 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BOOK EIGHT-COME FLY WITH ME-Cover“Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day ~ and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

The Apostle Paul was about in his seventies at this writing. He’d been converted probably in his thirties. He’d spent the past forty years telling people how to escape hell, tolerating persecution, sometimes hunger, seldom staying in a city longer than a year, always on the go, never satisfied with the number of people he had reached with the News. Now he was in prison.

“For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

Oh, that we all could say this at the end of our life.

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The scripture for today, April 7, is Proverbs 4:7 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

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The verse just before this says, “Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you.” And the verse just after today’s says, “Esteem her and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will honor you.”

How do we get wisdom? The Bible is full of it. Proverbs was written by Solomon, the wisest man in the world. Just reading and applying Proverbs would give a person wisdom. And the entire Old Testament gives examples of numerous people through the centuries who did or did not do right, and the result of their decisions.

Many religious people neglect the Old Testament. It is not always pleasant reading. But by reading it, we can avoid the mistakes made by many, and perhaps gain courage to imitate the courageous one who made the right choices.

How about reading the Bible through every year? To read both the Old and New Testament through in a year would take about 20 minutes a day. Some people have read the entire Bible front to back forty or fifty times. Make this a priority in your life. It will give you wisdom.

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The scripture for today, April 6, is 1st Corinthians 4:6 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

WORSHIP THE FIRST-CENTURY WAY-COVER-KINDLE“…learn from us the meaning of the saying, ‘Do not go beyond what is written.’ Then you will not take pride in one man over against another.”

Periodically through the Bible there appears this same warning for us to not “go beyond what is written.” 2nd Peter 1:20 says prophecy is scripture. Prophecy was needed before the New Testament was written, but no more after that, for now the prophecy of the apostles had been written down..

It is important to find out if what we are being taught is “beyond what is written.” It can be done. How? Simple. Use a concordance. A concordance is the size of a large-city telephone book in fine print and includes every word in the Bible and every scripture that contains each word. There are some concordances on the internet too. Here is one:

http://bibletab.com

You are an intelligent person. Don’t take for granted what others tell you. Check things for yourself. Read the Bible for yourself. Decide for yourself whether any of your church leaders have gone “beyond what is written.” You can do it. And you will be liberated by what you learn.

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0-BOOK 7-SHADOW OF DEATH-Cover…Just a few more moments now. Just a few more deadening moments. Then release. Then you will be with your Father again. Oh, it’s been so long. Soon now, it will be all over…

Jesus’ heavy laden heart struggles with his dehydrated broken body to pump thick, heavy, sluggish blood to a resistant, barely living being.

“I thirst,” he whispers.

One last request. It is time to will himself to die.

Can they refuse? No! Look! Someone has had mercy on you, Son of God! He’s taking a sponge dipped in vinegar, and now…and now…he is offering it to you, thirsty Savior. A drink.

With the weariness of dying, Jesus takes the vinegar and it momentarily helps the nausea.

His tormented swollen heart labors slower and slower. Gradually and increasingly surrounded by a contemptible, mocking serum, his heart strains even harder as it struggles to pump just a few more drops of blood. Slower it pumps, and slower…

….Everything is getting so dim, so hazy, so blurry…. Where is everything going? Around and around. Spinning, spinning, back, farther and farther, faster, faster, faster!

He groans. “It…is…finished…”

…Finished. Your work all completed. Everything as you knew it would be. And now, oh Lamb of God, die! The sacrifice is completed. But for your sins, Son of God? No, of course not. You have none. You’ve been perfect, unselfish one, from your human birth, the whole way. All of this has been for the others.

…Everything is getting so far away….so far away….so far away. It’s so lonely….no one here….so hazy….all alone….forsaken….desolate…

…Something drawing….something….something drawing you to it. What is it? Where is it coming from? Look up! But the pain – the cramping relentless pain – so merciless. Torturing to the very end. But look up. Look up! Quick! Don’t you see?

He calls out. ” Father!” Yes, he’s coming for you! ” Father! I know you’re there. My spirit…it’s yours!”

…Just a little more now! Just a little closer….

His head lifts up in all the defiance of death. His body jerks and writhes, his knotted muscles strain. Just a little closer now…

His heart swells…trembles…and bursts. And with a loud piercing cry that shakes the foundations of the earth, Jesus sends his liberated spirit rushing at last to the outstretched arms of God.

“Oh my Son! My Son!”

[Excerpt from Shadow of Death, Book 7 of Soul Journey With Jesus]