Monday 11/25 ~ Come death. Be my door.

On November 25, 2019 By Inspirations By KatherynIn #ransom, death, eternity, faith, Fear, Heaven, Inspirational, joy, rest, Thanksgiving, victoryLeave a comment

The scripture for today, November 25 (11/25), is John 11:25 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies.’ “

This has always been puzzling to me: People who have been Christians all their lives find out from their doctor they are going to die, and they weep and beg God to keep them alive. Why?

Heaven is your final destination, not earth. You claim you want to go to heaven, but you do not want to do what is necessary to get there. Death is the door to heaven. Death is not the end, but the beginning!

Why would anyone want to cling to this life in this world with all its problems? Why would anyone who claims to be a Christian wail and cry? Is it because living here is like living in a dark cave and we cannot imagine life with light and color and warmth? Where is all that faith you claimed to have? Where are all the songs you have sung with gusto like, “When We All Get to Heaven”, “When the Roll is Called Up Yonder”, and “I Shall See the King”?

Be willing to look death in the eye and say, “Jesus has conquered you! I will close my eyes here and open them again to behold my Creator and my Savior!” Oh, happy day!

THE ROAD TO HEAVEN begins in the despair of the Garden of Eden, progresses to another garden, the Garden of Gethsemane, and finally to heaven itself. It begins with Satan and ends with Jesus. It begins with death and ends with life. It begins with the long journey from Adam’s and Eve’s sin and ends with hallelujahs in heaven, our home. To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….https://amzn.to/34eO4Ap

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Sunday 11/24 ~ Let your soul soar with thanksgiving

On November 24, 2019 By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, blessings, ego, faith, Heaven, Inspirational, joy, knowledge, Scripture, teaching, Thanksgiving, truth, worshipLeave a comment

The scripture for today, November 24 (11/24), is Ezekiel 11:24 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“The Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the exiles in Babylonia in the vision given by the Spirit of God.”

Symbolism in the Bible is God’ is God’s way of getting deeper into the meaning of something for our human understanding.

For example, how did the Holy Spirit move people? Not by making them fall down, but by lifting them up. Ezekiel was the prophet who experienced this most often, and the Spirit never made Ezekiel swoon and fall down. It always lifted him up. Literally.

Jesus said in John 14:17 that he would send the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth. And in John 17:17 he said, “Your [God’s] Word is Truth.”

The Word of God does throw some people off symbolically but not physically, and that’s because they don’t like everything it says. So, they, in turn, throw the Bible down in a symbolic sense.

Even today, the Word of God lifts up the soft-hearted and receptive. If we let it, the Word of God can turn our lives around (in a symbolic sense ~ we don’t physically turn around) and our souls can soar to the throne of God (in a symbolic sense, not literally).

Be careful when reading something in the Bible that is symbolic to not turn it into something literal. Symbolism is there to convey a greater understanding of God that cannot be put into human words. Keep on reading the Word of God and let the Holy Spirit continue to lift you up.

These are God’s parables in phrase form instead of story form. What would we do without the Walls of Salvation, the Good Shepherd, the Lamb of God? So, let God lift you up. Let your soul soar with gladness.

THE OLD OLD STORY SET TO OLD OLD TUNES contains 80 Bible songs set to folk tunes ~ 40 on the Old Testament and 40 on the New Testament. Easy and fun to sing. Remember “The Old Grey Mare, She Aint What She Used to be”? That’s the tune for “Abraham, Sarah, they ain’t what they used to be.” Then there’s “Farmer in the Dell” which becomes “Jonah got burped up”. Give one to each teacher of children in your congregation. Also great for parties, homeschoolers, grandparents entertaining the little one on visits, for long trips in the car with children. To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….https://amzn.to/35FhiJd

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Saturday 11/23 ~ Eternal Thanksgiving

On November 23, 2019November 23, 2019 By Inspirations By KatherynIn #ransom, blessings, Death of Jesus Christ, eternity, faith, forgiveness, healing, Heaven, Holy Spirit, Inspirational, love, prayer, sacrifice, Saved from hell, sin, Thanksgiving, worshipLeave a comment

The scripture for today, November 23 (11/23), is 1st Corinthians 11:23ff as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ “

How the hearts of Jesus and his closest friends must have been breaking that night. How the apostles must have struggled to hold back the tears. They all knew the religious leaders in Jerusalem were plotting to execute Jesus. They knew he was risking his to be in the city ~ their lives too. How could they part with the one they now knew was the Son of God but also the Son of Mankind ~ their dearest friend?

When you take the communion every Sunday, where are your thoughts? What you’re going to do after church? What someone sitting near us is wearing? How the person in front of us is blocking your view?

Have you ever during the communion wept as Jesus’ apostles must have wept ~ and probably even as Jesus himself wept?

Oh, Jesus, it was my sins that caused you to go through that horrible death! My punishment! How could you love me that much? I fall at your feet. I am so sorry.

THE LORD’S SUPPER: 52 READINGS WITH PRAYERS can be used for private meditation during the Lord’s Supper or by whoever is leading the congregation for the communion. The Lord’s Supper is the main reason early Christians under apostle leadership met on Sundays. They could sing, pray, study any day of the week. Sundays were specifically for the Lord’s Supper. To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….https://amzn.to/37pApsa

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Friday ~ How on earth could they live to be 900?

On November 22, 2019November 22, 2019 By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, faith, family, Inspirational, joy, praise, Scripture, Thanksgiving, victoryLeave a comment

The scripture for today, November 22 (11/22), is Genesis 11:22 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor. And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.”

How can it be that people could live so long in the early centuries of the world? Isn’t that stretching things a bit? Isn’t it just folklore? Here’s more.

Noah had his first son at age 502 (Genesis 5:32, 11:10). Noah lived a total of 950 years (Genesis 9:29). Noah’s son, Shem, had his first son at age 100 and lived a total of 600 years (Genesis 11:10-11). Now we have Serug, the 7th-generation grandson of Noah, who had his first son at age 30 and lived a total of 230 years (see above).

Do you see the trend downward of ages after the flood? Most of Noah’s life was lived before the flood. Some of Shem’s life was lived before, but most of it was after the flood. All of Serug’s life was after the flood.

Many scientists believe that the earth originally had a constant cloud covering like the planet Venus does. Genesis 2:5-6 says it had not rained yet, but a mist rose to water everything. The King James Version of the Bible regarding the flood in Genesis 7:11 says the windows of heaven were opened. Genesis 8:2 says the windows of heaven were stopped.

Notice, it did not say the windows of heaven were closed; they were just stopped, meaning it could rain again periodically after that. If indeed, Earth did have a constant thick cloud covering before the flood, then humans would have been protected from radiation from the sun, and therefore could live longer. After the change in Earth’s atmosphere after the flood, humans beings exposed to more radiation would have lived shorter lives.

Something to think about…. And, one more thought ~ rainbows wouldn’t be possible with a constant cloud covering. The flood brought us rainbows! (Genesis 9:13).

A CHILD’S BIBLE HEROES: NOAH is a familiar story for children. This 85-page storybook has big writing for the early reader and hyphenated long words to help pronounce them. It takes your child from Noah’s normal life to a life of building a boat on dry land and being laughed at, the family’s year on their boat and descending to dry land with no one in the world but this one family. Oh, and tells of their wonder at a blue sky and, yes, the very first rainbow. To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this: https://amzn.to/37wDDtR

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Thursday 11/21 ~ Too small to matter

On November 21, 2019 By Inspirations By KatherynIn attitude, blessings, discouragement, emptiness, faith, Inspirational, judging, patience, power, victory, weaknessLeave a comment

The scripture for today, November 21 (11/21), is Acts 11:21 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.”

What had just happened? A few Christians in Phoenecia (today’s Lebanon), Cyprus (the Mediterranean Island) and Cyrene (in today’s North Africa), went to Antioch, a city in Northern Syria near the southern border of today’s Turkey. There they established a congregation.

This little congregation ended up being the home congregation of Paul and Barnabas for many years. It started small; we don’t know the size it grew to. Regardless of the size, it had foresight and eventually did great things.

Perhaps you live in a town full of churches, but you’ve compared them with the New Testament, and none of them follows the original pattern. Perhaps you have even given up going to church because of this problem. What is stopping you from beginning a little congregation after the New Testament pattern in your home?

New Testament churches were simple ~ not elaborate like those mega-churches out there. And those simple churches have always been dynamic in their simplicity. Who knows but that your new little congregation will someday produce a Paul or a Barnabas. Who knows?

PAUL: THE UNSTOPPABLE had everything against him when he headed into pagan territory. No priest was going to let a stranger come in and ruin his income, his power, his prestige. He went anyway. He preached in this city and was beaten. He preached in that city and was stoned. He preached in other cities and was whipped, imprisoned, starved, lied about, scorned. But in each city, he left behind a little congregation that grew and flourished. He never let smallness matter. To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this: https://amzn.to/333nV6c

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Wednesday 11/20 ~ The children

On November 20, 2019 By Inspirations By KatherynIn blessings, discouragement, faith, family, healing, Inspirational, patience, prayer, problemsLeave a comment

The scripture for today, November 20 (11/20), is Hebrews 11:20ff as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future. By faith Jacob when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons….By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones.”

Do you have children that were loving and good when they were young, but when they became older, they changed? Do you sometimes wonder, “How could I have gone so wrong with my children?” True, they have free will. But do you feel like a failure because your children did not turn out the way you had hoped and prayed?

Have faith ~ the faith of Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Isaac blessed his sons with his land, even though he did not yet own the land. Jacob blessed his sons with power, even though they did yet not have power. Joseph blessed his sons and his brothers’ sons with the land, yet they no longer lived there.

Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph all blessed their children with something they believed would happen someday, even though they did not have those things yet.. Why? Because they had faith in their children? Actually, it was mostly because they had faith in God. They had faith in what God would do someday for their children.

Don’t give up. Keep trusting God. Never stop having faith in what God (even after we die) will (not can, but will) do for your children.

A CHILD’S BIBLE HEROES: ISAAC & JACOB teaches your child how to treat their families. Great for church libraries, homeschoolers, grandparents, birthdays, Christmas, shower gifts. A good work at the end of each chapter. To BUY NOW, Click a book cover or paste this: https://amzn.to/2OwZx7D

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Saturday 11/16 ~ Falsely Accused No More

On November 16, 2019 By Inspirations By KatherynIn death, Death of Jesus Christ, faith, Fear, Inspirational, judging, persecution, sacrifice, truthLeave a comment

The scripture for today, November 16 (11/16), is John 11:16 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“Then Thomas…said to the rest of the disciples, ‘Let us also go that we may die with him.’ “

Have you ever been falsely accused? This apostle is most often and wrongly called “Doubting Thomas.” We’ve all heard the story about Thomas being absent when Jesus appeared to the other apostles, then later said he wouldn’t believe Jesus was alive again unless he could touch him. Well, the other apostles hadn’t believed until they saw him either.

After returning to life, Jesus first appeared to the women. Then, “when they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others…But they did not believe the women because their words seemed to them like nonsense” (Luke 24:9-11).

Now let’s look at our scripture for today. In the months before Jesus’ death, he had been traveling everywhere except to Judea where Jerusalem and the religious leaders were. Those leaders had plans to kill Jesus, and everyone knew it. Then Lazarus got sick just six miles from Jerusalem and his sisters begged Jesus to come heal him. It was dangerous for Jesus to go there. He didn’t go and Lazarus died.

John 11:7-8 says, “Then he [Jesus] said to his disciples, ‘Let us go back to Judea.’ ‘But Rabbi,’ they said, ‘a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?’ “

After explaining that he needed to get to Lazarus, it was Thomas who bravely spoke up and said, “Let us also go that we may die with him!”

Later, when Thomas did finally see Jesus, he was the first to call him “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28).

Doubting Thomas? Far from it! Brave Thomas. Devoted Thomas. Thomas who was willing to follow his Lord to the death. Thomas who was the first to call him God. That was the real Thomas.

PROMISE KEEPER, SHADOW OF DEATH, COME FLY WITH ME are the complete Easter Story. In these, Thomas plays a major role as he encourages the other apostles to not be afraid but follow Jesus to the death. And meet his twin sister who shares his faith. To BUY NOW click the book covers or paste this: https://amzn.to/2OKZLLL

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Thursday 11/14 ~ What treasures we miss

On November 14, 2019 By Inspirations By KatherynIn #friendships, #ransom, Death of Jesus Christ, ego, faith, Loss, problems, Satan, Saved from hell, Scripture, truth, victory, worshipLeave a comment

The scripture for today, November 14 (11/14), is Job 11:14f as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“If you put away the sin that is in your hand and allow no evil to dwell in your tent, then you will lift up your face without shame; you will stand firm and without fear.”

Job’s misguided friend, Zophar, was advising Job that, if he would become perfect (“allow no evil”), he would stand firm before God.

Oh, Zophar! Hadn’t he caught on yet? Hadn’t he yet realized no one can be perfect? At the end of this ancient book, God told Zophar and his friends to repent of their accusations toward Job and misinterpreting God.

Throughout the Old Testament, the Jews tried unsuccessfully to be perfect with the help of the Law of Moses, but they couldn’t do it. In the meantime, the nations that had not received the Law were left to try with their own methods to be perfect, and they couldn’t do it either. (Job was an Edomite.)

The only thing that ever has allowed mankind to be perfect has been the blood of Jesus. He was the perfect Lamb of God.

It has been eons since Zophar insisted that, if Job became perfect, he wouldn’t be sick anymore. As of 2000 years ago, everyone who follows Jesus is able to stand firm, because Jesus made them perfect when they washed away their sins (John 1:29; Acts 22:16).

THE ROAD TO HEAVEN begins in the Garden of Eden and the first son and Satan putting mankind up for a ransom. It progressed through the payment of that terrible ransom, and finally to our glorious bodies and heaven in the presence of God who is larger than the two trillion galaxies out there. Good for personal reflection or to someone who takes heaven for granted and does not understand the real threat of hell and what it took to ransom us. To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this: https://amzn.to/353HL2I

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Wednesday 11/13 ~ Just pick a religion you like

On November 13, 2019 By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, eternity, faith, forgiveness, Heaven, judging, knowledge, Saved from hell, Scripture, teaching, truthLeave a comment

The scripture for today, November 13 (11/13), is Zechariah 11:13 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“And the Lord said to me, ‘Throw it to the potter’ ~ the handsome price at which they paid me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord to the potter.”

The book of Zechariah is full of prophecies about Jesus, especially circumstances surrounding his death. Compare the above scripture with this written five centuries later when Jesus was betrayed and crucified::

“Then one of the Twelve ~ the one called Judas Iscariot ~ went to the chief priests and asked, ‘What are you willing to give me if I hand him [Jesus] over to you?’ So they counted out for him thirty silver coins” (Matthew 26:15).

and….

“When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests….So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself….So they [chief priests] decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners” (Matthew 27:3, 6-7).

The prophet Zechariah wrote this prophecy some five centuries before Jesus. The prophet had been long dead before it was fulfilled. This could not possibly have been contrived to fit such a distant future ~ the exact sum Judas was paid, the money being thrown into the temple and then given to the potters.

This is only one of many proofs. The Bible is the only religious book in the world with built-in proofs it is of divine origin.

Why not keep a list of the prophecies so you will be prepared when a friend says, “All religions are right. Just pick one you like”?

CHRISTIANITY OR ISLAM: THE CONTRAST quotes from the Quran and Bible on the same subjects. The middle explains things Muslims are told Christians believe that we do not believe such as God marrying Mary and having Jesus. It ends with statements from 100 Muslims who have decided Jesus really was the Son of God. Can be given to a Muslim without offending them. To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this: https://amzn.to/33K7DAv

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