Satan loses. God wins.

000-COVER-KINDLE-ThumbnailThe scripture for today, June 9 (6/9), is Job 6:9-8 found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant what I hope for, that God would be willing to crush me, to let loose his hand and cut me off!”

Job was suffering terribly. The Bible says he had sores all over his body. There were other symptoms listed elsewhere in Job that indicate he had a form of leprosy. Now he just wanted to die.

When you get into a life problem that seems hopeless, do you just give up and say, “God, I can’t go on like this. Just take my life right now. It’s too hard. I can’t do it anymore”?

God knows what you are going through. God knows that Satan is attacking you. When things are desperately low, your job is just to hang on. It often takes God time to shift around a lot of other people’s lives in order to alleviate your pain.

Remember, God hurts just as much when you suffer as when he watched his own Son suffer on the cross. His Son’s suffering accomplished something wonderful for others. So too, someday your suffering will somehow, in some way, accomplish something good. And ultimately, just by surviving, Satan loses, and God wins.

This too, will pass. You may not think so, but it will. You may think you will never smile again, never want to go around people again, never sing again. But you will. Just like Job.

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000-COVER-KINDLE-ThumbnailLAZARUS: THE SAMARITAN spent years as an indentured servant in the mines. The owner tortured him every way he could.  All for his bride, he Jewess Devorah.  Years later, he became the mine owner.  How did he do it?  Did his meeting Jesus have anything to do with it?  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….  https://bit.ly/2AfVBoR

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Tears mingled with blood

0-BK 7-ShadowOfDeath-Cover-new-ThumbnailLord, you never forget me. You have so much to do in the universe to keep the stars in their heavens, the planets in their orbits, and the seas in their bounds. More, you are always thinking about me. I am always on your mind. You watch me and do all that is necessary to guide me, though you leave the choice up to me. You are so boundless in knowledge and wisdom, yet you respect my decisions ~ right or wrong. Even when my decisions are wrong, you do not interfere. You give me room to think and change my mind. I lift up my hands in praise to you. You are the Great God of the universe, Ruler of heaven & earth and King of my heart.

Your eyes were so sleepy on the day you were born. Ah, what a journey you had made. By the time the wise men found you, your eyes were big and wide and full of curiosity.  As you grew up, your eyes looked intently at what was around you and a vague memory approached of you having made it all. As a full-grown man, your eyes looked with pity on the sick, the crippled, the diseased, the handicapped and you healed them all. Then one day those eyes were filled with tears as you looked down from the cross at people bragging they were at last killing you. Those tears, blended with your blood, fell on the hearts of mankind. I kneel before you, my tears mingling with yours.

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0-BK 7-ShadowOfDeath-Cover-new-ThumbnailSHADOW OF DEATH is #7 in the series THEY MET JESUS. Written in present tense, you are there when they do terrible things to our Savior. You are there with him during the six long, agonizing hours on the cross put to a public shame as a traitor and blasphemer and tortured to death.  You are there when his 12 hide while their hearts crush under the burden of having deserted him.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….  https://bit.ly/2UcggRE

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Love like ocean tides

0-BK 4-FolkHero-Cover-Kindle-thumbnail-newYour love, Oh God, is like the ocean.  When I need you the most, the tide moves in closer and refreshes my soul.  When it is time for me to work on an assignment from you to help people blaming you for their problems, the tide ebbs and moves out to tend to someone else.  Then, when I need refreshed by you, here comes the tide flowing in again. Just like clockwork. You are never far away.  I can always depend on you. You never change. You are from eternity to eternity.

Thank you for being my example. Your feet walked a thousand miles back and forth across Palestine looking for people who needed you. Your hands touched a thousand people with diseases and frailties and handicaps and you healed them all. Your lips parted a thousand times to speak words of hope to people in the clutches of Satan who convinced them they were happy.  They weren’t. Satan convinced them they were safe with him when they really weren’t. Satan convinced them God hated them when you really loved them beyond understand. In some ways I am those people. Yet you kept right on walking and touching and speaking. Thank you, my Lord.  And, Lord, may I walk and touch and speak as you did.

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0-BK 4-FolkHero-Cover-Kindle-thumbnail-newFOLK HERO is biblical historical novel #4 in the series THEY MET JESUS ab out 100 people Jesus met and struggled with.  Written in present tense, it puts you there where you see, hear, and touch what they did.  And you feel what they felt.  To BUY NOW, click a book cove or paste this……….  https://bit.ly/2U4kZ7L

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Pray for me

00-LUKE-KINDLE Cover-ThumbnailThe scripture for today, May 26 (5/26), is 1st Thessalonians 5:26 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“Brothers, pray for us.”

Do you have a prayer list? Often prayers get bogged down and short because the only person we “remember” in prayer is ourselves. Well, and maybe a relative or two

There are many people who need your prayers: Your family is obvious. How about your neighbors? If you don’t know their names, pray for them by house or apartment number. What about the newspaper? Every one of those bad-news stories is crying out for prayer. The school near you needs your prayers ~ students, teachers, administrators, janitors. It doesn’t matter whether you have a child in that school; pray for them anyway.

Are you praying for the hospital workers during this time of pandemic? People who keep us safe or rescue us in the fire and police departments? How about people in food service? And the delivery trucks to bring things to us because we hesitate to go to the store? What about people in your town who are self-isolating and have to family nearby?

Who are your local government officials? Not liking them doesn’t make any difference, for Jesus said we are to pray for our enemies too. And that leads to the list of your enemies; do you have any at your workplace? Include them too. It’s pretty hard to resent someone you pray for.

One other thing you might try doing in addition to having a prayer list: Have an answered-prayer list. Write down when you pray for someone, then when it is answered. Keep it as a reminder when you are down and don’t think He’s ever going to answer your requests. God does care, after all.

And speaking of requests, by the time you’re done praying for all the other people on your prayer list, you won’t have a lot of time to pray for yourself. And that is okay too, for others are praying for you!

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I pen my thoughts to encourage souls. Most are based on one or more of my books.  Will you help me spread the word about today’s book?          https://bit.ly/3eh9Yrk

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00-LUKE-KINDLE Cover-ThumbnailLUKE: SLAVE & PHYSICIAN is part of the spoils of war when he is 8 and his big, strong Norse father has been killed.  He is adopted by Theophilus, tribune in the Roman legion, as his slave, and helps the legion physician.  When grown, he meets Paul and leaves paganism for Christianity.  He is freed by Theophilus to become Paul’s personal physician, trying to keep Paul alive after all his beatings and lashings by pagan priests to try to stop him.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover, or paste this……….  https://bit.ly/3eh9Yrk

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Your glory gilds my songs

Supper-Front Cover-ThumbnailYour glory gilds my songs of praise to you. You send out majestic beams of heavenly rays on all people, great and small. You brighten my day and enlighten the world around me. You give and expect nothing in return except love. Love begins as a spark and grows in glory the nearer it is to you. You give my soul wings, and I soar to you.

Your blood, oh God. Your blood slipped out of your body that day so long, long ago. That which ensures life was taken out of you in order to provide life for a lifeless world held captive by Satan. Blood ransom. Satan’s price was high.  Too high. No one could pay it. So, you materialized and offered your own flesh in my place. You offered your own blood in my place. You offered your life in my place. How can I thank you for freeing my soul from Satan? Unworthy, I rush to you, fall at your feet in eternal gratitude, and worship you.

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I pen my thoughts and stories to touch souls. Will you help me tell people about today’s book?        https://amzn.to/2Z9nPeT

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Supper-Front Cover-ThumbnailTHE LORD’S SUPPER: 52 READINGS WITH PRAYERS is perfect for either public or private meditation each week during the Lord’s Supper. To BUY NOW,  click a book cover or paste this……….  https://amzn.to/2Z9nPeT

 

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The twinkle in God’s eye

02-Noah-KindleThumbnailIt is spring. Little by little the flowers are blooming and showing a little more of your glory. Some will fade and rest until this time next year when they will return. Some will become fruit and nourish me with zest and delight, just like you nourish my heart. It is spring. Raindrops soften the earth, breezes waft and tease, the sun shares its warm rays while declaring you are the light of the world. What a wonderful, beautiful God you are!

Thank you for the seasons, each with their own gifts. Purifying winter with gentle snows, awakening spring with all its rebirths. Hazy summer when nature plays games with the world. Cozy autumn to say goodnight until another promised awakening. Thank you for the delightful earth you made for me. How much fun it must have been for you make! I can see the twinkle in your eye, the flicking of your wrist, the hum on your lips, the coo of a dove tantalizes your ears, the sunshine in your heart.

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I write to encourage souls.  Will you help me share today’s book with someone?         

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02-Noah-KindleThumbnailNOAH is book two in the series, A CHILD’S BIBLE HEROES.  He and his family stood alone while the rest of the world made fun of them.  “Think & Do” at the end of each chapter.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover.

 

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He truly does.

0-Bk3-HeartsAfire-COVER-Kindle.thumbnail-newThe scripture for today, May 7 (5/7), is 1st Peter 5:7 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

Oh, how hard life can be sometimes. We wonder why God doesn’t stop all the bad things. But, if there was no evil and bad things happening, we would have heaven on earth. Satan is the Prince of this earth.  Jesus said so.

How many times in a week are you anxious about something? Especially now when our world has been turned upside down and inside out with an unseen enemy that taunts the earth. Your job, your home, your children, your neighbors, your government, your health? How many times in a day do your anxieties weigh you down? Are your burdens heavy? Almost too heavy to bear?

Name them to God. Tell him all about them. Go into as much detail as you want. Then put them all on his shoulders. That’s what he wants you to do. He will carry those burdens for you while you try to rest your soul.

Indeed, this is not heaven on earth. But Jesus provides a way for us to escape in our hearts to his world.  Of course, you don’t have to escape; he doesn’t force you. But always he calls out to you, “Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).  Why would he do that? He cares for you. He truly does.

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I pen my thoughts to encourage souls. Will you help me share today’s book with someone?          https://amzn.to/2WyA0z3

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0-Bk3-HeartsAfire-COVER-Kindle.thumbnail-newHEARTS AFIRE takes place when Jesus makes trips around the country healing people to prove who he was, and teaching the multitudes now following him how to rise above the wars and violence around them. This is novel 3 in the series THEY MET JESUS.  At the end of each chapter are life application questions and historical evidences of the events.  To BUY NOW,  click a book cover or paste this……….  https://amzn.to/2WyA0z3

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Soon will come your morning

OldOldTunes-ThumbnailThe scripture for today, May 3 (5/3), is Psalm 5:3 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning, I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.”

Morning. The time of new beginnings. Birth is a morning. Graduating from a school is a morning. Marriage, a new job, birth of a child ~ these are obvious mornings.

You can create your own morning of life in a spiritual way too. You can stop depending on yourself and begin following and depending on God. You cannot fix all your problems. Sometimes you get yourself into your own problems and don’t know how to get yourself out. For you, it may be midnight. 

Lay your requests before God. Then wait. Waiting in the shadows can create frustration and even panic. But wait in peace. It is not quite dawn, and God is preparing the answer to rise up in your heart when morning finally comes.

He loves you as his child and knows when the moment is right for your dawning. Sometimes when you look back, you are most grateful he did not answer a prayer for you; he had something better in mind. And then, it was morning.

God loves to answer prayer. Therefore, while still in the shadows, wait. Do you see it now? The grayness of dawn with silver hopes intertwined?  Wait in peaceful expectation.  Soon will come your morning.

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I write to encourage souls. Will you help me share today’s book with someone?          https://amzn.to/3bYLqCL

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OldOldTunes-ThumbnailTHE OLD OLD STORY SET TO OLD OLD TUNES is a must for every kid who loves God and loves the stories and special verses in his Bible.  40 songs from the Old Testament; 40 songs from the New Testament. Songs about people, places, events, and verses we need to memorize.  Have fun as these stories and verses are teamed up with old folk songs from our youth.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….  https://amzn.to/3bYLqCL

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Ever wonder what happens to the angry people?

5 Science-Based Ways to Break the Cycle of Rage Attacks ...

Here we are mostly isolated from each other.  No one to laugh with, cry with, wonder with.  We adjust.  But what about the angry people?

You know the type.  The people who are mad all the time. The kind that walks up to you and says, “And besides…”  The kind that rants and raves, pounds on things, throws things ~ all to get everyone’s attention and prove how angry they have a right to be.

If they can no longer go to work or to the store or to relatives’ homes or to ball games, who do they get angry with?  If they are completely isolated and still have that drive to be mad at everyone, who do they get mad at?

Who do they lash out at, especially if they have to have living bodies to express themselves to?  It’s no fun throwing temper tantrums at televisions or computers. It’s no fun pounding on a tree that fell in your yard and the neighborhood doves that keep you awake all night with all their crazy cooing.  They don’t know they’re being “angered at”.

I wonder.  If a habitually angry person is forced to live in peace, after the initial shock, do they settle in and begin to like peace?  I wonder….

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His deepest thoughts

0-BOOK 4-FOLK HERO-Child'sCartoon-MediumI lift up my praises to you, the self-existent one.  Both Father and Son and Mighty God. The great wellspring, mind, and will of all things. The only life-giver to all things. You are all life, all truth, and altogether love. You are so far above me and yet so near. You fill the universe, yet make your home in my heart. Even the stars bow to you in effervescence. You are the Prince of all princes, the King of all kings, the Heart of all hearts. When you speak, may the world sit up and acknowledge you. You are wisdom incarnate. You even poured out your deepest heart in the Bible. I know of no one willing to do that to friends. You even exposed your deepest thoughts to your enemies. You are my glorious example.  Ah, You are my heart.

I am depressed again today. That is not like me. Forgive me for complaining about it. Help me see it as a day of rest for me.

Thank you, God almighty, for all you did to save me from Satan’s hell. So complicated. Yet you stayed on track. You gave mankind a chance to earn and deserve our salvation by giving us the Law of Moses which we just could not keep perfectly. You let the rest of the world come up with their own god-laws. Nothing worked. We could not be perfect. Then Jesus came and did it for us. You were perfect for me and for everyone. Now, You see me as perfect as Jesus was. Oh, Lord, you are so wonderful and merciful. I do not deserve your presence, but you love me still and stand by me always. I worship you.

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I pen my thoughts to reach out to souls. Will you help me tells others about this book?        https://amzn.to/3cnlXmd

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04-FOLK HERO-Child'sCartoon-ThumbnailFOLK HERO is storybook #4 in A CHILD’S LIFE OF CHRIST for ages 3-12.  At the end of every chapter is “Think & Do” for your child to apply something from that chapter in their life, usually a good work such as taking a cookie to a neighbor and calling a shut-in to sing to them or calling an unpopular child at school to say hi.  Perfect for the early reader with large font and dashes between syllables of big words. To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….   https://amzn.to/3cnlXmd

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