And was that a wink, Lord?

Applied Christianityhttps://inspirationsbykatheryn.wordpress.com/1107-2/my-book-applied-christianity/Ah, my Lord God, when I give anything to you, it is not really a gift.  I am only returning what is already yours.   The world and all that is in it is yours because you created everything. Then you loaned it all to humans to take care of for you. You give each of us talents so we can make your loans beautiful. May we, give them back to you better than they were.  How? By giving what you loaned to us to someone who cannot pay us back. Perhaps a retired person with low income, perhaps a child, perhaps a beggar on the street.  May what we give away praise you in this way.

And all those talents you gave us.  I cannot count them all.  Oh, my!  One person is an artist with pencils or paints or sand or glass or stone. Someone else is a musician making music that is loud and soft, fast and slow, high and low. Someone else is a cook, a writer, a welder, a speaker, a carpenter, a pilot, a climber. Then there are the builders of things short and tall, square and triangle, brick or wood or glass. The molders and sculptors of marble, silly putty, wood, and even food.  Mountain makers of stone, sand, mashed potatoes, and bubbles. The sewers, the writers, the cookers.  The explorers seeking more of your wonders and beauty and marvels.  Oh, so many talents you have given us to make your world just a little more exciting, intense, entertaining, lovely, introspective, and joyous.  I think you are grinning at me now.  And was that a wink? Thank you, Lord.

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Applied ChristianityAPPLIED CHRISTIANITY: A HANDBOOK OF 500 GOOD WORKS.  Yes, I counted them.  Don’t know how it turned out that way.  The book is the result of attending 30 congregations through the years and learning from each one. Something for villages and big cities, robust and handicapped, young and old, even the paralyzed.  They can be done in minutes, hours, or days. They can be done in groups or solo. No excuses now.  Something for everyone.  A good gift or even class book.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this:  https://bit.ly/APPLIEDCHRISTIANITY

https://inspirationsbykatheryn.wordpress.com/1107-2/my-book-applied-christianity/

You follow me around

You, Lord God, travel through time at your ease. Time means nothing to you. I am confined to seeing and hearing on a single highway as I travel through life. But you are above that highway and can see and hear everything going on around me, both past and future. It is all the same to you. Perhaps time is good for me because it offers me forgetfulness of pain that ever lurks in the shadows of eternity and anticipation of the exciting that rises with each son. You need none of that because you are everywhere at once and have been from eternity to eternity.  Some day you will dissolve time when all is well and I am home with you at last.

Thank you, God of my heart, for following me around, even when I am not thinking about you. You guard me. You guide me. You surround me. You are in me. I am never away from you, for I am your child. You hover over me, turn me around, stop me. You do whatever is necessary to keep me on the path to heaven. I am never alone. In sadness and joy, in danger and safety, in sickness and health, in poverty and wealth. How can I thank you? I cannot adequately. Still, my puny gratitude flows from my heart and soul to yours.

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CHRISTIANITY OR ISLAM: THE CONTRAST.  One third quotes from the Qur’an and Bible on the same subjects w/o comment.  One third explains misunderstandings Muslims have about Christianity.  One third is 100 quotes from some of my Muslim students who have decided Jesus was the Son of God and not just a prophet.  Can be given to a Muslim w/o offending.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this:  https://bit.ly/3-IslamContrast

 

https://inspirationsbykatheryn.wordpress.com/1107-2/my-book-christianity-or-islam-the-contrast/

Blood streaming through the veins of my soul

0-BK 7-ShadowOfDeath-Cover-new-ThumbnailI lift up my heart to you, my God. I ache so much for the lost. But my puny efforts are nothing compared to you. You did so much more than I ever dreamed of doing and for longer than a thousand lifetimes. You paid the death ransom, then overcame Death itself.  You put up with our sins while you did everything necessary to destroy our greatest enemy ~ Satan. Satan must be destroyed and you have given mankind the privilege of working with you to that end. So, amidst my paltry efforts I praise you, my majestic King. You are so incredible. Beyond finding out.

Father, sometimes when I talk to people about your love for them and ask them to return to you, I think I come across as controlling. That is not what I want to do. Help me know when to back off and let them think. Help me be patient and calm and respect the free will that you gave them.

My Lord, thank you for not getting so angry you would give up on me.  You are a high and great mountain that cannot be moved. You are the deepest ocean that cannot be emptied.  As the river of life, you offer to give me your blood so it will stream through the veins of my soul and give me life without impurities of sin. What more could anyone ask than that? You offered to me your blood and your Spirit. The sacrifice was too great, but you made it anyway.

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0-BK 7-ShadowOfDeath-Cover-new-ThumbnailSHADOW OF DEATH takes the reader through the trials and beatings and lashings.  Nearly lifeless already, the soldiers  carry him up that dreadful hill so he can live long enough for them to kill. Two chapters cover the agony and ecstasy of the cross of torture saved only for traitors.  Then the funeral.  Two old men, some women, and his mother.  Washing his lifeless body with tears, surrounding him with spices only the rich can afford, wrapping him in the flimsy shreds of broken hearts. Then going home to agonize over what could have been and never will be.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this:  http://bit.ly/Death-Resurrection

https://inspirationsbykatheryn.wordpress.com/historical-novel-about-jesus/book-7-shadow-of-death-adults-childs-versions/

Ordering demons around

The scripture for today, August 29 (8/29), is Matthew 8:29 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-HS-592 VersesExamined-COVER-Medium” ‘What do you want with us, Son of God?’ they shouted. ‘Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?’ “

If you are not familiar with this passage, these are the words of a demon. If you have ever studied demons in the Bible, you will find they never tried to spook or scare people. They never made dishes rattle or lamps fall over.

All they did was cause physical problems during the lifetime of Jesus and his apostles. There is no evidence of demons doing this in the Old Testament before Jesus, nor after his apostles died, either in the Bible or in the writings of the apostolic fathers. It is as though the demons were loosed for a season so Jesus could show his power over them also ~ Ephesians 1:20-21.

Notice, demons never said bad things. If they talked at all, it was out of fear of Jesus and honesty.  James 2:19 says all demons believe in Jesus. In the book of Matthew, they knew who Jesus was. They called him the Son of God.

Jesus told them to be quiet. Why? He didn’t want evil beings telling people who he was; he wanted goodness to tell people who he was. And Jesus never did incantations or any begging to lure demons out. He demanded them to leave, and immediately, they obeyed him.

The movies have warped our understanding of demons. Let us search the scriptures to find out their true nature. Then we no longer have to guess. We can know.

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0-HS-592 VersesExamined-COVER-ThumbnailTHE HOLY SPIRIT: 592 VERSES EXAMINED.  This book does not cater to anyone’s pre-conceived opinions.  It is based only on God’s opinions.  Great for private or class study.  Easy to understand.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….  

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https://inspirationsbykatheryn.wordpress.com/1107-2/my-book-the-holy-spirit-in-365-scriptures/?frame-nonce=9f9ac75c8f

Was Jesus God? Why Evil?

Was Jesus God-COVER-kindle-thumbnailThe scripture for today, August 6 (8/6), is 1st Corinthians 8:6f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“Yet for us, there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord [Word], Jesus Christ, through whom all things came [by a Word] and through whom we live [by the Word]. But not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols.”

Was Jesus God?  When you put your voice I an audio player, that doesn’t mean there are now two of you ~ one in your audio player and one in your body. You are still one.When God put his Words in a burning bush when speaking to Moses, that didn’t make God two ~ one in the bush and one in heaven.  God was still one and chose to put his voice in something on earth. Jesus’ body was where God put his voice for 3-1/2 years in Palestine.

Just as you have a mind/will, a body, and a spirit, God does too.  Some object and say, “Was Jesus praying to himself?” and “Why did he have to obey his Father?.”   Your words do not just take off speaking on its own.  Your mind, your will, tells your lips what to say. Your lips have to obey your mind, your will. 

What about Jesus being God’s Son? You create your words, you beget your words. Your words are your brainchild. But your brainchild is still you.

I have written an entire enlightening book on this called WAS JESUS GOD?  It is fascinating and wonderful. And, yes, Jesus was God.

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Was Jesus God-COVER-kindle-thumbnailWAS JESUS GOD? (WHY EVIL?) is a study of salvation and all that God went through to save.  Save us to heaven? No, when we are drowning, we are not saved to the shore, we are saved from the water.  So, too, when we are saved, we are saved from hell. The book begins with sin and ends at the gates of heaven in our glorious bodies.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….  https://bit.ly/31nm5hM

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https://inspirationsbykatheryn.wordpress.com/was-jesus-god/

I’d die if I had to do that.

00-Stephen-Cover-Kindle-ThumbnailThe scripture for today, June 17 (6/17), is Matthew 6:17 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face.”

This is interesting because Jesus did not say “If, you fast,” but rather “When you fast.” It was as though he was teaching us to take for granted that we would fast ~ it would be second-nature to us. In a sense, it is, for when most people go through a sudden tragedy such as loss of a loved one, they often cannot eat.

But what about voluntary fasting? The early church sometimes fasted. Acts 13:2 says a congregation in Antioch, Syria, fasted and worshiped, then chose men to go out as missionaries. Queen Esther fasted before going to the king uninvited with a request he might not like (Esther 4:16). Isaiah 58:3 says people fasted in order to humble themselves.

Some people respond, “I’d die if I had to fast.” Perhaps that’s kind of the idea. We know we would die if we went without food long enough. So perhaps one day of fasting is a way of saying, “God, I would die for you if I had to.” Yes, fasting is a humbling experience and frightening to some people. But perhaps that is the point.

Is something important coming up that you know you will be urgently praying about? Once you skip one meal, you will have conquered your desire to eat. Then, with your brain not having to concentrate on digesting food, it will be able to focus more on that important thing happening in your life. Your prayers will be more focused. You will be more focused with your eyes more clearly on God.

So, take a shower, comb your hair, put on some nice clothes, and look like you have something important to do. Then fast.

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00-Stephen-Cover-Kindle-ThumbnailSTEPHEN: UNLIKELY MARTYR did everything he could think of to convince people his religion was good.  He recruited help.  At night they would sneak pages of scriptures under rocks, inside people’s houses, nailed to statues of the gods.  They met in secret and worshiped. Then publicly they would march.  And they fasted as Queen Esther had done.  If it worked for Esther, surely it would work for Stephen and his zealous friends. Would it backfire? To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this………. https://bit.ly/2XBFXvJ

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Scripture for Tuesday 3/24

Inside-COVER-lg thumbnailThe scripture for today, March 24 (3/24), is 1st John 3:24 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.”

Some people think we can tell that we are obeying God, and he is, therefore, in us by how we feel by our emotions. But emotions are fickle. We can feel great one day and sad the next and frustrated after that, then great again. It can be confusing to rely on how we feel as to whether or not God’s Spirit lives in us.

Jesus said in John 14:17 that he was going to send us the Counselor, the Spirit of Truth. And in John 17:17, Jesus said God’s Word is Truth.

Now that makes more sense! Even in the days before the New Testament was assembled into one book, Christians were given the gift of prophecy by the Spirit of Truth, and sometimes they wrote it and circulated it.

In the meantime, the apostles went everywhere teaching, and they wrote letters that were circulated (even those we don’t know about today). Those letters that were preserved were copied and circulated everywhere.

Finally, their letters were assembled into what we call the New Testament. So, today we can still know God’s Spirit lives in us by reading the Bible ~ God’s Word ~ and putting it in our mind and heart and following it. God thought of everything. His word is clear, and that is how we know we have obeyed him, and he lives in us.

How grateful we are today for his Bible. No guessing. So, do not take it for granted. Never take it for granted.

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I pen my thoughts to encourage souls. Will you help me share today’s book with someone?          https://amzn.to/2Ugmj7Y

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Inside-COVER-lg thumbnailINSIDE THE HEARTS OF BIBLE WOMEN is stories of Bible Women who lived through the same kinds of tragedies modern women do.  Each chapter is a story but with endnotes that are really thought questions.  Also has an audio, and a teacher’s manual.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this………  https://amzn.to/2Ugmj7Y

 

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Prayer for Thursday 3/5

Rhoda Book Cover KINDLE-thumbnailI praise and magnify your Name. You are the great I AM. You are existence. Existence requires love and truth, and you are that to the ultimate. You are the pulse of the universe. When Satan destroys what you made, you make it again. When Satan makes sick what you made, you heal it. When Satan makes someone sin, you forgive. When Satan kills, you bring back to life. You are all I need to live life to the fullest. I praise and rejoice in you. Every part of my being praises you. Now and forever you are my joy and wonder.  I cannot help but worship you.

Father, I told something a friend said about another friend, not thinking about what I was doing.  Why did I say that? I did not need to. All I did was cause dissension between them. Lord, help them forget what I said so they will still be friends with each other. And forgive my unnecessary talk.

Thank you, Spirit of God, for being the Word that I read, the meaning that it carries, the response that it evokes. Your words are power. They echo through the universe with truth and life and love. Your words will never lose their magnificence. And thank you for the two new books I just read about the different ways men and women think.  Men and women complement each other. That’s the way you intended us to be and it is dynamic. And for my family and friends, I thank you. And my congregation. You bring us all together and we are one in you.

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I pen my thoughts to encourage souls. Will you help me share today’s book with someone?          https://amzn.to/2v0hi9U

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Rhoda Book Cover KINDLE-thumbnailRHODA is the last storybook in the series A CHILD’S BIBLE KIDS.  Rhoda was always joking and teasing and hardly ever serious. When she was 11 years old, her widowed mother needed help, so Rhoda went to work at John Mark’s house. Sometimes Peter came and told them about Jesus. One night there was a knock on the gate.  No one paid any attention to what silly Rhoda told them.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….  https://amzn.to/2v0hi9U

 

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Prayer for Wednesday 2/12

0-Cover-MediumI praise you, mighty God ~ mighty in truth, in love, in life. Above all lies and hatred and annihilations. You are the strongest, the highest, the greatest. You are above all, in all and through all. You are brighter than the sun you formed, deeper than the oceans you brought forth, higher than the stars you sprinkled throughout the heavens. You are holy and filled with majestic greatness. My soul soars to you, then bows low to honor you.

Thank you, my Lord, for giving me your Bible so I can understand your stubborn love and mighty truth. For sending a part of you in Jesus’ body so we could see your Word in action. For sending a part of yourself in your Spirit of Truth so I can read your Word for help in my earthly struggles. Sometimes I just do not know which way to go. I would be completely lost without your guidance. Thank you for the winter snow and icy wind, and time of rest for nature. A calm and serene time for me when nothing much is going on outside in the cold, leaving more time to read of you, meditate about you, pray to you.

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I pen my thoughts to encourage souls. Will you help me share today’s book with someone?          https://amzn.to/37rfl3z

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00-Cover-ThumbnailFUN WITH BIBLE NUMBERS has 525 math questions from both the Old and New Testament.  Some easy adding or subtracting, some more complicated multiplication.  Did you know there was over three trillion American dollars worth of gold in Solomon’s temple’s holy of holies?  Did you know Jesus walked on water 3-1/2 miles?  Full of surprises. Great for private relaxation, homeschoolers, church bulletins, party contests.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….  https://amzn.to/37rfl3z

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Prayer for Sunday 2/9

0-Michel-COVER-Kindle-ThumbnailAh, my Lord God, First Cause of all things, I praise you for being and for willing me into existence so you can love me. And for your Spirit that animates my soul and keeps me eternally alive, making me your forever child.  And for your Son,  ~ you in flesh ~ who came to me out of eternity to show me how to live.  Speaking holy Words aloud ~ Words ethereal. Words wonderful. Words down to earth so I do not need to guess who and what you are. I long to know you more, but with my finite mind, I cannot. I live in wonder of you and worship you with my puny glimpse of your indescribable holiness.

Thank you, my God, for giving me your love letter, the Bible, and telling me all that you are constantly doing ~ both the easy and the hard. Thank you for pouring your heart out to me with all the laughter and tears that flow from you to the world. For sharing yourself. For baring your own joys and sorrows as I do right and wrong.  I never tire of your letter.  Thank you for giving yourself. And, by the way, Lord, thank you for books and computers and radios and all things electronic, and time to use them to magnify you to the world.

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I pen my thoughts to encourage souls. Will you help me share today’s book with someone?          https://amzn.to/2w3kIJ7

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0-Michel-COVER-Kindle-ThumbnailMICHEL: THE FOURTH WISE MAN is biblical historical novel #6 in the series INTREPID MEN OF GOD.  Michel, a descendant of Daniel, has a dream: Restore the Garden of Eden so God will once again walk among men.  He buys the land where the Tigris & Euphrates Rivers meet and loses his estate, his wife, and his father. Then he is interrupted by a star. King Phraates demands he and nine other wise men search the world for the meaning of the star.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….  https://amzn.to/2w3kIJ7

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