The real Thomas

On November 16, 2020July 15, 2025 By Inspirations By KatherynIn Death of Jesus Christ, discouragement, Enemies, Fear, Inspirational, judging, persecution, sacrifice, victoryLeave 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). It took Thomas to lead the charge.

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.

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Sunrise, rainbows, and heaven

On November 14, 2020July 15, 2025 By Inspirations By KatherynIn blessings, eternity, Heaven, Inspirational, joy, prayer, Thanksgiving, worshipLeave a comment

Lord God, I praise you for the pattern you have set in motion here on earth. The pattern of birth, life, and death. The pattern of planting, growing, and harvesting. Millenniums ago you set the cycle in motion by putting people on earth. We have been good sometimes and bad sometimes but never perfect. As for me, I was born, grew up, and now I await my own harvest. When will harvest be? I long for harvest time. Then I will be able to praise you day and night without interruptions from Satan and his emissaries. Then it will be sunrise in heaven for all eternity.

This morning the sun is rising a little later as winter nears. The sky is all reds and yellows. There are dark clouds behind it. That’s okay. I shall prepare for the storms coming behind the sunset. I will turn on all the lights so that “sunshine” is within. Then, when dark insults come, when delays come, when accidents come, I shall smile. No matter what, I know ~ because of your promises ~ that the storm will be followed by a rainbow. And that will be your smile.

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As long as forever lasts

On November 12, 2020July 15, 2025 By Inspirations By KatherynIn #friendships, attitude, eternity, Inspirational, joy, love, power, praise, prayer, Thanksgiving, worshipLeave a comment

You are the God of my heart, my life, my soul. I long to be with you some day. I have praised you in the past, I praise you now, I will praise you in the future and as long as forever lasts. You are the originator of all material things and all motion. You set the stars in motion and they have never stopped their movement for all these thousands of years. You are the First Cause of all that is good and right. You have made me in your image so I may have a sense of goodness and right ~ a sense of conscience ~ in my thinking and behavior. I stand in awe of you.

Thank you, Lord, for interruptions in my life. Sometimes people have to get loud and make me stop what I am doing so I will pay attention to them. I get so absorbed in what I am doing day to day, I forget the rest of the world other than a casual hello or goodbye. Keep doing it, Lord. Keep sending people to my door, to my phone, to my email, all intent on interrupting me. Thank you for sudden changes. They certainly do make life interesting, and you, my Lord, are always interesting.

INSIDE THE HEARTS OF BIBLE WOMEN includes the stories of twelve Bible women (1) in their ordinary life, (2) when a tragedy happens, (3) how they try to survive the tragedy. Also available in audio form for listening in the car. The stories are great for private reading or listening. The thought questions and teacher’s manual are great for classes or ladies retreats. To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this: https://bit.ly/HeartsBibleWomen

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Our prayers are diamonds

On November 11, 2020July 15, 2025 By Inspirations By KatherynIn emptiness, Inspirational, joy, love, patience, persecution, praise, prayer, worshipLeave a comment

I adore you, Lord God, and worship you. I laugh with you, cry with you. I am unworthy of all the attention you give me, especially among the millions of others who long for you. You know my name and follow me around. My thoughts, attitudes, and activities are readily open to you. My sins are among them. How unworthy I am. You love me still. How marvelous and magnificent you are in love and mercy. I worship you.

Forgive me, Father, for eating too much. I am eating strictly for the taste and not because my body needs it. When I taste something good, the delight lasts less than a minute. Then I have to take another bite to return the wonderful taste to my mouth. On and on it goes until I have made myself sick. Help me find something else as pleasurable and fulfilling to do so I can forget my gluttony.

Thank you for my being able to live in a country that gives me as much freedom as I need to worship you. Even if I must worship you in hiding, I still will have the freedom to find a hiding place. Every place has valleys and galleys to hide in, and basements, and abandoned buildings and mountain tops. Thank you for the hiding places. And thank you for the heroes who long to worship you together so much, they will do anything to do so. Thank you for worship. Our prayers are diamonds, our songs are silver, our Lord’s Supper rememberings are rubies, and our reading your love letters are gold.

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A whole lot of seeking & finding

On November 8, 2020July 15, 2025 By Inspirations By KatherynIn attitude, blessings, faith, Inspirational, patience, prayer, thingsLeave a comment

The scripture for today, November 9 (11/9), is Luke 11:9 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

” ‘So I say to you: Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.’ “

Does this mean that, if you ask for your favorite team to win, they will win? Does this mean that, if you ask for a particular job, you will get that job? Or, if you have your eyes on a particular young man or young woman, you will marry that person?

In the context that Jesus said this, he had just taught his disciples what many call the Lord’s prayer. In that prayer, Jesus instructed us to ask for a little bit of the physical and a whole lot of the spiritual.

You might say, “Well, that doesn’t leave me much to pray for.” Oh, yes, it does. Shift your focus from yourself. It leaves the rest of the world to pray for. What about their little bit of physical and their whole lot of spiritual? How many people do you pray for? Not as a group, but by name? Not occasionally, but every day?

Well then, will God give you every one of the souls you pray for? God gives everyone free will. He does not force people to follow him. God provides opportunities for people you pray for, and he even moves their hearts. But he does not force them. You must still keep on praying, even when you feel like someone is hopeless. Maybe they are hopeless during your lifetime. But sometimes someone’s soul is saved after your death.

So, pray for others and never tire of it ~ a little bit of the physical and whole lot of the spiritual. A whole lot of seeking creates a whole lot of finding. God will answer in his own way. And that’s a promise.

MICHEL: THE FOURTH WISEMAN wanted to restore the Garden of Eden so God would walk the earth again as he did in the days of Adam and Eve. This was his constant prayer. Instead, he was interrupted by a star. At the end of his journey, he learned God was already walking the earth. To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this………. https://bit.ly/Michel4thWiseMan

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My song will soar

On November 7, 2020July 15, 2025 By Inspirations By KatherynIn blessings, church, Inspirational, joy, love, patience, praise, prayer, worshipLeave a comment

I praise and adore you, God. You are perfect and are willing to see me as perfect even when I am not. I try to be like you but fail in some way every day. You love me in my imperfection. Your love wins over Satan’s hatred. Your forgiveness wins over Satan’s accusations. Your mercy wins over Satan’s judgmentalisms. I often wonder how you can do it ~ always be forgiving me. Sometimes I am embarrassed to, once again, ask for your forgiveness. Yet, you are delighted to forgive. You are the God of second chances. And third. And scores. And hundreds. Such patience and love I cannot even begin to comprehend. So, I worship you.

It is Sunday morning again. Oh, how I will sing out my praises to you! They will soar through the roof to the clouds and beyond, echo from star to star, and surround your throne. My song will not be harmonious and lovely or lyrical, but it will be my song and it will be for the God I love. Accept my praise, my song, the offering of my lips.

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Hand in hand through eternity

On November 6, 2020July 15, 2025 By Inspirations By KatherynIn Daily, eternity, faith, Heaven, Inspirational, praise, Thanksgiving, worshipLeave a comment

My God, I dread not the day when you call me home. I fear not the day when I hear your voice, “Come now, my child.” I shrink not back from your wounded hands when you reach out for me. Together we will walk through the divine door that leads me on the golden path of glory to home. How I love the hand that was pierced for me, the hand that bore the bitter spike, the hand through which your precious blood was drained out for me. I shall clutch your wounded hand and you will never let me go. We will walk hand in hand through eternity.

My Lord, just when I am tempted to do some evil, you step in my way and hold me back. Just when I am tempted to think some evil, you hold your hand in front of my eyes and stop my wrong contemplations. Just when I am tempted to run away from a good I should do, you grab hold of me, and rush me back to do what needs to be done. Ah, Lord, you are my rampart, my deliverer, my hero. You make me what I ought to be. I bow at your feet.

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Skeletons

On November 5, 2020July 15, 2025 By Inspirations By KatherynIn discouragement, forgiveness, healing, Inspirational, problems, Scripture, worshipLeave a comment

The scripture for today, November 6 (11/6), is Nehemiah 11:6 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“The descendants of Perez who lived in Jerusalem totaled 468 able men.”

Just who was Perez, and why was this even mentioned in the Bible? Perez was a son of Judah, and an ancestor of Jesus (Matthew 1:3).

Why was living in Jerusalem a big deal at that time? Because Jerusalem had been attacked and destroyed. It was nothing but rubble and ashes. Earlier, other Jews had returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the temple. Now it was time to rebuild the walls.

These 468 brave people had to agree to move into a burned-out city and rebuild on the ashes of previous homes. In the process of moving building stones out of the way to reuse in the city wall, they surely found skeletons of those who had been slaughtered in the attack decades before.

At first, the Jews had blamed the Babylonians for destroying their city and temple. But Eventually, they began re-reading the prophets who had warned them about their own sins. Finally, they turned inward and placed the blame where it really belonged: Themselves. Their own pride had destroyed their temple and their city, now crumbled ashes.

Following repentance, they acted. Was it easy rebuilding a broken city? Not any easier than rebuilding a broken home, a broken congregation, a broken life. You must look at your own part in your own destruction and begin building yourself anew.

Are there any skeletons or ashes in your soul? Is there anything that needs rebuilt? It takes grit. Do you have the grit?

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Both tears and laughter

On November 1, 2020 By Inspirations By KatherynIn #ransom, church, Death of Jesus Christ, eternity, faith, Heaven, Inspirational, joy, praise, prayer, Saved from hell, Thanksgiving, worshipLeave a comment

Supper-Front Cover-Medium I glorify you who cannot be glorified more than you are. Your magnificence is far above comprehension. Great in love and power, judgment and mercy. You are all majesty. You are the king of my heart, ruler of my life, power of my soul. How I adore you. I fall at your feet in both tears and laughter. You, oh Great One actually notice me. And smile.

It is Sunday morning again, the day you came back to earth from the land of the dead, forever alive ~ proof you’ll do it for me too. Oh, how I love singing my heart out with the rest of the congregation. I do not want other people doing my singing for me and cheat me out of that pleasure. When I sing, I sometimes look around at my friends in the congregation also singing. I cannot hear their individual voices, but I watch their lips move, all synchronized together. What joy to sing with others, pray with others, take the Lord’s Supper with others. Worship day is so special to me. How could anyone do boring things like shopping or playing ball and miss out on the excitement of worshipping you? I thank you for the privilege of coming into your presence and adoring you.

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Your assignment

On October 28, 2020July 15, 2025 By Inspirations By KatherynIn death, Enemies, eternity, faith, Fear, Heaven, Inspirational, persecution, problems, sacrifice, Saved from hellLeave a comment

The scripture for today, October 28 (10/28), is Matthew 10:28f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.”

This scripture indicates that sometimes God’s allows you to “fall to the ground” ~ your body suffers, or your life is threatened. How can that be? After all, God is so loving. Surely a good God would not allow any harm to come to someone if he truly loves them.

But we all have our assignments from God in this war between Good and Evil. Just as Job in the Old Testament lost his entire family and all his wealth and then his health, he refused to blame God. He even said, “Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?” (Job 2:10).

Satan causes bad to happen to you. Why? In order to get you to blame God for it and maybe even then declare God does not exist. Your assignment is to refuse to deny God. That way, Satan loses one more battle, and God wins one more.

There is an old Christian song called “Victory in Jesus.” How can you have victory in Jesus if you do not have something to be victorious over? Romans 8:37 says we are more than conquerors. How can you be a conqueror if you have nothing to conquer?

Stand strong and say with James (1:2), “I consider it pure joy whenever I face trials.” Hard to say? Of course, it is. But it could turn your life around and make you a hero.

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