Category: Inspirational

Sunday 1/14 ~ My guardian angel and I

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The scripture for today, January 14, is Hebrews 1:14 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BK 6-PromiseKeeper-Cover-thumbnail-new-kindleAre not all angels ministering spirits, sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?”

Have you ever wondered if the Bible really mentions guardian angels? Well, here it is. But the angels do not minister to everyone ~ just to the saved who will inherit salvation.

As much as they minister to us, however, we are not to worship them and we are not to pray to them. For a while ~ and still some today ~ it was popular to collect pictures and statues of angels. Some people were saying there is no God, but there are guardian angels. Some people who do believe in God bypass Him and ask angels to help them, kind of like going to the peasant instead of the king.  

Where do they think angels come from? We are not to adore, worship or pray to angels (Revelation 19:10; 22:9).

So, yes, we do have guardian angels.  Let us be grateful God loves us enough to send the angels to minister to us until we reach his home, heaven. Then, we and the angels will bow down together to the God of the universe and him will we worship.

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Link to ebook & discount bookstore:  http://bit.ly/TheyMetJesus

#GuardianAngels

Saturday 1/13 ~ What an amazing plan

On By In Death of Jesus Christ, forgiveness, Heaven, InspirationalLeave a comment

The scripture for today, January 13 (1/13), is Habakkuk 1:13 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong.”

This pretty much explains why none of us deserves heaven. Going to heaven has little to do with performing so many good works God will feel obligated to admit us.  

0-BK 7-ShadowOfDeath-Cover-new-ThumbnailIt’s all about sin.  Only sinless people can be in heaven, for God cannot coexist with sin and still be God. Of course, we cannot be sinless. If nothing else, all of us have sins of attitude and neglect.

For thousands of years, God let mankind try any way we could to be perfect. Some people he gave the Law of Moses to, and some people he continued to let try on their own. Neither worked. No matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t get it right.

The wages we earn for sinning is death (Romans 6:23). Remember in the Garden of Eden God warned, “The moment you sin, you die.” He was talking about our souls dying and eventually our bodies dying. Satan causes death, so we are collecting the wages Satan pays for following him.

But, God intervened.  God gave us a temporary fix: We could kill an animal to die in our place and offer it as a sacrifice to take onto itself Satan’s reward.

But Galatians 4:4 says, “When the time was come, God sent his son.” Finally, when mankind understood we needed outside help, God sent Jesus. Hebrews 4:15 says Jesus lived the perfect life that was impossible for us to live; he was completely free of sin. Then God offered his son as the final sacrifice to die in our place ~ to be “falsely” accused of all the sins that WE had committed, to take onto himself Satan’s payment for OUR sins.

Since Jesus was sinless, Satan had no power over him. He just came back to life. That done, God ~ who can only dwell with sinlessness ~ is now able to allow obedient, faithful believers in Jesus into his home, heaven. For, through Jesus, we become sinless.

What an amazing plan.

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link to ebook and discount paperback:  http://bit.ly/TheyMetJesus

To my readers: I’m catching on

On By In Inspirational1 Comment

Just a note to my readers.  I have been including a book cover with each daily inspirational thought in your email.  Yesterday’s blew me away.  Wow!  Too much!  Too overpowering.  How did it get to be so big? For weeks I have experimented with ways to take that image down to size and nothing worked.

In the middle of the night last night I figured it out.  From now on, you will not be blasted off your screen with an image of one of my book covers. From now on, it will be about the size I sent you today.

And, again, my apologies for not getting this image thing right a long time ago.

Onward and upward, my friends! Onward and upward!

Image result for relieved cartoon computer

Thursday 1/11 ~ Do you hear it?  Shhh.  Listen…  God is calling you.

On By In death, emptiness, Inspirational2 Comments

The scripture for today, January 11 (1/11), is 2nd Peter 1:11 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

00-Stephen-Cover-Kindle-Thumbnail“And you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

How often do you forget that earth is not your home? As an old gospel song says, “We’re just traveling through.” Do you really believe that?

If someone told you tomorrow you were going to die, would you go into a panic? Would you beg God to let you live another ten or twenty years? Would you feel this was the beginning of the end?

To a true Christian, your dying is the end of the beginning. You have a whole “life” ahead of you in heaven. A never-ending life? Do you live like you believe it? Will you die looking forward to it?

Are you even a Christian yet? What is your life like? Do you even know what is in the Bible, God’s messages to you? Does the thought of heaven sound boring to you?  Do you even like God?

Stop and listen to the empty place in your heart (Ec. 3:11).  Do you hear it?  Shhh.  Listen…  God is calling you.

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link to ebook & discount paperback:  http://bit.ly/stephenmartyr

Wednesday 1/10 ~ Are you balanced?

On By In good works, Inspirational, Scripture2 Comments

The scripture for today, January 10 (1/10), is Colossians 1:10 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

00-COVER-KINDLE“And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: Bearing fruit in every good work; Growing in the knowledge of God.”

Are you always doing some good work for other people? Does it fill your thoughts and life?  Or are you always delving into the Bible to gain more knowledge of God? Does it fill your thoughts and life? Good for you.

But we see here, we must have a balance. James 2:17 says faith without works is dead. On the other hand, Romans 10:2 says certain people were zealous for God, but their zeal was not based on knowledge.

We have to add to our Bible-based faith, good works. We have to add to our zealous good works, the knowledge of God from the Bible.

It’s hard to get out of a rut, no matter how good it is.  Maybe it’s time to examine yourself.  Maybe it’s time to add the other requirement to your life.  Don’t you want to be spiritually balanced?

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link to ebook & discount paperback:  http://bit.ly/LazarusSamaritan

#goodworks, #bibleknowledge

Tuesday 1/9 ~ Fearful? Go anyway.

On By In Inspirational, powerLeave a comment

The scripture for today, January 9 (1/9), is Joshua 1:9 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

00-PAUL COVER-Medium-“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Fear can paralyze. Just ask Joshua. He had just been given the job of conquering horrible people who practiced prostitution, self-mutilation and sacrificing their children to the fire god.  Plus, his spies said those bad people were like giants. His army was made up of the children of former slaves with no experience.

Guess what God said.  “Go anyway. Conquer anyway.”

What do you fear?  A few people fear spiders and night time and heights and such. A lot more of us fear changing a bad habit that has us in its claws and won’t let us go. Even more serious, do you fear telling a neighbor, someone in a club, or a relative about Jesus’ willingness to save them from hell and get them entrance into heaven?  To all this, God says, “Go anyway.”

Some of you reading this (check out the list of visitor flags at the bottom of my website page ~ 65 countries) live in countries where it is dangerous to be a Christian. Do you fear being arrested, tortured, killed for your faith?  God tells you, “Be strong!  Be courageous!  Do not be terrified!”  Why. Because “the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

What keeps the fear under control?  “Perfect love casts out fear” (I John 4:18).  Love yourself, love your neighbor, love God. And yearn to be with your Lord forever.

Today, whatever it is holding you back, “Go anyway.  Conquer anyway.”

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link to ebook & discount paperback:  http://bit.ly/PaulUnstoppable

Monday 1/8 ~ Loving one we have never seen

On By In Bible, faith, InspirationalLeave a comment

The scripture for today, January 8 (1/8), is 1st Peter 1:8 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“Though you have not seen him, you love him! And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him! And are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy!”

0-BK 4-FolkHero-Cover-Kindle-medium-newAh, the memories Peter had of being with Jesus when they all were young.  Now he was old and people were dying out who had seen Jesus in person.

After Jesus returned to heaven, it was the job of his Apostles to tell people about him and repeat his words. They spent the rest of their lives doing just that. What joy they found when people believed, even though they had not seen him. They not only believed, but they also loved him

Thank God, the Apostles wrote the New Testament so we would never have to guess what Jesus was like and never have to guess what his words were, even after the Apostles died. In fact, we have the advantage because we do not have to wait for an Apostle to come visit us and tell us. We can read about Jesus for ourselves over and over as many times as we like right in our home.

Yes, we have not seen Jesus. Yet, with his life and words before us, we believe! And we love him.  What inexpressible and glorious joy!

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Link to ebook and discount paperback: http://bit.ly/TheyMetJesus

Saturday 1/6 ~ Oh! I didn’t know that before

On By In governments, Inspirational, ScriptureLeave a comment

The scripture for today, January 6 (1/6), is Titus 1:6f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

changes-in-worship-cover-medium“An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. Since an overseer is entrusted with God’s work, he must be blameless ~ not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, nor pursuing dishonest gain.”

This is quite interesting. God does not leave us to guess the qualifications of a church leader. We don’t have to hold conferences or synods to decide on qualifications for this office because God has already given them.

Something surprising here is that the word elder is used interchangeably with the word overseer (sometimes also translated bishop). The word elder comes from the Greek word presbyter. The word overseer/bishop is from the Greek word episcopos. Elder and overseer and bishop all are the same in this passage referring to the same office!

Here’s something else interesting about the elder/overseer/bishop: The word pastor comes from the Greek word for shepherd, poiman. In Acts 20:17, Paul sent for the elders of the church in Ephesus to talk to them. When they arrived, he said, “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds [pastors] of the church of God which he bought with his own blood.”

Do you see the overlapping of the same office being called by different names? It’s kind of like father and papa being the same.

Titus 1:6f uses elder and overseer for the same office. Overseer is the same in Greek as bishop. Acts 20:17 uses elder, overseer, shepherd (pastor) for the same office.

In our daily lives, we have different words meaning the same person; such as father, parent, dad, papa ~ all names for the same position in the family.

So, too, for the family of God ~ the church ~ all these words overlap as names for the same office! And the qualifications for this office are found in our scripture for today, Titus 1:6f. Indeed, how interesting! 

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ebook & discount paperback link:  http://bit.ly/WorshipChanges

Tuesday 1/2 ~ Your soul is getting along well

On By In Inspirational, Saved from hellLeave a comment

The scripture for today, January 2 (1/2), is 3rd John 1:2 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

inside-cover-medium“Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.”

Our health may be bad, our finances in an upheaval, our home damaged by wind or water, our job about to be lost. But we can still smile.

We can still rejoice that our “soul is getting along well.”

When problems come into our life ~ and they do ~ remember the most important thing is your soul. No one and no thing can touch your soul as long as you are safe in the arms of Jesus. So when problems do come, you can still with confidence rejoice that your “soul is getting along well.”

Monday 1/1 ~ Once again, God walked on earth

On By In Bible, InspirationalLeave a comment

The scripture for today, January 1 (1/1), is John 1:1f, 14a as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BK 5-FloodGates-Cover-Medium-New“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning….The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”

Genesis 3:8 says God walked on earth in the Garden of Eden. When Jesus came, God once again walked with us. But when Jesus left, did he leave us with no one to walk with?

Jesus said in John 14:17 that he was going to send another Comforter ~ the Spirit of Truth. And in John 17:17 he said God’s Word is Truth. So, just as Jesus was the Word that people could watch, the Spirit is the Word that people can read.

We do not have to guess what God is wanting us to do. We have it written down to read, and consider, and contemplate, and re-read as many times as we want.

If you have a Bible in your home, why not read it through in a year beginning today? There are suggested schedules on the internet. Or you could even divide up the number of pages in your Bible by 365 to know how many pages to read each day.

Just remember, every time you get out your Bible and read it, once again God is walking with you.