They Fill the Gaps

00-PAUL COVER-Thumbnail-I praise you, God of my heart, soul and mind, God of the Bible. You never leave me guessing. As in days of old, you judge my thoughts and actions and sometimes punish enough to make me realize how self-destructive I am being. I hear your voice and  turn around toward you. You call out to me. Sometimes I am stubborn, but you are even more so. Your patience and mercy fill in the gaps. So, sometimes when I wander in a wilderness of my own making, you call out to me, “I have the Water of Life. You do not have to be thirsty. I am the Way. You no longer have to wander.  I want you to walk with me. You do not have to be alone.”

Father, help me ask people how they are and then wait for more of an answer rather than just “fine”. Slow me down so I do not wander off before they have a chance to tell me how they really are.

I have freedom to walk down the street and ride down the highway in safety. I have gardens with food and flowers in abundance. I have time to work on my hobby. I have the Bible ~ Words of life  and love. I have the church and your friendship. What more can I ask?

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00-PAUL COVER-Thumbnail-PAUL: THE UNSTOPPABLE. Dare to experience with him every rod slamming into his bones, every whiplashing through his skin, every breath struggled for when treading water a day and night. Survive with him through all the shipwrecks, going days without food, a snow storm in the Taurus Mountains, being robbed on the highway. Listen as, each time his body is mercilessly attacked, he calls out, “Jesus! This is for you!”  To  BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….  https://bit.ly/3fw2mlA

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Stretch your spirit and praise him anyway

The scripture for today, June 15 (6/15), is 1st Timothy 6:15 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-Michel-COVER-Kindle-Thumbnail.” ..which God will bring about in his own time ~ God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords!”

But it’s hard to know just when God’s time for certain things in our life is. You may think it is when an opportunity arises, but something happens, and it doesn’t turn out. So later, another opportunity arises, but something happens there too, and it still doesn’t turn out.

This verse can carry you from hope to hope from discouragement to discouragement. That is because you cannot see what God sees.

Your life is like a line drawn across a piece of paper, and you have to stay on that line. But God looks down and can see the entire line at once, and he can also see everything going on around you. Those other events may not be good for you to become involved in.  There may never be a time when events around you will be good for you.

Rather than give up on God and decide he doesn’t really love you as he claims, amidst your tears of disappointment, stretch your spirit and praise him anyway. Acknowledge him. Then rest until his own time, whether it be soon or in eternity.

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0-Michel-COVER-Kindle-ThumbnailMICHEL: THE FOURTH WISEMAN is a fictional account of what may have been.  Michel decides to buy and restore the Garden of Eden down where the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers meet.  But he is interrupted by a Star.  He and the other Wise Men search the world for the meaning of the star while his Garden of Eden wait so God will walk the earth there again. Then they God to Bethlehem. He realizes God is already walking the earth. He has a meltdown.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….  https://bit.ly/2UJitnI

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An odd way to beat poverty

The scripture for today, June 10 (6/10), is Proverbs 6:10f as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

Applied Christianity“A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest ~ and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.”

Oh! This scripture really comes to the point, doesn’t it? Perhaps during difficult economic times for some people, this can be a gentle reminder. If you can’t work for money, you can work for free. There is always work to do as a volunteer either in an organization or just by yourself. All it takes is for you to look around.

Well, if you’re already in the clutches of poverty, what will volunteering do to help the situation? People will notice you. They will notice your work ethic and your cheerfulness and your thoughtfulness.  They will know you are out of work and just might tell people looking for someone to hire. And in the process, you are helping others. That in itself can make you feel rich ~ even if you’re not.

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Applied ChristianityAPPLIED CHRISTIANITY: A HANDBOOK OF 500 GOOD WORKS gives ideas for every age group, every town size, every congregation size in a step by-step manner.  Some congregations have even used it as a class book.  Great for teen classes and home-schoolers too.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….  bit.ly/APPLIEDCHRISTIANITY

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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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You are my soul

Love Letters of Jesus & his Bride, Eccelsia-THUMBNAILI walk in your footsteps, my Lord, grateful to be as close as that to you. When I see you go in another direction, I try to stay with you but sometimes do not notice.  When I get lost, you turn back, look for me, and bring me back to yourself. I walk in the shadow of your wings and you lift me up and let me soar with you.  Oh, glorious moments when my soul flies with yours. Someday…yes, someday…you will fling open the gates of heaven and we will be together forever. Great God, you are my soul.

The cross.  Oh, the cross you suffered on and died on. The cross made of wood. From it your soul cried out to the world, “Come to me. I look weak, but I am attacking Satan for you and will win.”  And so, I crawl to your cross, dare to look up, then touch your bloody feet. The feet that once walked the earth, the feet that once walked on water, the feet that would rise up and walk out of a death cave. How can I thank you? It is so far above my ability. I will spend eternity ever looking for new ways to exalt you.

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Love Letters of Jesus & his Bride, Eccelsia-THUMBNAILLOVE LETTERS OF JESUS & HIS BRIDE, ECCLESIA.  This beautiful gift book has papyrus font and a bride watermark on each page.  Each chapter is paraphrased and becomes a love letter; chapter numbers in the book coincide with chapter numbers in the Bible.  Hundreds of footnotes explain the parallel of the bride and church.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this………. https://bit.ly/2Ad62JR

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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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Hmmm. I seem to be missing my tantrum.

0-Mefiboset-KINDLE ThumbnailThe scripture for today, June 1 (6/1) , is Psalm 6:1 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.”

This is not only a good request to God, but it is a good request to each other ~ family and friends alike. When you disagree with someone, do you “back it up” with loud yelling or throwing or hitting things? Do you believe that your point cannot be understood and will not be accepted without a “tantrum”?

This scripture indicates that it is indeed possible to rebuke someone without the tantrum. In fact, it is more effective. When you calmly tell someone you disagree with them, it does not raise their blood pressure and put them on the defensive. With tantrums, they may react as you want on the outside, but you drive them farther from you on the inside.

Calm rebuke does not mean you don’t mean it; it means you are convinced enough, your point of view does not need reinforcement. In that case, the other person is likely to be convinced too.

Today, practice saying calmly what you normally back up with a tantrum. Practice in front of the mirror.  Practice when driving. Practice when cooking or mowing the lawn or combing your hair.  Then, next time you disagree with someone close to you, you will be ready. Ready to not rebuke in your anger.

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0-Mefiboset-KINDLE MediumMEFIBOSET: CRIPPLED PRINCE got along with everyone. Well, except those who were determined to be his enemies.  His patience and happy disposition were a mystery to most, especially after becoming cripple for life and being denied the throne.  How could he do it?  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….  https://bit.ly/2ywrqJi

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Today’s Mosaic

Supper-Front Cover-ThumbnailGod of the universe, you think of everything.  You gave us morning, day, evening, and night. All good in their own way for starting, doing, stopping, and resting.  Each day has its own mosaic Seasons of the year are a mosaic too. Life is a mosaic. So are my friends you gave me, and my enemies too.  Even you are, for I was fashioned like you. All things work together for your pleasure and mine as long as I follow you. I wonder what you have in mind for my mosaic today. What color will today be? Whether light or dark, bright or dull, I will praise you for it.

My Father, sometimes I have a hard time distinguishing between pride and spreading the word about something I have done that will inspire others to do. Keep me from pride.

Ah, my Lord, how can I thank you for loving me and saving my soul? Thank you for preparing a place for me in your eternal home? Oh, how I long to transfer from this world to your perfect one. And thank you for the opportunities I have in this world to stand up for you and fight those who imitate Satan with their wiles and false promises of happiness.  Working for you is sometimes hard, but it makes me stronger and more like you. And I know that, whatever you promise, it will come true. I worship you.

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Supper-Front Cover-ThumbnailTHE LORD’S SUPPER: 52 READINGS WITH PRAYERS is perfect to read as personal meditation while partaking of the Lord’s Supper or aloud by people leading the congregation.   To BUY NOW, click a book cover, or paste this………. https://bit.ly/2ZvCTDS

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Love everyone? What an intriguing thought.

0-Mefiboset-KINDLE ThumbnailThe scripture for today, May 25 (5/25), is Galatians 5:25f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking, and envying each other.”

When someone is better than you in doing something, do you pick fights with them as punishment, or spread gossip about them in order to get others to quit respecting them?

Perhaps you don’t do this all the time. But what about times when there is something you feel you are really good at, but another person not as talented gets the honor? That’s when it’s hard to “keep in step with the Spirit.”

Whenever you envy someone, deep down, you consider that person your enemy. Jesus said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:44-45a).

To many, loving our enemy is the most difficult command in the Bible. Perhaps one way to love your “enemy” is to realize that Jesus loved his enemies. Every time you sin, you become one of his enemies. But Jesus keeps right on loving you, even when you don’t want to stop doing whatever you shouldn’t.

Jesus demonstrates the love of the Son of God. And here he says, if you love your enemies, you are demonstrating what the children of God do. And that is far more important than honor that goes to those you envy. Leaving behind conceit makes it much easier to love everyone.  Love everyone?  What an intriguing thought.

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I pen my thoughts and stories to touch souls. Will you help me tell people about today’s book?

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0-Mefiboset-KINDLE ThumbnailMEFIBOSET: CRIPPLED PRINCE.  If ever anyone deserved to destroy his enemies it was this man.  His uncle took the throne from him, the steward of his grandfather’s palace took the palace from him, his grandfather’s enemies went after him.  Yet, he smiled.  Why?  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this………https://bit.ly/2ywrqJi

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