Category: prayer

Scripture for Sunday, February 19 (2/19)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn church, faith, forgiveness, healing, Heaven, Holy Spirit, Inspirational, prayer, Satan, Saved from hell, Scripture, truth, worshipLeave a comment

The scripture for today, February 19, is Ephesians 2:19 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

worship-the-first-century-way-cover-kindle“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow-citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household.”

Let us pretend there is a nation called Occland and we want to become a citizen of that nation. Of course, citizenship would not be automatic. And in the same way, citizenship in the Kingdom of God (being a Christian) is not automatic.

Just living in a Christian nation does not automatically make us a Christian any more than just living in Occland would automatically make us a citizen.

Owning a Bible does not automatically make us a Christian any more than owning a copy of Occland’s constitution would automatically make us a citizen.

Going to church meetings every Sunday does not automatically make us a Christian any more than going to Occland’s meetings of parliament or the senate would automatically make us a citizen.

It just is not automatic. We would need to be invited into Occland, and then do things to accept Occland’s invitation. God invites us into his kingdom, but we must do things to accept his invitation.  Romans 6, Acts 2 and 1st Peter 3 in the New Testament are good places to check it out. Do so.

God has already done the hard part. Our part is easy ~ our part in accepting his invitation to be citizens in his kingdom.

#CitizensOfHeaven, #Citizenship, #KingdomOfHeaven, #KingdomOfGod, #HouseholdOfGod, #Heaven

Scripture for Saturday, February 18 (2/18)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn death, forgiveness, Inspirational, prayer, Satan, Saved from hell, Scripture, truthLeave a comment

The scripture for today, February 18, is Hebrews 2:18 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BOOK 6-PROMISE KEEPER-Cover-Createspace“Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”

Do you find yourself caught up in some kind of sin over and over? Is the temptation always there? Do you commit the sin and then curse yourself for your weakness in giving in to the temptation? Do you see no way out?

A lot of people never think of Jesus ever being tempted. He was too good. But he had a human body and was tempted in every way that we are (Hebrews 4:15).

Try to imagine Jesus with your particular haunting temptation and imagine how you think he would have resisted it. Jesus used to get angry at temptation, which of course is caused by Satan. In other words, he got angry at Satan. One time when tempted, he declared, “Get behind me, Satan!”

Temptation is not the same thing as sin. Temptation is when we want to commit a sin, but haven’t decided yet to do it. Jesus faced Satan (temptation) head on. Once when he went through over a month of harsh temptation alone in the wilderness, Satan gave him all the reasons he should do certain things and made them look so good and reasonable; then Jesus gave all the reasons he should not do those things.

Hebrews 4:15 says, “We do not have a high priest [Jesus] who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are ~ yet was without sin.”

Jesus stood up to Satan.  Jesus was a spiritual warrior.

#Temptation, #Escape, #Sin, #Satan

Scripture for Monday, February 13 (2/13)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Daily, faith, healing, Inspirational, judging, prayer, Scripture, truthLeave a comment

The scripture for February 13 is Philippians 2:13 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

inside-cover-medium“For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”

Here is another related verse: “The Lord opened her heart to respond” (Acts 16:14). God the Father moved people’s hearts throughout the Bible ~ Old Testament and New Testament. But he never moved hearts to do what they were not already inclined to do. He does not go against someone’s will, for he gave everyone free will.

If you are struggling to know the will of your religious leaders and friends, you struggle alone. If you are sincerely struggling to know God’s will and do it, the Father will help you.  If you are struggling to act according to the purpose of your religious leaders and friends, you struggle alone. If you are sincerely struggling to act according to God’s good purpose, the Father will help you. If you have a sincerely open heart, God can move you closer to himself so that he can work in you and through you on earth.

He will always tell you what to do through his Word ~ the Bible. You do not have to guess. It covers every possible situation you could ever face and shows you his good purposes. God the Father will work in you if you let him.

#FreeWill, #OpenHeart, #Heart, #Problems, #Decisions, #Struggles, #Direction, #WordOfGod, #Bible, #Purpose, #WillOfGod, #ReligiousLeaders, #Help

Scripture for Monday, February 6 (2/6)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn death, faith, forgiveness, healing, Inspirational, prayer, SatanLeave a comment

The scripture for today, February 6 is Jonah 2:6f as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

0-BOOK 3-HEARTS AFIRE-COVER“To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought my life up from the pit, O Lord my God. When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.”

This is what was going through Jonah’s mind as he was swallowed by the great fish and on his way to certain death. It is never too late.

As long as the breath of life is in you, it is never too late to cry out to God. You may be in the pits of your life. You may feel you cannot sink any lower than where you are now.

But look up! God is watching you with tears. You are not only breaking your own heart, but you are breaking the heart of God who loves you so. God wants to lift you up out of your pit. But he cannot do it without your help. What is your part? You must lift up your hands so God can take hold of them.

Look up! God is right there within your grasp.

#Troubles, #Problems, #ThePit, #Agony, #Hopelessness, #Rescue, #GodsHands, #Weeping, #Crying, #Anguish, #Hope, #Jonah, #TooLate, #Death, #Forgiveness, #Life, #NewLife, #NewBeginning

 

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Daily, faith, Holy Spirit, Inspirational, Life of Christ, prayer, Thanksgiving, truth, worshipLeave a comment

The scripture for today, February 1, is Mark 2:1 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BOOK 5-FLOOD GATES-Cover-Print“A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home.”

Just think of it. Jesus coming home. The place where his family lives. The familiar places he’d seen walking around town in earlier years. The familiar faces. Hearing a voice in a crowd and recognizing it and automatically knowing s/he is a neighbor. Being able to walk through a market almost blindfolded because the same shops are in their same places selling their same goods.

Has Jesus come home to your heart? Is it familiar to him? Does he recognize you? When he hears your prayers, does he automatically know who you are? Can he walk beside you as you walk through life, knowing the places you will be visiting? Does he live with you?

When he is in your heart, is he home?

#Jesus, #DailyLife, #Stranger, #Familiar, #Friend, #Home, #Heart

Scripture for Sunday, January 29 (1/29)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn blessings, Daily, faith, good works, Holy Spirit, Inspirational, prayerLeave a comment

The scripture for today, January 29, is Colossians 1:29 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

PAUL COVER-KINDLE-“To this end I labor, struggling with all His energy which so powerfully works in me.”

Wow! Hyper-active Paul, Paul who preached even while in jail, Paul who always went back to preaching after he’d been beaten and told not to, Paul with the A-type personality said he got all that energy from Jesus Christ (see verse 28).

Who provides your energy? It depends on what you are being driven to do. It depends on what consumes you. It depends on what you’re spending your time doing. It depends on what is on your mind all the time.

Think about it today. On what things do you use the energy of Jesus?

#Energy, #Power, #Selfishness, #ATypePersonality, #Selfishness, #GoodWorks, #Souls, #Others

Scripture for Saturday, January 28 (1/28)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Daily, faith, forgiveness, good works, healing, Heaven, Holy Spirit, Inspirational, judging, prayer, Satan, Saved from hell, Scripture, truth, worshipLeave a comment

The scripture for today, January 28, is 1st Chronicles 1:28 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

PAUL COVER-KINDLE-“The sons of Abraham: Isaac and Ishmael.”

Are you a parent with a grown or nearly-grown child who is going in the wrong direction? Have you tried everything you can think of, and nothing is working? Do you know in your heart that you have been a good example and things shouldn’t have turned out as they have?

Abraham has been called the Father of the Faithful. Yet he had one son who followed Jehovah ~ Isaac ~ and one son who followed idols ~ Ishmael. Certainly, Abraham tried everything he could to “talk some sense” into Ishmael. Certainly, he prayed earnestly for Ishmael. So what went wrong?

Just as God has given each of us free will, our children also have free will. Just as God will never force us to follow him, we cannot force our children to follow God. You did not refrain from having your children because they may have difficulties in their life, and neither did God. And when our children rebel and break our hearts, imagine what God goes through when we rebel and break his heart.

Who knows? Perhaps your child will return to God some day in your old age, or even after you have died. If your child deep down has a good heart, that is enough for God to work with. Keep hope alive.

#Children, #FreeWill, #Families, #Adolescence, #Astray, #Hope, #Teaching, #Training, #BrokenHeart, #GodsHeart

 

Scripture for Thursday, January 26 (1/26)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn blessings, Daily, Inspirational, prayer, Thanksgiving, worshipLeave a comment

The scripture for today, January 26, is 1st Samuel 1:26f as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

inside-cover-medium“And she said to him, ‘As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. I prayed for this child and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him.’ “

Hannah was telling the priest that God had answered her prayer. How often do you tell someone God has answered your prayer? Or do you wander aimlessly from prayer request to prayer request, and let the answer drift away from you unnoticed? Or worse, do you ask others to pray for something, but after once or twice you stop praying yourself?

Begin today to keep a list of your prayer requests. Write down the date you first began to pray for each. If your requests are all about yourself, begin including your neighbors, your co-workers, people you attend church with, your relatives, people in the newspaper.

Then begin a second list of your answers and the dates. You will be amazed how fast your Prayers Answered list grows. Do not let the answers drift away from you unnoticed.

Notice them.

Claim them.

Tell others.

And spend the rest of your life thanking God over and over and over….

#Thanksgiving, #Appreciation, #PrayerList, #Prayer

Scripture for Monday, January 23 (1/23)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, blessings, Daily, Holy Spirit, Inspirational, prayer, Scripture, worshipLeave a comment

The scripture for today, January 23, is Romans 1:23 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

campbell-cover-kindle-lg-medium“….and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.”

Do you ever wish you could see God, touch God, look God in the eye? Everyone has. And we may wonder why we can’t.

If this were the case, then God wouldn’t be God. He wouldn’t be omnipresent (present everywhere). He would only be able to listen to one prayer at a time, and the rest of the world’s prayers would go unheard.

Let us be grateful our God is so great that He cannot be limited. He is so great He cannot be pictured. He is so great that He fills heaven. He is so great that He fills our hearts and our souls.

#Omnipresent, #Omniscient, #GodIsEverywhere, #Prayer

Scripture for Wednesday, January 4 (1/4)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn blessings, Daily, Inspirational, persecution, prayer, ScriptureLeave a comment
The scripture for today, January 4, is Philippians 1:4 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:
 
FunWithBibleNumbers-Cover-Kindle“In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy.”
 
Do our prayers consist mostly of give me this, help me with that? Let us begin today to keep an on-going list of our prayer requests for the year, and another one of thanksgiving for when those prayers are answered.
 
Let us begin today to tell God “Thank you.”
 
Let us also begin today to look around at our circumstances ~ whatever they may be ~ with joy. There can be some kind of joy in every circumstance if we look at it through eyes of joy.
 
A majority of the people in Philippi in northern Greece on the border of today’s Bulgaria (called Thrace in the first century) were barbarian-looking warrior Thracians. But these rough warriors also brought joy with their beautiful sculptures.
 
Philippians is a book about peace among warriors. This is the book that says, “And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (4:7)
 
This is also the book that says, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (4:13).
 
Let us say, ”thank you,” and in the process recognize our joy.
 
#joy, #fun, #peace, #prayer, #thankyou