Keep Climbing

Supper-Front Cover-MediumPraises belong to you, Jehovah. You are my father ~ my Father!  And so strong. Please win the war for us ~ the war with Satan. I am weak. We all are. You are stronger.  He thinks he is winning, but he is not. There may be more people following him on earth but they are like ants compared with the lion-like strength of Christians. Every time he thinks he has convinced one of your children to believe his lies, we rise up and say, “No”.  You give us that strength. All power and glory and majesty are yours.  Of course, you will win! You said so yourself.

Ah, thank you, my Lord, for the way you taught mankind to trust you. Over and over through the centuries and millenniums you made promises but almost always said, “Later”.  You understood we need trust and patience. We needed to know victory would eventually come. You could use your power to know the future to help us and give us a reason to keep trying, keep plugging along, keep struggling, keep climbing.  I bow before you, my gratitude spills upon your wounded feet, and I worship you.

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Supper-Front Cover-ThumbnailTHE LORD’S SUPPER:  52 READINGS WITH PRAYERS.  Perfect for table talks or private meditation while taking the communion.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….  https://bit.ly/2ZvCTDS

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The Triumph of Survival

The scripture for today, January 4 (1/4), is Philippians 1:4 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

00-hero-alone-cover-kindle-medium“In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy.”

Are you sad about something? Do your prayers consist mostly of give me this, help me with that? Begin today to keep an on-going list of your prayer requests for the year, and another one of thanksgiving for when those prayers are answered. Begin today to tell God, “Thank you.”

Also begin today to look around at your circumstances ~ whatever they may be ~ with joy. There can be some kind of joy in every situation if you look at it through eyes of joy.

The above quotation is from a letter to Philippi in northern Greece bordering today’s Bulgaria.  Here, a majority of the citizens were barbarian-looking warrior Thracians. But these rough semi-professional warriors also brought the world joy with their beautiful sculptures.

Philippians is a book about peace and joy. 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).

From now on, tell God, “Thank you,” and in the process rediscover your joy.

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00-hero-alone-cover-kindle-lgthumbnailYOU CAN BE A HERO ALONE:  SURVIVAL STORIES FOR THE COURAGEOUS ISOLATED CHRISTIAN can be used as a class book or a personal study book.  Each story covers someone in the Bible who had to stand alone or who was isolated from the world in some way.  Our God is a God of small beginnings. From a grain of sand he can build a mountain. From a drop of water he can create an ocean.  With one isolated Christian he can create a multitude of Christians.  To BUY NOW click a book cover or paste this……….  https://bit.ly/354h5R8

 

https://inspirationsbykatheryn.wordpress.com/1107-2/you-can-be-a-hero-alone-survival-stories-for-the-isolated-christian/

 

You are my song

OldOldTunes-mediumMighty God, conceiver, founder, and Creator of this vast cosmos. You are beyond thought, beyond imagination, beyond human mind. You are greater than any galaxy, mightier than any sun, gentler than the softest feather. And, oh, your ability to love ~ it conquers everything that is bad because love is the strongest essence in existence.  Because of this, you created me. Lowly me. Your thoughts never leave me, your kindness never ceases, the honor of your presence never flies away. I extol you, honor you, and bow at your feet.

Please forgive me for not thinking of others more than myself. I get so caught up in my own life, I hide my eyes from others’ needs, others’ goals, others’ plights. Open my eyes and heart to them and help me be willing to leave my little world to spread your love abroad.

Thank you for loving me. You show it every day in the earth I trod, the food I eat, the birds that fly around me for my entertainment. You are in my every delight, my every movement, my every song. I am surrounded and protected by your high walls of salvation, your waters of life, and your light of truth.  How can I thank you for all you have done for me?

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OldOldTunes-ThumbnailTHE OLD OLD STORY SET TO OLD OLD TUNES is a fun song book with 40 songs from the Old Testament and 40 from the New Testament. All are set to old folk tunes with the lyrics adjusted. Three Blind Mice becomes Three Great Kings. The Old Gray Mare, She Ain’t What She Used to Be becomes A-bra-ham, A-bra-ham, He Ain’t What He Used to be. A fun way for children to learn the Bible. To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this………. https://bit.ly/2YwJVHI

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Becoming Flesh

0000-BK 1-StarSong-Cover-new-MediumMajestic God of the heaven and earth with all their bewilderments and surprises and astonishments. You made all which exists. You made it all for our pleasure and benefit. You also made it as a proving ground to test the power of love through us. Hate can and never will overcome love. Hate wants to accuse and punish. Hate wants instant gratification no matter who it hurts. Hate loves to hate. Love covers up the wrong in others because it is merciful. Love wants to patiently develop and grow. Love always is strongest. That is you, my God. You are Love and I worship you.

Ah, how can I thank you, my Lord, for making this earth, then becoming flesh and walking among us? We saw your love, we felt your love, we were saved by your love.  Without you, my life would only be getting and earning, building and making ~ all the while, trying to find some meaning in life. You provide the meaning: Life with you is life to its fullest and it is eternal.

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0000-BK 1-StarSong-Cover-new-ThumbnailSTAR SONG is Biblical Historical Novel #1 in the THEY MET JESUS series.  This entire book is about events surrounding his birth and everyone involved in it.  Come along and see when Christmas was every day.  Life-Application questions and historical citations at the end of each chapter.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….  https://bit.ly/Star-Song

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Faithful to my descendants

0-Stephen-Cover-Kindle-MediumJehovah God, your Master Plan of saving us from Satan and hell is perfect and grand.  It will continue, no matter how much we humans and Satan fight it. It will be carried out to the glorious end. Your will shall be carried out because you have the strongest will of all ~ love, justice, mercy. You shall win over Satan and hell and take me safely home to heaven. I am overwhelmed. I worship at your feet.

Thank you, Lord, for all those who have gone before me in the faith. People like Abraham and Joseph and Elijah who stood alone to believe in and follow you. Thank you for the apostles, their hard work, and enduring terrible pain when they were slowly killed rather than deny you.  Thank you for Christians around the world who believed in you, even when the other people in their countries ~ China, India, Africa, Europe ~ did not. Thank you for those who stood up against changing your rules, even though it meant being burned at the stake. Thank you for my own ancestors, some of whom were loyal to you to the very end. May I follow their example and be a faithful Christian ancestor to my descendants.

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00-Stephen-Cover-Kindle-ThumbnailSTEPHEN: UNLIKELY MARTYR had always loved God and wanted to show Him to unbelievers. He tried everything he knew to do, but everything seemed to backfire.  Then he met Jesus. He escorted desperate widows in Cyrene to live in Jerusalem.  There he was made a deacon.  His messages were powerful, his miracles unbelievable.  The church grew.  He had everything to live for.  How could he have given it all up?  He knew when he entered their chambers he would not come out alive. To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….  https://bit.ly/StephenUnlikelyMartyr

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Then it is dawn again.

OldOldTunes-mediumAh, Lord God, my heart burns within me for you. Burning with the rays of your sun that grace my day. At night it breaks through the darkness from each star firelit with your majesty. Then dawn again. In a blink, your sun is back. But it never really leaves me. For your love keeps my heart warm and bright with the flame of your grace. Someday I will ride one of those sunbeams to you and, in your presence, I shall see your throne ablaze with glory.

I thank you for your love that will not let me go. Though I sometimes wander from you, carelessly, letting Satan have his way, you run after me calling out, “No! Do not go with him. He is dangerous. He will hurt you. His smiles mean nothing but treachery. Let go of Satan and come back to me! Run! Run away from him! Come back!”  When I am blind, you send me your light so I can find my way back to you. Thank you for loving me that much.

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OldOldTunes-ThumbnailTHE OLD OLD STORY SET TO OLD OLD TUNES.  40 songs on the Old Testament and 40 on the New Testament.  Folk tunes make these songs fun to sing.  You will often laugh with them and sometimes cry.  Great for grandparents to entertain grandchildren on  visits. Also fun for classes and as ice breakers.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….  https://bit.ly/OldStoryOldTunes

 

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My soul is overwhelmed

The scripture for today, December 22 (12/22), is 1st Samuel 12:22 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

00-PAUL COVER-Medium-“For the sake of his great name, the Lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own.”

Among all the pretend gods that people have worshiped, there has never been one who made people because he wanted someone to love and wanted them to be his children. Islam, for example, teaches Allah made man to have someone to worship him. Allah has 99 names, but none of them is Love. It is the same with other purported gods. Buddhism and Hinduism have gods with no personalities at all; they are just the essence of the universe. So sad.

Oh, how much mankind misses by not opening up to the one and only God.  He wants you to be his child! He wants to lavish you with his love.

God made you because God is Love.  Love must have someone to love. That’s you, dear friend. That’s you!

Amazing love of God. It pleases him to make you his own. It pleases him! You the lowly. You the weak. You the inconsistent. You the sinner.

Let your soul be elevated by the God of Love. Let your heart be warmed. Let your spirit be touched with eternity. Then lift up your voice and shout, “My soul is overwhelmed!”

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00-PAUL COVER-Thumbnail-PAUL: THE UNSTOPPABLE.  He imprisoned, tortured, and killed Christians. He hated Christians and he hated Jesus.  Then it happened.  He switched sides and spent the rest of his life trying to make it up to Jesus for treating his people as he had  Walk with Paul for 45 years as he endures the imprisonments and tortures he used to dish out on others.  Listen as he is beaten yet again and cries lout amidst the burning pain, “Jesus!  This is for you!” To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….  https://bit.ly/UnstoppablePaul

 

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And lift the fog of time

0-Cover-MediumJehovah God, you transcend space and time. I do not. I sometimes think back about the clouded past and wonder how many wrong decisions I made. I think, too, about the future and how my decisions of today will influence it. At other times I wonder why unethical people often get rich at the expense of the poor.  As I slide uneasily through time step by step and wonder with uneasy mind, I just do not know what the future will bring. But you do. You have already been to the future. So, I rest in you knowing you will guide me through the unknown and someday will lift the fog of time.

Father, forgive my ingratitude. I want more hours in the day to do more, then I want more hours in the night so I can sleep more. When it is winter, I want it to be summer, then when it is summer, I want it to be winter. When I have an interesting job with low pay, I want a boring job with high pay. And on and on I go. Never content and grateful for what you have given me. I am so sorry.

My Jesus, when I am lonely, I remember how your heart must have ached when the world went after you only for your miracles, only to use you. When I feel nearly broken by my burdens, I remember how you suffered and died to free an ungrateful world from Satan’s clutches.  You understand everything I go through because you have been there. You have been tempted as I have, you have been heavy ladened as I have, you have laughed and wept as I have. You understand. And for this, I thank you, my Lord.

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00-Cover-ThumbnailFUN WITH BIBLE NUMBERS has 525 math problems from the Bible — half from the Old Testament, half from the New Testament.  Great gift for passing the time or homeschoolers.  To  BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….  http://bit.ly/Bible-Numbers

 

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The world blinked in wonder

0000-BK 1-StarSong-Cover-new-MediumMy Maker and my God, I surrender my life to you.  You have prepared me from the womb to accomplish something for you, whether it be a day-by-day thing or an only-one-time thing. I accept it.  Whatever it is, I surrender all that I have and am to you. My hands to work for you, my feet to go for you, my eyes to seek for you, my lips to speak for you. Mostly, I surrender my will to you. May I be able to comprehend your will so I may follow your lead with all the spiritual vigor and physical energy I have. Why? Because I love you.

Before Jesus came, the world was wrapped in the darkness of sin. When you ~ the Light of the world ~ came, dawn came with you. The world blinked in wonder at the glare when you died, then returned to life.   Ten thousand tongues of the world rejoiced, welcoming the morn, and sang aloud “Praise the Lord!” The world still stands in awe of you, and I with them. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for revealing God to us.

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0000-BK 1-StarSong-Cover-new-MediumSTAR SONG is the stories of a dozen people and the part they played in the birth of Jesus — preparing for him, protecting him, adoring him, even as a baby.  Read the Christmas story as never told before.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….  http://bit.ly/Star-Song

 

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The touch of your heart to mine

Love Letters of Jesus & his Bride-mediumMy heavenly Father, my life, thus far, as made turns in directions I had not planned or even dreamed of. Sometimes I ended up in places I did not want to be. That is where you had led me and had wanted me to be.   I do not know what the future will bring. But wherever you lead me, I will follow you, however unknown and frightening it may be to me. If you lead me to joblessness, to famine, to wars, to prison, I will follow where ever you go. Someday while I follow you up unknown paths, you will pause, turn, smile, and say, “We’re here.  Welcome home.”

Lord, I was sick last week.  I was lying there thinking about how miserable I was. I rolled in it. Wallowed in it. Savored in it. Then a new thought occurred to me. If I thought about how blessed I am, it would take my mind off my misery. It worked, Lord! it really worked! I even got up, fetched a piece of paper, and began listing my blessings. Pretty soon I was smiling. You were smiling too. Now I was able to fall asleep. When I awoke, I felt healed.  The touch of your heart to mine had healed me.

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Love Letters of Jesus & his Bride, Eccelsia-THUMBNAILLOVE LETTERS OF JESUS & HIS BRIDE, ECCLESIA is a retelling of the Song of Solomon in more modern vocabulary.  Each chapter is a love letter. It ends with “I am coming soon.”  Over 500 footnotes show the parallel of Jesus love for his church.  A beautiful wedding gift or class book.  Great for Ladies Days. Or put one chapter a week in your bulletin.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this:    https://bit.ly/LoveLettersOfJesus  

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