Pray For Lisa

Joshua 1:9 ESV
"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Please pray for Lisa from My Heart's Home today, Thursday December 26, as she is having a double mastectomy. Pray for the surgeon and for a complete removal of the cancer with a quick recovery. Pray for her family as they walk through this with her.

Psalm 28:7 ESV 
The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.

Our strength is found in Jesus and He will carry us through times that are rough.  He is our refuge when our world is shaken or when we are given a plate that we are not pleased with.

Praying and praying for you Lisa!
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You Stepped Down Into Darkness

Give Me Jesus, Jeremy Camp

Matthew 1:18-25 ESV 

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

Jesus, the light of the world, stepped down into darkness over 2000 years ago to give us freedom from the sin that binds us to this world. He is lovely, wonderful and our hope in this dark and dreary world.

Happy Birthday Jesus Christ!!

Merry CHRISTmas my blogging friends! Hoping and praying this will be a day filled with worship and joy, glad tidings, family and peace. But even if this is a day filled with loneliness, confusion and sadness, I pray you will feel the peace that only Jesus Christ can bring, one of hope for life eternal away from the misery of this world.

Matthew 2:11 ESV 

And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.

Merry CHRISTmas!

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Hope

H O P E

In this world of sorrow, pain and suffering there is hope and that is found in Jesus Christ. 

This world and all that is in it is dying away yet in Jesus there is:

Hope for tomorrow.

Hope for a future.

Hope for living in peace and security.

Hope for joy.

Hope for seeing our loved ones again.

Romans 5:2-5 ESV

Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Let's hope together.
Blessings,
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Who Can Add to Christmas

What better gift is there then the gift of eternal life.

I'm linking up with Barbie for The Weekend Brew.

 

Merry CHRISTmas!

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Prayer Request

One of our blogging friends is in need of prayer. Lisa, Never Forsaken from My Hearts Home, has found out she has breast cancer and will be having a double mastectomy next week, December 26. Please pray for Lisa that the surgeon will remove all of the cancerous tissue, for a quick recovery and knowledge about the nature of this type of cancer. Please also pray for Lisa's family and friends as this news doesn't just affect Lisa and her husband Jeff, but her children, grandchildren and her family and friends.

Lisa has let us know that the cancer has not spread and is contained in the breast tissue. Praise GOD! Here is the comment Lisa left on her blog post Surgery Next Week!

A thousand thank you's are not enough to express my heartful of gratitude to my dear friends who are praying, and sharing scripture with me!
Brenda, those scriptures are only confirmation of what the Lord has been telling me since day one of this!
I have to Praise Jesus today....My x-ray and bloodwork came back...everything is normal including liver function and clear chest...This is big since this cancer usually goes after the liver...and into the chest wall!
I was so worried about that because I saw my chest x-ray and thought I saw spots on it (when I had it done)...and so I called the doctor today and they checked everything for me. This has eased my mind, and I am ready to go forward again!
Jesus still has me safe in His embrace...sometimes He carries me.
Blessings & Love!
I will keep you updated..here in the comments section.
I promise I won't make this blog all about cancer...It is all about Jesus and me!

Romans 12:12 ESV
Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

Thank you for your faithful prayers.

Praying and praying,
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Battle Lines

The Lion, The Witch, And the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis Chapter 15

At that moment they heard from behind them a loud noise—a great cracking, deafening noise as if a giant had broken a giant's plate.... The Stone Table was broken into two pieces by a great crack that ran down it from end to end; and there was no Aslan.

"Who's done it?" cried Susan. "What does it mean? Is it more magic?"

"Yes!" said a great voice from behind their backs. "It is more magic." They looked round. There, shining in the sunrise, larger than they had seen him before, shaking his mane (for it had apparently grown again) stood Aslan himself.

"Oh, Aslan!" cried both the children, staring up at him, almost as much frightened as they were glad....

"But what does it all mean?" asked Susan when they were somewhat calmer.

"It means," said Aslan, "that though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know. Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of time. But if she could have looked a little further back, into the stillness and the darkness before Time dawned, she would have read there a different incantation. She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backward."

I love C. S. Lewis’ book series the Chronicles of Narnia. His ability to write a child’s fantasy story and equate it to spiritual warfare is nothing short of a genius. Reading this fiction story of children traveling to another land allows the mind to break through the natural and see into the supernatural with ease.

Ephesians 6:12 ESV

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Satan is real. 

The battle is fierce. 

The delusion is on and thicker than ever before. 

Satan's ways are deceiving and he will stop at nothing to acquire a soul. He sows the bad in with the good, the bad thoughts with the good thoughts. He has no pity or sympathy and he is great in doing evil. He is very smart, driven and inspired by a vicious, cruel heart.

Our fight is not against atheist or other religious cults. Our fight is against the angel of light, Satan the great deceiver, and the only way we can fight this mortal enemy of ours is on our knees in prayer and worship our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, love our neighbour and those who just don’t see, the ones who have fallen under the spell of Satan.

The battle is increasing and Christians should be wearing their armour and hit the ground often in supplication to our Father in heaven, seeking His face, His wisdom and His will.

Our society is lacking prayer. 

We need to pray for the advance of God's cause not for the advance of man's cause. Praying according to the will of God and not to twist the arm of God, is where mountains are moved; spiritual mountains. 

James 4:3 ESV

You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

The battle lines are being drawn, there are only two sides to chose from. Either you are with God or with Satan, there is no other choice. 

Praying and praying,

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God Is Logical

Make Known Your Ways LORD

The Christians worldview, beginning with creation, is the only rational, possible explanation to how our world began and how we came into being. Any alternative to this is self-refuting. Our God is logical and His way makes sense

Titus 1:9 NIV

He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.

 

Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry, CARM

How does a Christian account for the laws of logic?

• The Christian worldview states that God is absolute and the standard of truth.
• Therefore, the absolute laws of logic exist because they reflect the nature of an absolute God.
• God did not create the laws of logic. They were not brought into existence, since they reflect God's thinking. Since God is eternal, the laws of logic are too.
• Man, being made in God's image, is capable of discovering these laws of logic. He does not invent them.
• Therefore, the Christian can account for the existence of the laws of logic by acknowledging they originate from God and that Man is only discovering them.
• Nevertheless, the atheist might say this answer is too simplistic and too convenient. It might be, but at least the Christian worldview can account for the existence of logic itself. 

Colossians 2:2-4 NIV

My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.

Seeking the truth can only be found in the Christian God, Jesus Christ, and only through the reading of Scripture will bring about wisdom, knowledge and understanding. 

I'm linking up with Barbie for, The Weekend Brew

Blessings,

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Precious Joy

Baby Joy has gone home to be with Jesus.

Psalm 34:18 ESV 

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

There hasn't been a lot of news about Joy. Her parents wanted to keep things a bit private and that is totally understandable. Every now and then I would see on Facebook a request for prayer for Joy or sharing of a blessing and last night a request came up that Joy needs prayer and then this morning this is what I saw...

At 730am CST our Joy was called home. We have told her from the beginning that if Jesus called her name she should run to Him and she did. We are Blessed to serve a God who let us call her ours for even a little while.

From what I understand, she had an infection and when you are a heart patient things can go from good to really ugly, super fast.

Please pray for the family as this is a very difficult time. Thank you.

Psalm 147:3 ESV

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

Praying and praying,
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Earthquake Resistant Faith

Matthew 7:24-27 ESV
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

This morning while excising these verses came to me and along with it came the thoughts and images of large buildings swaying in an earthquake. Father revealed to me that building on His Word, which is not earthly, is like building an earthquake resistant building. We are building on His Spirit which is flexible, moving and active. The Spirit is not concrete and sedentary like earthly things but forever living, stretching us and in control.

I decided to do a bit of research on earthquake resistant buildings and came up with some pretty neat stuff.

Source

In order to build a building that can resist the shaking of the earth it must be built on a solid foundation that is not solid on the earth, it must be separate, moveable and flexible.

Source

Here are a couple of short clips on how to build an earthquake resistant building taken from the Imagination Station.

Isn't that cool?? 

Above is the Petronas Towers in Kuala, Lumpur Malaysia. In order to meet local safety construction codes, the towers had to be able to withstand 65 miles per hour (105 km/h) winds. In order to assure this requirement would be fulfilled the engineers tested the towers twice within a wind tunnel, first by computer simulation and second by building an actual model of the towers.

 

Above is Taipei 101 found in Xinyi District, Taipei, Republic of China. Taipei 101 is designed to withstand the typhoon winds and earthquake tremors common in its area of the Asia-Pacific. Planners aimed for a structure that could withstand gale winds of 60 m/s (197 ft/s, 216 km/h or 134 mph) and the strongest earthquakes likely to occur in a 2,500 year cycle.

As we can see both of these towers are unique, beautiful and flexible. God has created each person unique and beautiful and He compares His children to the trees of Lebanon.

Psalm 92:12-15 NIV
The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,
they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
planted in the house of the Lord,
they will flourish in the courts of our God.
They will still bear fruit in old age,
they will stay fresh and green,
proclaiming, “The Lord is upright;
he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”

A few weeks ago we had a sermon on concrete Christians, set in their ways not willing to change and move. God does not want this for this makes us earthly full of the flesh. We need to have our foundation built on God's Word which is living and active, where we are growing and changing in the Lord with each and every day becoming more and more like Jesus. 

Let Scripture cut down into the solid, earthly ways and make you flexible in Jesus Christ so when the storms of this earth come on us we will not crumple and tumble down because our foundation is set in the earth, but we will move and bend and continue to grow and produce fruit for our Lord.

Blessings,
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Trust God, Prayers For Joanne

We haven't heard from Joanne for awhile, a lot has been going on and she is struggling and really needs prayer. Please stop by her blog The Simple Wife and give her some encouragement. For those of you who do not know Joanne, she had a major stroke over 2 years ago and her family nearly lost her, but thousands of people prayed and fasted for her and the Lord restored her to her husband and her family. It has been a rough 2 years and it seems it is still pretty rough. Joanne needs us to stand in the gap and pray for her. Please join your heart with mine and many others and lift this woman of God up to His throne.

Here are her prayer requests:

Please pray
1. For a Job for Toben (one with good benefits would be sprinkles on the frosting on the cake).
2. For my relationship with the girls. I want so much to shower love on them, yet I also want to respect their desire for some distance. It hurts and I am sad.
3. For the girls. They are doing well for the most part – dealing well with school and friends. I would dearly love for Audrey to have a big sister/mentor in her life to pour into her, to love on her, to be her friend.
4. For my sleep. I go to bed tired, wake up tired, lay awake in the night tired. I am not active but I am worn out a lot.
5. As I read this, I see I am afraid a lot. One of the Psalms says, “When I am afraid, I will trust in you”? I need help to do this more! I do trust you, Lord; help me trust you more!
 I am in Denver now, so many thanks to my Dad for typing this for me! And for loving me so unconditionally and well.
 I’m headed back to Colorado Springs on Wednesday and we will spend Thanksgiving there.
 My goal and desire is to blog more regularly. So I hope to “see” you again soon.
 With love and many thanks for your love and care,
Joanne

John 16:33 ESV
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Praying and praying,
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