Pray, Pray, Pray!

A storm that had been brewing in our lives, became full blown just after Christmas 2012.  The devil had been wrecking havoc behind the scenes, and although we felt it, we didn't know what it was until that fateful day when it was revealed to us by a close friend.

I knew in my spirit man that something was awry, something was just not quite right.  I was troubled, but didn't know what it was.  I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but I knew the devil was working against me and my family.  He was coming against us, but I wasn't sure how.

In the fall of 2012, a friend of mine invited me to go to a church service in a neighboring town.  I really didn't want to go, but decided I would.  After the message that night, the speaker invited everyone with a need to come up for prayer.  They had several prayer lines and I happened to get in the one where the Pastor was praying with people.  He laid his hands on my forehead and prayed.  Then he stepped up and whispered in my ear and said, "Sister, I see the devil standing just behind you and he's done more damage than you realize."  Needless to say, this was a very disturbing word to me from the man of God.  I came home and shared it with my husband.  Neither one of us knew what it meant, but we were soon to find out.

I received a call from my husband on that fateful day and it was concerning a very, very close member of our family.  Yes, the devil had been working behind the scenes and just like the Pastor told me that night, the devil had done more damage than I realized.

That was at least 6 months ago and we are still trying to pick up the pieces that the devil has strewn everywhere.  Many, many lives have been hurt and broken because of one person's decision to sin.  Sin has consequences.  Sin destroys lives.  Sin separates.  Sin is ugly.  Sin is poison.  Sin is sickening.  Sin is ugly.  Sin affects those around it.  When the seeds of sin are sown, it will reap a harvest and it's not pretty.  It's really pitiful how the devil is destroying lives today.

The devil is in the business of separating us from God.  He hates God and he wants to separate us from Him.  In the garden of Eden, he separated Adam and Eve from God by tempting them to disobey God's command, which they did.  Then they were ashamed and full of guilt, so they hid themselves.  That's what the devil wants.  He came to steal, kill, and destroy, but Jesus came to give us life and not only life, but abundant life!

The only thing that will restore what the devil has stolen is prayer.  Prayer changes things.  That's what we are praying.  That God will restore back to us everything the devil has stolen.  He did that for Job.  God gave back to Job double everything he had lost.  For example, if he has 200 sheep, He gave him back 400.   If he had 300 camels, He gave him back 600.

God is good!  He can deliver, restore, and renew.  What looks hopeless, is not with the God of hope.  So if you too are facing something that looks like a lost cause, don't lose hope.  Pray and intercede to the God of all hope to restore back to you what the devil has stolen.

GOD'S WORD IS TRUE!

We can stand on the Word and it will always work if we work it!

ACTS OF KINDNESS

In the above picture is Jesus sitting on the well waiting for this adulterous, sinful woman.  It's one of my favorite stories in the Bible.  Why?  Because Jesus went out of His way just to minister to this one woman, that everyone else shunned.  How do I know that?  Because the woman is coming to draw water at noon, the hottest part of the day.  She didn't come in the early morning hours with the other women, because she was an outcast, a loner, one who didn't fit in, because of her sins and her life style.  But Jesus cared for her so much he told the disciples I have to go to Samaria.  Jesus was a Jew and the Jews wanted no part of the Samaritans.  However, that didn't stop Jesus.  He loved this woman and wanted to let her know there is a better way.  In fact, He is the way, the truth, and the life.

He shocked her by speaking to her first of all and asking for a drink of water.  That was out of the ordinary, but Jesus wasn't ordinary.  He came to do the work of His Father and He only had a short time to do it in.  The same is true today.  Time is running out and we need to be about the Father's business, the business of winning souls.

Have you ever needed a friend or just a kind word?  Have you ever felt so alone, that you would turn the TV on just to hear human voices?  Have you ever wished someone would just call you on the phone and ask how you were doing?  There are many, many people out there who are lonely and need someone to care for them.  They need someone to show them love.   If we are like Jesus, we will show love and compassion to others.

That's what Jesus did to the Samaritan woman.  It didn't matter that others shunned her.  He went out of His way to talk to her.  It didn't matter that the women would not have anything to do with her and the men used her as an object to satisfy their own lust.  Jesus truly cared about her.  It didn't matter that His own people would not talk to her because she was a Samaritan.  Jesus talked to her.  She was so shocked by His display of love that it melted her heart.  How could she not love a man like that!  Jesus had compassion on her.  She fell so in love with Jesus that she ran back to her village to tell everyone about the Savior, the Son of God, who had come to her town just to show her He loved her!

That's the Jesus I know.  He will go out of His way to show His love to you and me.  Just a few days ago I casually mentioned to my husband I wish someone would give us some tomatoes.  Our tomatoes didn't make this year and I was craving some delicious, red ripe, home grown tomatoes.  One wouldn't do, I wanted several.  A few minutes later as I started to leave there was a basket full of red ripe tomatoes sitting there on my back porch steps.  I smiled, picked them up, and rushed to the bedroom to show them to my husband.  I said, God answered my wish for tomatoes.  He just proved to me once more how much He loves me.

Our daughter had surgery a few weeks ago and she was just overwhelmed by the many acts of kindness from her friends.  Several sent flowers, brought food, sent her cards, called to check on her and on and on.  She was grateful for the acts of kindness shown her during this difficult time.  It meant so much.

Ephesians 4:32 says, "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."

The Father's Love

"I've loved you the way my Father has loved me.  Make yourselves at home in my love.  If you keep my commands, you'll remain intimately at home in my love.  That's what I've done---kept my Father's commands and made myself at home in his love."  John 15:9,10 (Message translation)

You may have grown up without a father, or your father just wasn't there for you, for whatever reason.  It's sad that so many fathers are just absent.  They're too busy doing their own thing.  In other words, they are selfish.  They care more about their interests than they do about their wives and children.  This is a sad fact of the day and times we live in.  If you grew up in a home with a Godly father as an example, you were truly blessed.

If you were not blessed with a Godly father, just know that your Heavenly Father loves you!  In fact, there's not a thing you can do to make Him stop loving you.  He loved you so much He sent His only Son to die for your salvation.  Jesus loves you and came to die for you.

Do you feel unloved?  If so, come back home to the Father and make yourselves at home in His love.  He will accept you with open arms.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

All We Like Sheep

You and I are like sheep.  How do I know?  The Bible says so.  God's Holy Word gives many comparisons to how humanity are like sheep.  First, of all they need a Shepherd.  Most animals can fend for themselves, but not sheep.  They need the Shepherd to lead them to the still waters and the green pastures.  I've heard that sheep are afraid of rushing water, because if they should fall in they would certainly drown.  Their wool would soak up the water and make them heavy.  Plus, they cannot swim like some other animals.  We too, need our Shepherd, Jesus Christ, to lead us.

Sheep are dumb animals.  Some animals, and even a pig, are intelligent, but sheep are plumb dumb.  Doesn't that make you feel good?  Humans are dumb like sheep.  Instead of following the Shepherd they choose to go their own way and end up in a bad place.  We see this everyday in our families, neighborhoods, and  on the world news.  Men choose to live life their way making dumb decisions and the end results are not good.  For example, a young, single woman, gets pregnant, which is a bad mistake, but then she makes another bad decision, by choosing to abort the baby.  Two wrongs never make a right.  Then, this young lady lives a life of guilt, shame, and depression because of her wrong choices.  We don't know which way to go, that's why we need Jesus.  He is the Good Shepherd and will lead us into those green pastures (blessings).

Sheep have no defense either.  They don't have sharp teeth, claws, a loud roar, or the ability to jump on someone and attack them.  They look sweet and vulnerable.  Mankind is vulnerable also to the temptations of the enemy.  Again, we need a Shepherd.  We need Jesus.

Have you ever seen a stampede of sheep?  No, and you never will.  Just imagining that scene makes you laugh.  The truth is, we are no match for the enemy, without Jesus.  He is Lion of Judah.  He can roar in us, as the Lion of Judah and put the enemy on the run.

Face it, you and I are dumb sheep.  We need the gentle Shepherd, who has all Wisdom to guide us in this life.  He knows what we need.

Paula Deen's Chocolate Volcano Cake

Chocolate Volcano Cake on the Food Network

I love chocolate!  Just wanted to share the above recipe with you from Paula Deen.  I'm sure you will enjoy it.  Save a piece for me.

Snapshots Of Life

Simple things mean a lot.  I like simple.  The most beautiful wedding I've ever attended was in a little white country church with just a handful of people.  The bride was lovely in her simple white, delicate lace dress.  The groom was handsome, wearing just his Sunday suit.  No tuxedo, no expensive wedding dress with long train.  The flowers were equally beautiful.  They were simple arrangements of Queen's Anne lace picked from the roadside of an Alabama highway.  I saw that bride just a few months ago at a family funeral.  She commented about her husband of 20+ years, "I just love that man!  He's the best man in the whole world."  Imagine that.  She's still in love.

I like simple.  The older I get, the more I want to simplify my life.  It's the simple things in life that mean so much to me.  It's not the new car, or house, or expensive jewelry that make me happy, no it's that tiny blue flower a little boy picks for his mommy.  It's the time your husband cooks dinner for the family because your not feeling well.  It's the little note scribbled by your daughter in first grade, that says, "your the best mommy in the world" that you'll never forget and that you'll always cherish.  The proof of that is that you still have it tucked away in your dresser drawer.  

Yes, simple says it best.  I like simple.  I heard the following phrase several times while in college from my professors about lesson planning and it was KISS, which stands for, "keep it simple stupid."  

Yes, I love simple.  I'm not a fancy person.  Never have been and never will be and I like that simple fact about me.   

I was thinking the other day that life is like snapshots.  You can't remember everything, but we all have snapshot images in our minds.  Certain things that have happened to us or that meant so much to us and that's what we remember.  We have these little snapshot images in our minds of our lives.  

So I surmised that life is like a snapshot album. 

 So make some memories today.  Take some snapshots, but I'm not taking about with a camera, necessarily.   You'll always remember that day you and your daughter baked cookies together, or dad took you fishing.  These are the snapshot images of our lives.