A New Year, A New Word

 Due to being ill and not feeling well before Christmas, I did not choose to be on my computer until this week. On December 20,2024, I was diagnosed with COVID. I have never been so sick in my entire life. Husband also has not been well. We saw our son this week for the first time since October. Part of that was because of the weather.

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Can you believe it? We are living in a brand-new year! Along with this being a new year,

it is also a time for me to announce my Word or 2025. My word for this year is FAITH. Again, God chose this word for me.

Again, I have repeatedly seen this word in my reading.

Faith in the New Year

For assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘ Move from here to there,’ and it will move and nothing will be impossible for you. Matthew 17:20 (NKJV)

As I sit here at the beginning of a new year, I have to remember that I need to have faith in God in order to get through the next months.

As I sit here and listen to or read the news, I see more and more struggles of God’s children. Governments are in disarray,

misunderstood tragic plane crashes,

the wild fires in California,

things in general are not as we would like them to be.

The plane crash in the Potomac

As I update this;, readying it for publishing, I am reminded of the funeral dinners our church has prepared since New Years. Here it is the end of January and we have prepared three and received a request to prepare another on two days from now.

I know my faith will be tested. I also know that it will grow.

Absolute Trust

 

In re-reading a chapter in my book for Sunday school, I ran across I ran across the term “absolute trust”. This term caught me off guard.

A quick look in my dictionary told me that absolute had several meanings. I believe the best definition in this instance is not limited, without any restrictions.

Absolute trust can only become something we have when we completely turn everything over to Jesus. It is a state of our hearts that we achieve only as we mature in our faith.

Absolute trust must be something we have every day; this is not just a Sunday morning trust or faith. We have to exercise trust in order for our trust to grow.

As I apply what I learn of this term, I will look at events and my surroundings in a different light.

Prayer

Father God: Please allow me to learn to trust You without reservation especially

when I am confronted by new circumstances in my life. In the Name of Jesus, I pray. AMEN

Trust Fall

 

Rick Warren Quote

I am with you always, to the end of the age. Matthew 28:20 (NKJV)

This is another entry based on the devotional we are studying in Sunday school,

Finding Soul Rest by Curtis Zachary.

In this section, he talks of times when a person stands on an elevated level and turns his or her back to those on the ground and falls backwards into the arms of those standing below.

I have never done this and I doubt that I ever will. When I first read his thoughts, I thought of Charlie Brown and Lucy Van Pelt and her holding the football until the last second and then pulling it away. We all know the result of this maneuver—Charlie Brown falls on his back.

A fairly young woman in our class said she only trusts God. My own thoughts are that certain people I know have a strange sense of humor and would think it funny to do something similar to Lucy. Therefore, I have chosen not to try this exercise, ever.

I am learning to trust God with more of my life. This has been a very good word for me to study this year.

When I called my Sunday school leader about my thoughts on this particular devotion. She remembered that trust was my word for this year.

Trusting God helped me to stay calm when I was working to get registrations for Vacation Bible School. We had a small school but it was a good one.

Our church congregation is trusting God to heal our pastor who is on medical leave until at least next February. He seems to be improving each time I see him. He and his wife come to Sunday services and have returned to our Thursday morning Bible Study when they can.

Trust

I like acronyms. This is one of my favorites.

Totally

Relying

Upon the

Savior’s

Timing.

The Makeup of Trust

What do we know about how to trust God?

Sometimes we ‘say’ we trust Him but turn right around and do something our way; we don’t wait on Him.

We have to have patience in order to wait for God to remedy our concern. There are times the Lord has to teach us something before He is ready to take care of our request.

We sometimes have to wait for God to answer our prayers because we may have asked for something that He knows we are not supposed to have or not ready to have.

God Alone

 

SlideServe

I will both lie down in peace and sleep;

For You alone, O LORD make me dwell in safety.

Psalm 4:8 (NKJV)

Words penned by David.

Having had too many nights with either minimal or no sleep, I picked up my Bible and read this verse. A dear friend shared it with me many years ago.

What I realized as I went through another sleepless night was that I was not trusting God for some things going on around me that may affect me.

This verse tells me that David would be able to rest in peace and then sleep. He then tells the LORD that He alone keeps him safe.

How did God keep David safe? By being with him during the times Saul was chasing him. When his son was hunting him down.

This issue of trust is connected to faith. I have learned that we must have faith in order to trust God without reservations. Years ago, the pastor I sat under said that a lot of people practice “Billy Goat” religion. They say they believed in God, then the next word they said was.”But”.

A scripture passage I found recently has given me pause. “Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.” Habakkuk 2:4 (NKJV) I believe I need to learn to live by faith more than I do.

Prayer,

Father God. Please help us, Your children, to trust you more as we live each day for You. Guide us as we make decisions and as we talk to those we meet in our daily activities, In Jesus’ Name, I pray. AMEN

The Gift of His Name

 

”And she shall bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.” ...”Behold the virgin shall be with child and bear a Son and they shall call His name Immanuel” which is translated “God with us.”

Matthew 1:21, 23 (NKJV)

Each of us have special names given to us by our parents.

Our LORD was given a very special name. His heavenly Father sent an angel to Joseph to assist him in understanding what had happened with Mary. The angel told Joseph the child, a son, would be named Jesus because He would save people from their sins.

Had God not intended Jesus to bring salvation to the people of the world, I shudder to think what shape it would be in now.

In the Old Testament, the prophet Isaiah tells King Ahaz that, in the future, there will be born a child whose name will be Immanuel, meaning, “God with us.”

When we believe in Jesus, we find ourselves thankful that God is with us through the presence of Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

During this season of Advent, the church makes ready our heats. Our church has an Advent Candle that chosen people from the congregation light. One of them reads about the candle that is being lit that week another person lights the candle of the week. As the season progresses, person lighting the candle also lights the candles of the previous week or weeks. On Christmas Eve, all four of the candles around the edge are lit and the Christ candle in the middle is light, celebrating His first Advent and pointing toward His second Advent.

It is truly a joyous part of our church services during this holy time.

Paul Thanked Jesus

Sallman, Head of Christ

 

And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me,

because He counted me faithful, putting me in the ministry,

I Timothy 1:12 (NKJV)

Words of Paul

Paul originally was an enemy of Christianity. The Lord confronted Paul as he was on the way to cause havoc in Damascus. Paul does not keep his past life a secret. He uses the unusual and difficult circumstances he faced to highlight how much God means to him. (see Philippians 3:1-11).

Paul counted his heritage and the “perks” that went with it as rubbish. It did not matter to him. He had difficult times after he had met the Lord. Beatings, imprisonments, shipwrecks, beatings, having to escape from the crowds were all a part of his resume.

Each of us have experienced harsh times because we belong to Christ. Some of us may have had it “thrown in our faces” that we aren’t supposed to feel a certain way because we are “Christian”. I had a family member tell me that. Also, I remember hearing a pastor’s wife who had gone through rather deep depression telling a group of us that her family told her that she shouldn’t be going through that because, “After all, you are a pastor’s wife.”

Paul gives thanks for all Jesus has given him, both the good and ‘bad’ things, because the ‘good’ things are rewards and the ‘bad’ things made him stronger. Jesus does the same for us.

Book Review: Fearless by FAITH

 

                                   Chosen Books

by Brother Andrew and Al Janssen

Fearless by Faith is a devotional book. It contains 60 faith building devotions written by Brother Andrew.

Brother Andrew spent his life smuggling Bibles into countries whose government did not allow Bibles or any mention of Christianity. He became known as “God’s Smuggler” He teamed up with Al Janssen to write of his travels.

The Book

This book is divided into two parts. The first part focuses on how we listen for God’s instructions. Part two concentrates on the Spiritual battle.

In each section, the warriors present six Bible heroes. In a section entitled: Meet Your Instructors, the authors give us a thumbnail synopsis of each of five Old Testament heroes who are the focus of this work. The authors have included, for most of them, scripture references for us to read and study in our Bibles: David, Elijah, Jonah, Moses, and Gideon. Brother Andrew uses these six heroes to focus on how we can listen for God’s instructions to us. In the second section, he shows us how God guided each of those six Biblical heroes through their spiritual battles.

I enjoyed this book, although I was unfamiliar with these authors and their previous works. My enjoyment was due to the fact that I was able to read the Biblical stories and understand better what the devotions were telling me.

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading devotional books and would want to understand better how to deal with certain conditions we encounter in life.

I received this book, free of charge, from Chosen, a division of Baker Publishing Group. All they asked of me was to give an unbiased review.

God’s Encouragement to His Children

 

For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the Lord,

thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give

you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:11 (NKJV)

Words of the Lord spoken through Jeremiah.

The Lord had just informed the exiles, who were being punished for sin, that the promise of peace would be fulfilled in 70 years.

They were to live their lives in Babylon like they would have lived them in Jerusalem. (verses 5-7) He also warns the exiles not to listen to the “false prophets and diviners” in their midst.

Now, I know how long 70 years is-that is seven decades. For a lot of people that is a lifetime.(Among those who were originally exiled were some who would never see home again. The younger generations would only know of Jerusalem through stories told to them by their elders.)

A lot of people really like the words of this verse and adopt it as their life verse. I was one who did. I saw it every day as I passed a Christian book store on the way to my dad’s to pick up my stepmother to take her to radiation treatments.

When I read the context, I learned more of what it meant. These words were an encouragement for the exiles that they could do well in Babylon and not be discouraged by the way they might be treated.

Abide

 

... then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”

” Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you are free indeed.” John 8:31-33,36 (NKJV)

Words of Jesus

Jesus gives His disciples guidance for being free from sin and guilt.

If you abide in My word, you are my disciples indeed.

The Lord states that His disciples must stand fast in what He teaches them and what He tells others about how to be free from sin.

And you shall know the truth

When we set out to discover God’s truth, we learn of Jesus and His ways and how to follow Him in our daily lives. We learn these things by studying the Bible, reading devotions, and by praying to God.

the truth shall set you free.

When we discover the truth of God, we should have no fears about circumstances that normally would affect our lives. We become free from worry and live at peace.

if the Son makes you free, you are free indeed

When Jesus makes us free from worry and guilt, we can experience a new-found state of freedom that no one can take away from us. Yes, I know, the enemy will try but as long as we take those issues to Jesus, we are still free.

Mustard Seed Faith

 

brothersofthebook.com

“For I truly say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed,

you will say to this mountain, ’Move from here to there’

and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

Matthew 17:21 (ESV)

Words of Jesus.

The disciples had not been able to cast a demon out of a young boy. Jesus did it without a problem.

In our prayer lives, we sometimes do not get our requests granted as we would like. Jesus tells His disciples that their faith was small.

I am sure each of you have had times when God honored your prayer requests in a way that you knew the answer was from Him.

A Sunday school teacher I had in another church often used the expression, “Pray in faith, believing.”

*We must believe that God hears our prayers.

*We must be sure that there is nothing keeping us separated from God.

Our hearts must be clear before and after we pray.

*We must commune with Him daily.

At least daily

*We must remember to give thanks for what He has done for us.

He likes to hear that we are thankful.

* We must believe that God will answer our prayers, as He desires.

It is our job to pray. It is His job to answer as He sees fit.

At my church, we have a prayer group, called Mustard Seeds. Our numbers are down at the moment but God hears our prayers and answers them according to what is best for the circumstance.

HE IS WITH US (and Blog Break)

 

Pinterest

Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means, “God is with us.” Matthew 1:23 Isaiah 7:14 (NRSV)

Do we understand the significance of the angel’s message? This message refers to a prophecy of Isaiah some 4oo years earlier. God is with us!

Even today, we see evidence of God’s presence in our world. The end of November 2017, I received a prayer request from my best friend. Her husband’s nephew had called and asked her to pray for his new-born granddaughter. The baby was born with three heart abnormalities.

The medical team waited for almost a week before performing surgery. In the meantime, several of us were praying. I requested prayer from one of my social media friends and from an online social media prayer group. This family needed to see God’s working in this circumstance. On the day I prepared this. My friend texted me a picture of the baby being held by her 3-year-old sister. She seems to have no tubes for breathing or feeding or heart monitor leads. We believed that this baby will go home very soon. God was with them throughout this past year.

UPDATE: In the fall of 2022, my friend and her husband along with their younger daughter journeyed out west and visited this nephew and his family. The little girl told my friend’s husband that she has a zipper on her chest. He told her that he has a zipper as well. The child is doing very well.

In the early part of our nation, there were people who believed that God created the world and chose to stand back and see what we would do. However, this is not the way the modern theologians teach. Those of us who have witnessed His workings know that God chooses to stand beside us in the good times and in the not-so-good times and guides us through those less than good times.

As we continue in our walk with God, let us learn to seek God in our lives and let Him lead us through the difficult times of our lives.

May this thought continue as we approach the upcoming New Year.

I am going to take a blog break until Tuesday, January 3, 2023. There are some things I need to get done here at home and also finish a bit of Christmas shopping,

A Gift of God’s Grace

 

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, and godly lives in this present age.

Titus 2:11-12 (NIV)

When we turn over our hearts and lives to Jesus, He gives us His Father’s grace to guide us through our lives. We receive salvation and so much more.

We receive the strength to stand against the worldly ungodliness that, from time to time, we have to face. Yes, as I read this scripture believers can say “No” to the worldly things.

The grace of God teaches us that we can manage in this world when we trust in the Holy Spirit to utilize self-control through Him and live lives pleasing to God before our neighbors and those we see where we do business.

I believe it is important that each follower of Jesus must strive to get closer to God and model our beliefs to those around us. However, I do not say this is easy to do. We have to rely on the Holy
Spirit to guide us through the roadblocks that life throws in our way.

A God-Given Spirit

 

Open Bible free images

for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. 2 Timothy 1:7 (ESV)

Words of Paul to his spiritual son Timothy.

Paul encourages Timothy to not be ashamed of speaking about God or about his (Paul’s) imprisonment.

God empowers His people to stand for Him and His Word. He still empowers us, His followers, to stand firm in the face of what the world throws at us.

A church I was a part of had a guiding document that included the guiding thought that the church’s calling is to approach the world and change it. Instead, we see the world entering the church and changing it. My present church’s denomination historically has been counter-cultural in its beliefs. Slowly, the world has seen to have crept in and tried to destroy the beliefs and practices we have held dear. Author Charles Colson wrote in some of his books that the colleges of the east coast we founded by churches and originally taught Christian values. Even at the time of his writing, the values, once held dear to the institutions were becoming blurred.

There was a gospel song I heard several years ago that summed up what we must do, it’s title-” The Basics of life”. One line said it all, “Let’s get back to the Basics of life. "We need to do just that!

   

Book Review: Prayer Starters

 

Christian Books.com

Talking with God About Hard Times

by Suzanne Eller

A Very Special Work

Suzanne Eller has created a very special work in this book. She has brought together 90 conditions that a Christian believer may face and helps us by sharing thoughts to guide us through prayers for those difficult times in life. These 90 prayer starters divided into three parts: Trusting God in Hard Times, Growing in Hard Places, and Freedom in Hard Places.

“Bonus Features”

She includes 12 “bonus” features. These are usually quotes from another author, insights into her life, special scripture readings and thought, or thoughts from our study we may revisit.

Why I like this book

This book has helped me realize that my worrying over an issue that seems to affect my life interferes with my relationship with God. I would recommend this book to anyone who believes they have hit a plateau in their prayer life.

I understand that the release date for Prayer Starters is October 28, 2022

I received this book, free of charge from Bethany House, division of Baker Publishing Group. All they asked of me was that I give an unbiased review.

Purpose in Season

 

Warner Sallman

To everything there is a season. A time for every purpose on earth.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NKJV)

God creates our live and gives us many epochs in each life He creates. As a person goes through life, he or she might go through certain stages.

As young adults, we study, we work, date, maybe marry.

As young marrieds, we work, provide for our families and care for our homes.

As parents, we care for, provide for and rear children.

As Empty Nesters, we rediscover favorite pastimes. and even learn new skills.

As Caregivers, we spend time caring for or helping older family members.

As Senior Citizens, we may volunteer for church or civic positions.

Each of these seasons have a purpose. God gives His children duties and tasks to perform. Each ‘season’ has a beginning and an end.

Since two weeks before the COVID lock down, I have had several health issues. It seems like one after another. I sincerely need to pray about finding God’s purpose about how He wants me to spend my days in this season I find myself.

Sometimes, all we can do is seek the LORD’s guidance and follow His leading.

Are any of you going through times like this?

A Gentle and Quiet Spirit

 

                                                                                      i.pinimg.com

Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging your hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel—rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. 1 Peter 3:3-4 (NKJV)

Words of the Apostle Peter to those who were dispersed into five regions of Asia Minor.

His words speak of the inner beauty of the believers of Christ. Per his thought, the inner person is what God sees and deems as our true selves.

I am concerned that our world has worshiped youthfulness, forgetting that people age. Madison Avenue (the advertising industry) has caused us to forget the fact that we are aging. Several of my lady friends have aged gracefully. I have a picture of one of them and her husband in our living room.

Now, please do not misunderstand, there are things we might need to do to our skin. However, there are things we need to do to keep our inner self presentable before God.

#Reading God’s Word

# Applying what it says to our heart

# Living out His Word to others

# Seeking His guidance through prayer

Father God, Please help each one of us to be gentle and humble as we go through our days. In Christ’s Name, I pray. Amen

Pledges

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 I gave this message at church this past Sunday.  I didn't realize that some of this information was new to some of the adults. 

Children’s Moments Message

September 25, 2022

I have been thinking about promises lately, sometimes we call them pledges. A pledge is a sincere promise we make. We make one to our nation’s flag, another one to the Bible, and one to the Christian flag.

In all three pledges, we promise to be loyal to each of these.

Pledge to the American flag

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which is stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

mediaistockphoto.com

Pledge to the Bible

I pledge allegiance to the Bible, God’s Holy Word. A lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. It’s words I will hide in my heart, that I might not sin against God. ⁽¹⁾

node01flagstat.net

Pledge to the Christian flag

I pledge allegiance to the Christian flag and to the Savior for whose Kingdom it stands, one Savior, crucified, risen again, and coming again with life and liberty to all who believe. ⁽²⁾

We have those items in our sanctuary here at Cross Roads. I discovered something I did not know about the Christian flag. I knew there is a cross in a blue section, and the rest of the flag is white. Here’s what I learned:

#The shade of red in the Cross reminds us of Jesus’ blood that He shed because He took our sins away.

#The blue reminds us of the water of baptism. It also reminds us of Jesus’ loyalty to God.

#The white reminds us of Jesus’ purity. He was without sin until He went to the Cross for us. ⁽³⁾

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^1.http://www.ccabrazil.org/uploads /4/3/5/9/4359809/christian_flag__bible_pledges.pdf

2. IBID.

3. http://en.wikiepedia.org/Christian _Flag#:-text=The Christian Flag was first to arrive for the event/

Patience and Gentleness

 

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By long forbearance a ruler is persuaded, and a gentle tongue breaks a bone.

Proverbs 25:15 (NKJV)

Moses listened to the Lord and patiently awaited the day that Pharaoh would finally let the Israelite people depart Egypt and head to the land God had promised them.

Hannah exercised patience and faith as she awaited receiving her first-born son, Samuel. Hannah also practiced gentleness, although it was difficult, as she endured the taunts from Peninnah.

When we have stress-causing circumstances in our lives, we have to practice patience and, yes, gentleness in our daily lives. We may have to spend more time with God, as he gently whispers words of comfort, healing and love into our ears as we face overwhelming circumstances in our lives.

When we hear things from others that upset us, we need to apply the rule that our mothers said, “If you can’t say anything nice, say nothing at all.” This was a rule that a lot of us senior citizens heard from early on in our growing-up years. It is a pity that this rule seemed to fall by the wayside during the last half-century

Can we begin teaching this “rule” to children of these times?

Show Humility to All Men

 

IO.wp.com

Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. Titus 3:1-2 (NKJV)

Paul’s words to Titus whom he describes as a “true son in our common faith.”

Paul lays groundwork here for believers to follow.

* To submit to rulers and authorities.

* To not speak badly about anyone.

* To live peaceful lives.

* To show humility to all we know.

Paul makes some very strong points, getting to the core of human relationships. He writes these words to a pastor who is young. Titus faces a huge task, that of establishing churches.

As we go through our days, we must follow these words of guidance from Paul. We are tasked to helping enlarge the kingdom of God, however, we must learn to daily practice gentleness.

This is a very difficult thing to do. Recently, I received a phone call from a friend who lives in my neighborhood. She wanted my advise on something. She told me her feelings on an issue and I told her that if she felt uncomfortable doing what she was asked, then maybe she should not do it. She had some good reasons about why she felt the way she did. I could have been more gentle about certain related issues she spoke of. I intend to be more careful in the future.

Do we always find ways to show humility to those around us?

Bear with one Another in Love

 

canyonville christian academy

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit, in the bond of peace.

Ephesians 4:1-3(NKJV)

Words of Paul written to Ephesian believers.

walk worthy of the calling

He encouraged them to live in a way that reflected God to others. He goes into detail as to how that would look. As we read those words, they can also apply to us who live in the 21^st Century.

with all lowliness and gentleness,

As believers in Christ, we must abandon all thought of ourselves as being better than others. We must also respond to each other with tenderness, no matter how others treat us.

bearing with one another in love,

Believers must accept those around us in love and be available for others as we can be. I sometimes find this difficult to do given the mindset of those in the world.

endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit

Paul’s purpose in his ministry was to introduce people to Jesus Christ and then to educate them in the ways of Christ. His goal was to unify those converted to the faith.

in the bond of peace.

Paul tells his readers, then and now that all we should do must have peace as its ultimate aim. I have had times when someone in the business world has been almost rude in response to a question I asked. In one instance, the woman could have explained their position better than she did.

Do you find it difficult to bear  certain people in your life?