The Holy Spirit, God's Gift to Us

It Is Written,1 Corinthians 2:4, and my speech and my preachings were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.
When someone comes to Jesus and is saved, they also receive the Holy Spirit. Many people either don't know that, or they were like me at one time. I thought it must be a good thing, but I really didn't have a clue about what it really meant.
When you stop and think  of the momentous thing that happened when you came to Jesus, it is almost too much to take in. As a result, you miss out on a lot of blessings. The fantastic thing that takes place then , shows how much God loves you.
Think about this. When Jesus was on this Earth, He did what the Father told Him to do. All of the miracles that Jesus did, including His resurrection, were done by the power of the Holy Spirit. Before Jesus went back to heaven, He commanded the apostles to carry on His work, through the power of the same Holy Spirit. Starting to get the picture?
The Holy Spirit starts out giving you gentle nudges. In His quiet voice He starts to guide you. He understands that it may take a while for you to catch on. He puts desires in your heart, such as finding out about the Holy Spirit and what He does. After a while, you occasionally say two or three words to Him.
Again some time goes by. It is different for each person, depending on the effort you put into knowing Him. As you come to know Him, you get a strong desire to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. When you are baptized in the Holy Spirit, your life changes. I am not talking about changes against your will, or anything like that. You just become a much better version of you. Without realizing it, you start to become more like Jesus.
I started to talk to the Holy Spirit regularly during the day. When I drove into a parking lot, I asked Him to find me a good spot. I guess you might say that this was a small test. He did. Naturally it grew from there. I started talking to Him as I would my best friend and constant companion. My  faith really started to grow.
As I said when I started to write these messages, I felt led by the Holy Spirit. As I said before, I am not a writer or a preacher. I just believe the Holy Spirit was guiding everything I wrote, and no matter how many or how few people read the messages, He chooses the ones He wants to read them. You might say I am just His pen.
I have found a surprising number of people who don't agree with me about the Holy Spirit, or baptism in the Holy Spirit. I just feel that it is their loss. The Holy Spirit calls, we decide if we answer or not.
The Holy Spirit isn't our slave. He is our guide and helper. The first thing every morning, I ask Him for wisdom and guidance in everything I think, say, and do. I feel so close to the Holy Spirit, I don't know what I would do if He stopped helping me. Praise God, He won't.
The Holy Spirit always comes through. No matter how impossible something looks, it is easy for him. When I ask Him, as far as I am concerned, it is finished. You could not talk me out of it. Praise the Lord!
Remember Jesus Loves You
Prayer of Salvation
Lord Jesus, I thank you for what you did on the cross for me. Your blood washed away all my sins, by your stripes I was healed, your death and resurrection brought me salvation. Please forgive my sins, and come into my heart as my personal Savior.
Thank You
Amen

Gods Creation

Greetings, My Friends;

Today I am kind of sidetracked. This is a story that might be somewhat reminiscent of something that you experienced some time in your life.

Last Thursday, my wife and I went to visit one of my sons in Door County, Wisconsin. It is a few hundred miles from our home, and takes several hours to get there.

Just as anyone would do, I got on the toll road. As you can imagine, traffic was pretty heavy, and everyone was speeding, including yours truly. I call it self defense, to keep from being run over. A poor excuse I suppose. We kept this up until we were good way past Milwaukee. It was then,  my wife and I decided to take what we call the scenic route. We got off the expressway.

We usually do this, because it is like entering a new world. For the most part, our speed is drastically  reduced . We drive on country roads. My wife enjoys seeing cows and horses spending their days eating and enjoying their surroundings. You go through many small, even tiny towns and watch how people go about their business. We will usually have something to eat in a no name, ma and pa place. We are in no hurry, so a casual conversation is welcome to us.

When we got to my son's place, it was very peaceful and beautiful. We went to bed at the start of a downpour. I don't know how much of the sound was from the rain, the trees, or both. What a pleasant way to fall asleep. My son lives in a heavily wooded piece of land among the trees. When we got up, there were 2 dear, a mother and her little one, not 20 feet from our window. They were in no hurry to leave, I guess they knew they were safe.

After breakfast, we went exploring as we call it. Since we were only a couple of blocks from Lake Michigan, we went to the marina. A few charter boats were just leaving with their cargo of happy tourist fisherman. We walked out to the tip of the marina and sat looking at the lake. There was a stiff  breeze, making it feel cooler than it was. The sun warmed my bare skin, and it felt so good I could have stayed all day. Only our Lord could accomplish all of this.

Next we checked out vast areas of beach. Beautiful, clean beaches with no people except us. The small white caps were rolling in with their distinctive sound. The sun was bright and warm, and you could feel the power in the lake. In spite of its size and power, the Lord set boundaries where the water could go.  Absolutely beautiful and pleasant to look at.

That night we sat on the deck and looked at the sky. It was as though I had never seen it before. The number of stars was unimaginable. If I was Abraham, and the Lord told me that my descendents would be as many as the stars, I could not imagine a world big enough to hold all of the people. It seems impossible that anyone could look up in the sky, see all of these stars and deny the existence of God. Every one of the stars is where it is supposed to be and doing what it is supposed to do. Chance? I think not.

A couple of days later, we went to small-town to see their parade. Hundreds of people showed up. The highway was closed.  To a city slicker, this probably seemed like a joke. Everyone there, including us was there to have a good time. No marching bands, no impressive floats, just regular people and homemade floats. The whole parade took about 15 or 20 min. People were so nice to each other. We needed to use a bathroom, so we took a chance and went into very nice motel on the route. With hundreds of people around, the person in charge of the motel was very accommodating and very nice.

On Sunday morning we went to a small farmers market on the lawn at city hall. Everyone looked like they were there to socialize, and if they bought or sold, so much the better. My son had his 2 Basset hounds with him because they love people and they attract people. One of the vendors gave the dogs some water because they looked like they could use it, even though we didn't buy anything. I think when most people are away from the stress of everyday life; they start to act as God intended. We had an absolutely wonderful time.

Yes, we took the scenic route home. Check out the pictures. We saw the creator's hand and love everywhere.

God bless you and remember,

Jesus loves you.

Prayer of salvation;

"Oh God in heaven, I believe with all of my heart that Jesus has been raised from the dead. I receive your word, and I repent of sin. I renounce the past. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus. I receive my forgiveness. I receive the new birth, cleansed and washed in the word and in the precious blood of Jesus fill me with your spirit, in Jesus name. Amen."

A Christian Friend

Greetings, My Friends;

I would like to tell you about a true Christian of love for another person. This is not about some terrific act that was done that put someone in jeopardy or anything like that. We'll call the friend, Carol. But first I would like to give you a little background leading up to the story.

As I said a week or two ago, my sons  built a pond for my wife for Mother's Day, about 14 years ago. Because of the love and attitude they had when they did it, it was one of the most precious things my wife had. I say had, because she no longer has it.

There are two little girls that live next door to us. We found out that when we are away for the weekend, they come over and throw rocks in it and generally hang around. The thing that concerned my wife the most,  was the fact that the girls are small, and the pond was about 2 1/2 feet deep.

My wife called her friend, Carol, who is very artistic and asked her to help design a rock garden to replace the pond. Well, Carol came over and came up with a very nice design.  As Carol and my wife talked, Carol said that she enjoys that kind of work, and she would like to do it. If you saw her place you would believe what she says, because it is absolutely beautiful. I get tired thinking about the work she put into it.

Back to the story.  She came over the next day and told my wife that she was going to redo the pond as a gift to her. She said that since it was a gift, she did not want any help. My wife tried to assist in a few little ways, and I helped by staying out of the way. It looked like a 3 day job, but it only took her 6 hours. I asked her how that was possible, and she replied that the Lord helped her do it.

The new rock garden looks fabulous. 2 days later she dug up some ground cover in her yard, and she and my wife planted it in a drizzle. One of the neighbors in a joking way said, you guys must be dedicated or nuts.

This whole episode goes to show a couple of things. While something like the loss of something you love hurts, if the Lord is involved, it is replaced by something you love just as much or more. Carol blessed us by what she did. She did all of that work out of true Christian love.  A real friend for many years.

God bless you, and remember,

Jesus loves you.

" Oh God in heaven, I believe with all my heart that Jesus has been raised from the dead. I receive your word, and I repent of sin. I renounce the past. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus. I receive my forgiveness. I receive the new birth, cleansed and washed in the word and in the precious blood of Jesus. Fill me with your spirit, in Jesus name. Amen."

Talk to that Mountain

 Greetings, My Friends;

If you watch any preachers, or read their books, they speak of talking to your mountain. In Mark Chapter 11 verses 23 and 24. Jesus says," for assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain be thou removed and be cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says".

 I believe when Jesus told this to his apostles, He was not referring to when actual amount. He used that word to describe obstacles in our lives that may seem to us as big as a mountain. Examples might be, finding a job, dealing with debt, drugs, or smoking. Any hard things in our lives can be like a mountain.

Let me tell you a story of something that happened recently in my life. Every word is true, no exaggeration or fluff. Last summer was very hot with no rain. It started in early spring. Before it started, though, my lawn was thick, green, and the best looking grass around. My wife's favorite tree got some kind of disease, and the lawn had practically no grass. 95%. Looked like a desert landscape.

Needless to say, I was unhappy. I started to think about replacing the lawn, but that is pricey. I thought about seeds. I didn't know what to do and I thought about that verse from Mark. I then realized I had my own personal mountain. I decided to talk to the lawn and tree. The thought crossed my mind that the neighbors would probably think I was crazy talking to the lawn and tree. The Lord put it in my heart that faith is nothing to be ashamed of. My wife and I agreed together to talk to those mountains.

We looked at the lawn,  or what used to be a lawn and said, lawn. we command you in Jesus name, be lush, green, and better than ever. We then spoke the same way to the tree. Every day we tell the lawn and tree how beautiful they are. That was this spring.

The tree is now disease-free and hasn't been this beautiful in year's. The lawn is looking great again. The mountains have been moved in Jesus name.  I know it sounds like a fairytale to a lot of people, but every word is true. You can move your mountain too. No mountain is too big for the word of God. Praise the Lord!

God bless you and remember,

 Jesus loves you!

"Oh God in heaven, I believe with all my heart that Jesus has been raised from the dead. I receive your word, and I repent of sin. I renounce the past. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus. I receive my forgiveness. I receive the new birth, cleansed and washed in the Word and in the precious blood of Jesus. Fill me with Your Spirit, in Jesus name. Amen."

Brookfield Zoo Dinosaur Pics 2

As promised, here are the rest of the dinosaur pics from our little walk through Brookfield Zoo on Mothers Day this year.  If you have not seen these works of art in person, your missing a real treat.  Just remember to not get too close, I am not sure of their feeding schedule.

Brookfield Zoo

If you haven't been to Brookfield Zoo yet this year, be careful.  It seems we have gone back millions of years in earths history.  These amazing animatronic dinosaurs are incredible.  They made them to their actual dimensions when they were alive.  The things they can do with technology these days is mind blowing.  Remember, I'm 70 years old, I used to use a slide rule when I was in school.  That is an old fashioned calculator for you young folks out there.  There are more of these I will be posting later.

Today's visit to The Morten Arboretum

An over cast day is a wonderful day to photograph some of Gods work.  My wife and I are members at The Morten Arboretum.  Just look at the beauty.  You would never imagine when you are at the Arboretum that you are so close to Chicago.  Hope you like the shots.