A new look at trust

Greetings, My Friends;

Today I thought I would repeat a message that I put out 2 years ago when I was a new blogger. At that time I was trying to do it on my own because I didn't realize what I'm about to tell you.

I was sitting around as usual, with my mind wandering as usual, and it happened to settle on trusting God. I had been listening to a couple of preachers and they'd tell you pretty much just do it. You get the idea from listening to all of these people that unless you trust in God and believe His message prayers will probably not be answered.

I figured they knew what they were talking about, so I began to pray just as hard as I could. At this moment in time, I really wasn't familiar with how God spoke to people. I guess I was waiting around for an audible word which did not come. Even though I was born again, I still had a lot to learn. I continued to pray, but I was starting to get frustrated. I heard a message about that little voice in your heart, and everything began to make sense to me. Now when I prayed I relaxed about the whole thing, and made a conscious decision to trust in the Lord.

It occurred to me that the world is full of things that we do trust, and they are so fragile that it is ridiculous to put so much faith in them. For instance, your car, getting you where you want to go, food in stores,  water from the tap, your next paycheck, and it goes on and on. If we can have so much faith in all of these worldly things, why not trust God, the one who created all of these things. God's arm is not too short for our day-to-day needs. The Lord wants us to be happy, and have faith and trust Him. Just as you would expect from a loving father.

God bless you and remember,

Jesus loves you!

" 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."

Gods will for your life

Greetings, My Friends;

For many years I practically drove myself nuts wondering about God's plan for my life. I prayed about it, I listened to countless CDs and preachers trying to find a plan.

I must confess that it was a challenge to deal with. If something came into my mind, I was like most people. I needed a couple of confirmations and some sign to convince me. Needless to say, none of that happened.

The Bible says plenty about how much God wants to bless you, especially if you are doing his will. When you do the Lords will you get unbelievable sense of peace in your heart. You have a whole new outlook on life. You become thankful for even the smallest things in your life because you know that they are blessings from God.

One day I took my wife's advice and started to relax about it. If I had any brains, I would have listened to her sooner. I believe God used her to get into my hard head. I did relax and asked the Lord to help me find his will.

After a few days I was just relaxing and I felt like the Lord spoke to my heart. He said that his will was put in my heart as desires. I should pray about what was in my heart. It didn't go against the word, and I felt peace in my heart, go for it. It is the plan. It is indeed, it was his plan, it would be successful. Step out in faith, follow the peace and God would do the rest.

It sounds pretty simple. It is pretty simple. Don't let your heart or negative thoughts from the evil one rob you of the joy of doing God's will. You win, Satan loses.

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."

Always remember;

Jesus Loves You

Prayer 2

Greetings My Friends,

If you want to get a real controversial subject to talk about with a lot of people, just mention prayer. People will tell you that prayers don't get answered; it is a waste of time and so on. Most of the time, their own attitude may have blocked their prayers from being answered.

First of all, let me say that we believe all prayers are answered. If a person has not been saved by saying, and believing the prayer of salvation, the Lord may still answer their prayer in order to help that person believe. The Bible shows you how much Jesus loves you. The more you read, and pray, the more you will see how much Jesus loves you.

If you are saved, or born again as some people call it, you know some basic truths. When you pray, make sure you aren't angry, or unforgiving in your heart. Repent of any sins, and believe what you pray. As long as your prayers are not in conflict with the Bible, and you have a clean heart, as it is written," whatever you ask in my name, believing, you will receive what you ask." In spite of what many people think prayers always get answered.

Something you should know, prayers are not always answered the way you expect, and the Lord will not give you something that would not be good for you, or hurt someone else. We will get into more details in the coming messages.

The Prayer of Salvation.

"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."

God bless you and remember,

 Jesus loves you!

Prayer Continued

Greetings, My Friends.

In this message, I would like to cover prayer a little more. Again, I remind you that what I say is my personal opinion, and not an attempt to convert anyone. Whether you accept Jesus as your personal savior or not is between you and God. These messages obviously go out to people of all levels of belief or unbelief.

The quote from Matthew 18:3,"  I said to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven" the word converted seems to indicate salvation.

Since God calls everyone, my own personal feeling is that if you pray at all, you are hearing the voice of God calling you, whether you think you heard Him or not. The fact that you pray is the 1st step. It is a sign that you do believe at least a little, for what other reason is there for praying.

We include the prayer of salvation at the end of each message under the assumption that at any time someone will answer God's call. A further message or two will be the salvation.

I mentioned previously that when I talk to the Lord I talk as to my most trusted friend. Here is an example of how I pray and should not be taken as the only way but merely a way to pray.

Good morning Lord. First, I want to thank you for all of your blessings, favor and miracles in my life. Today I am going to make a picnic table. I ask you to keep me from doing something stupid like cutting a finger off. Help me to cut straight, measure correctly, and do the best I can. I thank you, I praise you, and I love you.

Prayer of salvation.

" 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."

Remember my friends

Jesus loves you

The Bible, Part 2

Greetings My Friends;

Before we get off of the subject of the Bible, I would like to mention a couple of things that a lot of people are not aware of.

I personally did not count the number of God's promises, but I did hear a well-known preacher say that the total comes to about 7 thousand. I think that this is a staggering amount, and shows you a little bit about how much God loves us. In the coming weeks we will take a promise or 2 a couple of times a week and see what we can get out of it.

In Matthew chapter 18 verse 3, Jesus says," assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and, become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." My own impression of the little children idea, I believe, is what is meant. When you are a little child, you believe everything your parents tell you. God is your father, and the Bible is what he is telling you. Regardless of what your human brain tells you,  believe  every bit of what the Bible says. That is called faith. Proverbs chapter 3, versus 5- 7" trust the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will guide your path.

Do yourself a favor and avoid the trap that many people fall into. Do not nit pick the Bible. Exercise faith. What have you got to lose by believing the word? When we get to prayer again, we can discuss the converted part mentioned in Matthew.

If you are ready now, or maybe in the future, your heart will tell you.

Prayer of salvation.

" 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."

God bless you and always remember,

 Jesus loves you.

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.

Studying the Bible, Part 1

Greetings, My Friends;

As I think about my own past, I realize that I felt like I was lost in the wilderness for many years. No goals, no hope. After a friend suggested the Bible, things changed. I had to find my way the hard way, but the grace of God got me the there in time.

I am going to give you some valuable shortcuts. You will still have to work a little, but you will get where you're going, and you will realize it is all worth it.

In order to have prayer be as powerful as it can be, you need to take the right steps. The Bible is often called God's instruction manual, or God's love letter to man. It was inspired by the Holy Spirit through the various writers. It is the only way to get to know God's love for you and that is the 1st key. It is my opinion anyway.

Find a good study Bible. The ESV or  NIV is what I prefer, but there are other good versions. As long as the experts are spirit filled, you will be okay. Read a chapter every day. Meditate on each verse. Highlight the verses with what is inspirational to you to begin with. Read all of the explanations on the bottom. Now you have the meat of the chapter. You do have time to do this. Make time.

It would be a good idea to start with the gospel of John, and go from there. Everything hangs on your knowledge of God and his love for you, and the Bible is the key. Before you even open the Bible, ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand what you read. My prayer is, Holy Spirit, I ask you to help me understand and remember your word in Jesus name, amen. That's all there is to it. It is probably the most important thing you will ever do.

The Prayer of Salvation.

" 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."

God bless you and remember,

 Jesus loves you.