Tag Archives: faith

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Book Review for “Code of Silence”- Christian Middle Grade Mystery

What the book is about:

When Cooper, Hiro, and Gordy witness a robbery that leaves a man in a coma, they find themselves tangled in a web of mystery and deceit that threatens their lives. After being seen by the criminals—who may also be cops—Cooper makes everyone promise never to reveal what they have seen. Telling the truth could kill them. But remaining silent means an innocent man takes the fall, and a friend never receives justice.

Is there ever a time to lie? And what happens when the truth is dangerous?

The three friends, trapped in a code of silence, must face the consequences of choosing right or wrong when both options have their price.

My Review:

This one was a library check out. Took my little guy to the library and saw the set on display. The covers looked interesting and when I opened up to the inside cover saw they were Christian mystery for middle graders I had to get them. Book one was great. Main characters are junior high friends who’s faith and loyalty are tested. Two boys and a girl. Not preachy at all. Just a great “friends” mystery. There is no swearing, however there is some violence (robbery). I give it five stars. New author for me, but a new favorite. New author for me, but a new favorite. Can recommend for all ages, though written for middle grade (girls and boys both).
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The Delivery Business

Colossians 1:13 (Weymouth New Testament), “It is God who has delivered us out of the dominion of darkness, and has transferred us into the Kingdom of His dearly-loved Son,”

God is in the delivery business. I know, in the past I have said that He is in the “Family business: saving souls” but this is still a branch of the family business!

We recently started a business of our own. We specialize in expedited (you needed it there yesterday) delivery. People contact us because they have a load that the customer wants ASAP and we can get it there fast in our little sprinter van. So maybe I have had delivery on my mind. However, the month of January our church always goes on a corporate fast (and prayer time). During one of those times of praying and listening, this thought popped into my head, “God is in the delivery business” followed by this scripture in Colossians. Soon I couldn’t even stop the thoughts that bombarded me. I am going to share a few.

God has delivered me!

Out of darkness and into the light. II Corinthians 5:1 (NIV), “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”

From my past. “Philippians 3:13 KJB), Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,”

From fear. I John 4:18 (NASB), “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.”

From sickness (including tumors, anxiety, and some ugly stuff you don’t want to hear about.) I Peter 2:24 (NIV), “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”

 

God has delivered to me:

Forgiveness. I John 1:19 (KJB), “ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Blessings. Ephesians 1:3 (NASB), “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,”

Mercy. Jude 1:2 (NLT), “May God give you more and more mercy, peace, and love.”

Grace. I Corinthians 15:10 (NIV), “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them–yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.”

Wisdom. James 1:5 (KJB), “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”

I am sure there is more to be found. I sure love to think of the Father hand delivering all of these wonderful things to me. A personal gift. Free of charge.

Now, our company, JW Expedited LLC, delivers for money, our purpose and motivation is to please the customer so that we get paid well.

God’s motive? Love.

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My President

Donald Trump is my president, just as Obama, Bush, Clinton and all of the others were.
I didn’t agree with some of their policies, behaviors, or decisions. However, because I am a citizen of these great United States of America, because I honor our founding fathers and the prayer and consideration they put into the workings of our government, I respect the office of President. So…I choose to pray this… prayer for President Trump, just as I prayed for those who went before him. “Father, bless and protect our president and his family. Send Angels to guard round about them. Help him make wise, godly decisions. Send helpers and wise counselors. Thank you that he knows You and Your love, in Jesus name, Amen.”
I don’t have to love him, no matter weather I voted for him or not, I will remember that God puts officials into position and He tells me to pray for them.

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Heart Factory

Our hearts are a factory. They can either be factories for good, or factories for evil. In fact God says that we are born with evil hearts, because of Adam’s sin, and that they only produce evil.

Genesis 8:21 (ASV), “And Jehovah smelled the sweet savor; and Jehovah said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake, for that the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more everything living, as I have done.” (Emphasis mine)

Thankfully that wasn’t His plan for us, so He made a wonderful way for us to be like Him. His heart is LOVE. If we love Him and see our need for His saving grace He takes out our hearts and simply replaces it. A huge deal to us, but no biggie to Him, He was the first heart surgeon.

Ezekiel 11:19 (NIV), “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.”

There are a few places in the Bible that talks about Him giving us a new heart, but this one scripture in Ezekiel specifies that this new heart is “undivided”. It serves one master, it has one nature, and it isn’t schizophrenic. These new hearts have the ability to love like God, to live like Jesus, and to beat to a new drummer. David in the Old Testament realized the importance of a right heart; we see it in several places.

Psalm 51:10 (KJB), “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”

One of the few things Jesus railed about was the condition of the hearts of the religious leaders during His time with us.

Matthew 12:33-34 (BSB), “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.”

Out of the abundance of the heart, our mouths speak. We say what is brewing up in there. We produce whatever we have laid on the assembly line. They have the power to be a factory for good it’s our choice. After He puts that new heart in there, think of it as a brand new crock pot, we decide what goes in. If we keep the lid on nothing will get in that isn’t supposed to (guard your heart and mind, God tells us). So if the finished meal tastes like… manure, you have to ask yourself, “What did I put in there?” Got it? It isn’t going to produce anything if we aren’t putting something inside, it will produce garbage, yuk, stink, etc, if we aren’t putting in good wholesome things.

If our hearts are a factory, think of your eyes, your ears, your brain, as the source of the materials you will be building with. You can build with quality building materials (precious stones), or poor materials (wood, hay, and stubble). You choose. They can produce bitterness, angry, perversion, murder, and everything ugly from the pits of hell.

Or they can produce the most beautiful garden from heaven. The best thing we can put in our hearts is God’s word. The word takes root and grows in our hearts. Love takes root there, generosity, grace, mercy, truth; all of those wonderful attributes of God grow well in our hearts

What are you producing in your factory?

 

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Tom’s Mom and Christmas

One day Thomas Edison came home and gave a paper to his mother. He told her, “My teacher gave this paper to me and told me to only give it to my mother.”

His mother’s eyes were tearful as she read the letter out loud to her child: Your son is a genius. This school is too small for him and doesn’t have enough good teachers for training him. Please teach him yourself.

After many, many years, after Edison’s mother died and he was now one of the greatest inventors of the century, one day he was looking through old family things. Suddenly he saw a folded paper in the corner of a drawer in a desk. He took it and opened it up. On the paper was written: Your son is addled [mentally ill]. We won’t let him come to school any more.

Edison cried for hours and then he wrote in his diary: “Thomas Alva Edison was an addled child that, by a hero mother, became the genius of the century.”

True story. What does this have to do with Christmas?

Christmas is a time that we give gifts and we remember the gift of Jesus to the world. To me Thomas Edison’s mother is like Jesus, and his teacher like the devil. No pun intended (only because it’s not funny). The devil wants us to think of ourselves as unworthy, un-usable, un-wanted, and all of those other ugly “uns”. But there is our parent, Father God, who tells us just the opposite. You see, like Edison’s mother, God see’s our potential! What a lovely gift.

Edison was a genius. He invented so many things that helped others, many that we still depend on today. The gift his mother gave that one little boy, ended up being a gift to the whole world. We have to think about this. If we choose not to believe God’s version of who we are, we are stopping the gift from flowing. No telling how many people will be affected. His love, His approval, His opinion is all that matters. Everything else is just irrelevant.

Mrs. Edison recognized the importance of what we say to our children. She chose to only encourage and love. That is our Daddy God.

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Apathy

Hebrews 3:12 (ISV), “See to it, my brothers, that no evil, unbelieving heart is found in any of you, as shown by your turning away from the living God.”

I have often drifted away from God. Never intentional. Even when I was very angry with Him, blaming Him for some trouble in my life, I still didn’t intentionally turn away from Him. Yet, time and time again, I find myself off the path…in a dry place, with a lack of excitement for the things of God. The true word for this condition is Apathy, and I have had to repent several times in my walk with Him for an apathetic heart.

The definition of apathy is: “The absence or suppression of passion, emotion, or excitement.”

No passion. That pretty much sums up the apathetic heart. You can have passion in your life for more than one thing, being cold towards our Lord, doesn’t mean you lack passion in other areas. In fact sometimes the way we drift away is by being too passionate about other things!

Our real enemy, the devil, has one plan. That plan is for us to forsake the Lord. Like Job’s wife, he wants us to “curse God and die.” He tempts us to do wrong, then when we cave, he constantly reminds us of how unworthy we are. He attacks with the most troublesome circumstances, and then whispers that we deserve it, or that God doesn’t really care, and worse yet, that God isn’t able to get us out of the situation. If we believe it and turn our backs on God, then Satan wins. He gets the glory and God doesn’t.

However, if that plan doesn’t work, we continue to profess God as savior no matter how hard life may seem, then Satan has a “plan B”. That plan is to distract us! “From what?” you ask. From our Heavenly Father, from His plan and purpose for us, from His path. In my walk with God, I have often wondered away. Again, not intentionally, but a step here and a step there, until I found myself apathetic. The good news is that no matter how many steps away from God we have taken, it’s always only one step back. That step is repentance. Admitting we have strayed, asking Him to forgive, and turning back to Him. We don’t have to do penance, we just move ahead.

So what is the big deal?

If we allow ourselves to be distracted by things of the world, Satan’s attacks on our bodies, finances, families, churches, whatever, and take our eyes off of Jesus, we aren’t doing what God has purposed for us to do. We weren’t created on accident. God made us, birthed us into this world, (right now, during this time) to do something for Him. We are to Glorify Him, build His Kingdome, and do good works. When we are too focused on our own issues that we can’t see anyone else’s, let alone intercede in prayer, we are distracted. When we believe the doctors report, or the financial advisor, or (God forbid) the media, instead of what God has to say about it, we are distracted. It is just as if Satan has tied us up so that we are paralyzed. We lose our passion for Him, we lose our compassion for others, confusion sets in, and we begin to make bad choices.

If we continue on this path the enemy has led us, it won’t take long before our hearts will be hardened and full of unbelief. Sin. Anything that is not of faith is sin. The only way to please Him is living in faith. Faith in the finished work of the cross, faith in the love of the Father, and the sacrifice of His Son. We have to believe that God is for us! No matter what any other voice tells us. And NEVER, ever perpetuate Satan’s lies. When you repeat the negative doctors report to everyone you meet, when you use the words, “I can’t afford that,” “I am always sick,” “I don’t know what to do anymore,” or any other negative thing that doesn’t line up with God’s word and perfect will, you are giving the enemy the glory that belongs to God alone.

That is a big deal.

Hebrews 2:14-3:1 (NIV), “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham. Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted. Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus , whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest.” (Emphasis mine)

Isaiah 50:7 (ESV), “Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore, I have set my face like a stone, determined to do his will. And I know that I will not be put to shame.”

Fix your eyes on Jesus. Keep a passion and a zeal for Him. No more apathy!

Romans 12:2 (Berean Study Bible), “Do not let your zeal subside; keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.”

Amen? Amen!

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Two New Books

Look_Up_Cover_for_Kindle

Higher_Up_Cover_for_Kindle

I have recently released two new Devotionals. “Higher Up” will be the last of the “Walking With God” series. “Look Up” is a short 21 day devotional to get your focus back on God. They are both available on Amazon, paperback and kindle version. “Higher Up” is also available on smashwords in every possible digital version available. Of course if you would like a signed copy, just let me know.

Higher Up Paperback

Higher Up Kindle

Higher Up smashwords

Look Up Paperback

Look Up Kindle

Not currently available on smashwords