Subscription Lists

I wrote from the depths of my heart about Cancer in the Body of Christ several months ago. Then an enlightened soul wrote me a letter telling me "I know you may not want to hear this, but..." Frankly, I really do like to hear from readers. The encouragement and the thoughts on what I write are wonderful soul stretchers for me. Some of the comments from this person really made me search my motives and my heart attitude because there were some striking points to ponder.

The first one I deal with on my blog. Some of the other comments took some praying about and some…  ( Click for more )

A dried up brain. That's what I have. Someone asked in my group on LinkedIn, what do you do when writer's block hits?

I blithly wrote that you pray and then sit down and write whatever enters your head. Soon the block melts and things like creativity start flowing again and you're off again. I was too hasty. It isn't that you pray, and it isn't that you just start writing whatever enters your brain. The awful thing is that when you want to write inspiring things you've got to have the breath of God. That is what Spirit-- or rûach רוּח. (roo'…  ( Click for more )

Well that is certainly true. Did you know it's in the bible? Solomon writes that as a proof of hope for the living in the ninth chapter of Ecclesiastes. Actually, he says, For one who is chosen to be among all the living, there is hope. For a living dog is better than a dead lion. While there is breath, there is hope. Even in hopeless situations, there is hope that the situation changes for the better.

While there is life, there is hope. No where in scripture is this exhibited better than when David fasted and prostrated himself before the LORD when his son was sick and lay…  ( Click for more )

Here's the question... Do you believe God is bigger than any problem? I know beyond any doubt that God can be trusted. He has been true and faithful my whole life even during those two black years when I deliberately chose to turn my back on Him. What God says He will do, He will do. No, not one can snatch those from His hand. Fully one quarter of the Bible is prophecy and every one of the prophecies have come true so far even to the exact timing. The timing of Jesus’ birth is one of those prophecies. God told Daniel the year He would come and that is found in chapter…  ( Click for more )

Genesis 49:9 Judah is a lion's whelp. My son, you have risen up from the prey; he stoops, he crouches like a lion; and like a lioness, who can rouse him? 10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the lawmaker from between his feet, until Shiloh come, and the obedience of the peoples to him.

The Lion of Judah is Christ our Lord. Astounding promise this is, given through Jacob’s blessings of his sons. This prophecy indicates a specific time that the Messiah would be born, and a specific manner of His arrival. Notice that He would be a lion’s whelp. This is…  ( Click for more )

Arise and shine for thy Light has come, and the glory of YHWH has risen on you. Isaiah 60:1

That is just one of the prophecies that Jesus would be born. I so much love this verse because It says so much in so few words.

Arise: that Hebrew word is קוּםqûm koom which is a primitive root and has a great number of words that it means in various applications literally, causatively, intensively, and figuratively. It means to rise up, stand up, rouse up, stir up, uphold, enjoin, make good, abide, be clearer, confirm, decree… and on…  ( Click for more )

There are three letters that make us know that an action is in progress, that it is continnual. ING... running... jumping... swimming... believing... Believing God is an action that must and always be continuous for the action to be effective. Once we stop believing God, all the lions and tigers and bears start crowding our thoughts, which leads to fear. Fear is of Satan. Genesis 22:5 And Abraham said to his young men, You stay here with the ass. I and the boy will go over there that we may worship and may return to you. Fascinating passage. God had just asked Abraham…  ( Click for more )

After weeks of scorching heat and baking sunshine, I lifted my head at the faint scent of moisture in the air. I wasn't wrong because a tree frog began an anxious croaking. He smelled it too, and began rejoicing over that first drop of water before it even fell. Then the thunder cracked with an earth-shaking boom. The first drops of rain tickled my arms, but I was too weak at the moment to do anything but thank God for the rain. Rain began lightly enough, refreshment for the parched ground and sending up a wonderful fragrance that perfumed the air... a glorious perfume of…  ( Click for more )

God justifies a person on their faith alone. We see this all through the Old Testament as evidenced in Hebrews 11. Anyone who believes God, and believes Jesus died for and took care of our sins, and believes Jesus is the Son of God Who raised Him from the dead is justified from that instant of belief. Being justified must happen in order to enter into God’s rest (Heaven). We know this because believing God was a prerequisite for the Children of Israel to enter the Promised Land. (Let us not mistake why Moses did not enter. The only reason Moses did not enter was because of…  ( Click for more )

Now, the sacrifice that Jesus made willingly of His life was to satisfy the Law. It paid for all the sins ever to be committed, from Adam until the end of time. Hebrews href="https://pro.studylight.org/study-desk.html?t=amp&s=0&sr=1&q=Hebrews+9%3A">Hebrews 9 explains it in detail. The sacrificial blood of goats and bulls was only the shadow of Jesus' sacrifice. Here, see this... 9:14 by how much more the blood of Christ (who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God), will purify your conscience from dead works, to serve the living God! From verse…  ( Click for more )

Here is how I understand it... Absolutely the spirit ascends now to be with the LORD. Paul said to die is gain and it is to be with Him. David spoke of his dead son that he would go to be with him, so what was the point of weeping? But the difference between David and Paul is Jesus death and resurrection. David is before the resurrection and Paul is after. Before Jesus was resurrected, the sacrifices were in place and were necessary to foretell, be a shadow of Jesus, but were never good enough to cancel out sins. After Jesus died on the cross, God was completely satisfied…  ( Click for more )

Don't do as I did.

So much of the time we think once we're saved...well, then, life is a bowl of cherries and there are no pits. Well, that's just wrong. God took my hand when I was six years old. I was practically born at church. Every time the doors were open, we were in church. One day I had had enough of church. Going to church made me feel raunchy and I just didn't want it anymore. I was 6 and I knew everything. I made the announcement to my Mom when we got home from Wednesday night service. This concerned her so much that she started asking questions and started talking…  ( Click for more )

Paul gives great encouragement to the Romans by telling them to glory in the afflictions because afflictions brings about patience. Ever prayed for patience? Then you know that praying that prayer brings on trials and tribulations. That Greek word isqliÛyiv –Thlipsis -- translated tribulation means a pressing, pressing together, pressure metaph. oppression, affliction, tribulation, distress, straits

In the New Testament it is translated as tribulation but it is also translated as: affliction, 14; afflictions, 6; anguish, 1; distress, 2; persecution,…  ( Click for more )

When something needs doing I want to get cracking and get it done… Especially if it's distasteful. I hate waiting. I hate it when I’ve put in my order and it takes more than 10 minutes to get my coffee and biscuit. I hate it when I’ve asked God to do something and He just sits there. So often it seems that He is completely ignoring me. I want to say, “Hey! Up there! I’m here needing You to DO something and You aren’t even paying attention to me. What’s going on? You promised to answer all my prayers if I just pray according to Jesus. Do I…  ( Click for more )

Matthew 5:18... Not one jot or tittle will pass away until all is fulfilled. The last thing that is written about in Revelation after Satan is thrown into the lake of fire, is the image of the New Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven, and the new heaven and new earth. In Matthew 5:18, Jesus speaks of heaven and earth passing away...

My point is: Even though Jesus will be King of Kings on earth and reign, the Torah will still be in effect until the old heaven and the old earth pass away. Jesus came to fulfill the law not to abolish it. Ezekiel tells us a little bit about this…  ( Click for more )

Arrogantly, I wrote a column about sin in the church and how to face it. When I wrote that, I was inspired by something Charles Stanley has said in one of his sermons several years ago. I think I have almost every note I've ever written while listening to a sermon.Those notes come in quite handy when facing problems and trials in everyday life as well as inspiration for my writings. I alluded to the problem in my church several weeks ago while everything was still raw. I did not want to write anything more specific until my wrath had cooled somewhat and I had spent lots of time in…  ( Click for more )

What is the superiority of the Jew? What is the profit of circumcision? Paul asks these rhetorical questions in Romans chapter 3. Then he answers them in the following verses in stating that the Jews were trusted with the Word of God. Imagine how great a trust this was from God to these people.

God is no respecter of persons, yet He did choose Israel. He did give His words to Moses, He was a Pillar of Fire by night and a Pillar of Cloud by day for 40 years. He performed miracles in the wilderness and in the Promised Land. He settled within the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle…  ( Click for more )

Paul explains in Romans 1 that those who choose their own desires and worship idols instead of the Lord God are allowed that pursuit. God gives them up and releases them. The Gospel is God's power working toward salvation and this is to “everyone who believes with a personal trust and confident surrender and firm reliance.” This is the foundation Paul lays before he tackles the evilness that man is capable of. But God's wrath and indignation are revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who, in their wickedness repress and hinder the righteousness…  ( Click for more )

There is a soreness like a tooth which has rotted to the bone in my soul. I have felt this twice before. It is called Spiritual Warfare. If you have not experienced it then you are still too young in Christ for it, or perhaps things may not be completely aligned within God’s will in your life. I don’t want to sound harsh, but it is a bald fact. Satan wants to kill, steal and destroy all things godly. He is ever at work, and never tires.

Satan loves to wiggle into a church body to cause havoc and unrest. He plants cancerous cells within the church, and a healthy,…  ( Click for more )

Romans 1:1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, a called apostle, separated to the gospel of God I have heard many arguments against Paul being a true apostle of God. I'm thinking that Paul was not thinking about his old name Saul which has a nuance of being called for. No... I am thinking that Paul was a true blue Apostle with a capital letter A. Although, Paul had to defend himself and the title because, it seems that many in his day refuted his claim to the title else why would he write, 1 Corinthians 9:1 Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen our Lord Jesus…  ( Click for more )

Anyone ever notice that Paul's sentences go on and on forever but they make such great sense? Romans 1:1 Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ, a called apostle, separated to the gospel of God, A slave of Jesus. I have often thought that being a slave was a bad thing. Then after studying this a while, I realize just how much freedom there is in being a slave to Christ. Freedom to choose the path with Him being the light of my path and the Lamp to my feet. Freedom that decisions are so much simpler because I love Him and I want to please Him. What do you think about being…  ( Click for more )

I retrieved this from one of my columns I wrote for the Picayune Item when I was the Lifestyles Editor. I had written a portion of it one day when I was in a Christian forum that I and two friends owned. Christians were going at each other with little respect for each other, and full of judgments which had no basis. I recognized a monster within me that held nothing of my LORD and Savior’s character and every characteristic of the Devil. Surprisingly, I received several acknowledgments that this particular column hit some sore spots. My aunt called me and told me her pastor…  ( Click for more )

There is a promise of peace to Israel who is currently dispersed into the nations, scattered around the world. Isaiah prophesied that Israel would need a much larger space because her descendants would be coming home and inheriting the nations.

Conversely, the children of the desolate (that is the Gentiles, Goyim) far out number those of the married woman (Israel). Israel was charged with being the Light of the World and of converting others to know God. Yet, they got confused with God’s command to have nothing to do with the inhabitants of Canaan. They were legalistic…  ( Click for more )

Many folks are so wrapped up in End Times discussions (and fighting) over whether the Rapture will be pre-, mid-, or post-Tribulation that they forget entirely that there will be 1,000 years of glorious peace and righteous reigning of Jesus Christ our Lord where every knee will bend, every head will bow, and every tongue confess Him as Lord. How exciting that will be! Can you imagine it?

Paul clearly believed that once death embraced us, we would instantly be with Jesus: Philippians 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22If I am to go on living in the body,…  ( Click for more )