God

Embrace the journey

/ Bybrendat / Leave a comment

road journeyWhat’s behind you isn’t something to dwell on, other than it was necessary to bring you to where you are today. Whether a pleasure trip or rocky road, it was the route to your current destination. Embrace it. Today is a gift from God.

And the Word of God Says…

18“Do not call to mind the former things, Or ponder things of the past. 19“Behold, I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert.…Isaiah, Chapter 43

13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus…Philippians, Chapter 3

The Ultimate Valentine

/ Bybrendat / Leave a comment

 

Collection of hundreds of Free Bible Verse from all over the world.

Collection of hundreds of Free Bible Verses from all over the world.

The Ultimate Valentine: He Can Be Yours Just By Asking…

Whether you are single or paired on this Valentine’s Day, this is a day we celebrate the very heartbeat of God: LOVE!

Remember what Jesus told us in Matthew 22: 34-40: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important commandment. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments.”

And, as far as Valentine’s go, you can’t get any sweeter or more perfect than our precious and glorious Lord who loves us beyond compare, without condition, forever and ever. And He’s all yours for the asking.

If you haven’t yet, why not today? The day of LOVE.

Just say something like this:

“Lord, I don’t necessarily understand it all and I’m not sure what to do next, but I do believe in You and that You love me so much that you sent your one and only son, Jesus, so that we all could be forgiven of our sins and have everlasting life. I believe He died on the cross for me, to save me. You did for me what I couldn’t do for myself. I come to You now and ask You to take control of my life. I give it to You. Help me to live every day in a way that pleases you. I love you, Lord, and thank you that I will spend all eternity with you.

Lord, will you be my Valentine?”

Amen and Ehmen.

And a Happy Hearts Day to all!

Our Creative Creator

/ Bybrendat / Leave a comment

Even though the billowing cloud, dark and mysterious, hung mid-sky, I couldn’t help butblue sky and clouds smile knowing in my heart what lay behind it. I knew this cloud was like a stage curtain in God’s own theater and that when He decided to peel it away, I would be completely awestruck. Just as this very thought passed through my mind, God must have decided it was show time and sent a gentle wind from stage left, quietly removing the dark veil and revealing the most beautiful blue sky accented with the fluffiest white clouds imaginable. The sun shone like a spotlight, highlighting the most vivid colors of the world all around me. Thank you, Jesus, for this display. Thank you for sharing your creativity with little old me and making my drive to work a memorable one. I absolutely adore you and will be on the front row of your audience anytime you’ll allow. Amen and Ehmen.

The Ailing Atheist Argument

/ Bybrendat / 6 Comments

While I may never be able to convince an atheist that there is a God, I can guarantee you that an atheist will never convince me that there isn’t. Point to PonderAnd it’s not about what I know from books or people. It’s from personal experience that I KNOW. To live without God is unimaginable to me. Even one minute without Him would be too much.

Note: I posted this on Facebook last year on this day, the morning after watching a Bill Maher set at work. Up to that point, I guess I had never really listened to an atheist, but on that night as I listened to Bill mock religion as well as God Himself, I wondered what could have possibly happened to him to get him to that place. It made me sad to know that this existence is all he and those like him will ever know. 😦

Matthew 10:33 says:

But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.

I can’t even imagine! And so thankful for that. Amen and Ehmen.

 

Plugging into His Power

/ Bybrendat / Leave a comment

Pondering Out Loud

1 Corinthians 4:20
“For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk, it is living by God’s power.”

This was the daily verse provided by You Version today and something aplug into biblebout it just struck a chord with me; so much so that I stopped everything that I was doing, opened my bible and studied not only that verse, but all of 1 Corinthians, Chapter 3 and 4. I wanted to make sure that I understood the context for which this statement was made. Boy, are there some powerful things in those two chapters and I made many notes. I was surprised, however, that this particular scripture verse, which continued to resonate with me, goes completely un-noticed in the notes sections of the Life Application and Study Bibles. So, I prayed. I prayed for the Holy Spirit’s guidance and wisdom in fully understanding the significance of this short, single sentence scriptural verse.

As per usual when I ask for teaching on a biblical principal, I grabbed my computer to open a blank document so that I’d be prepared to start writing. But, just as I did, my computer’s power cord came unplugged from its AC adapter—that little black brick that acts as an electrical bridge between the wall source and the actual computer. Because it had dropped to the floor, I had to get up and retrieve it and, as I lifted the plug, I immediately sensed that this was a teaching moment. And, so, here I sit pondering and whatever follows is my “pondering and praying” out loud.

So, just how does this computer power supply relate to this scripture: “For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk, it is living by God’s power?”

As I finished re-typing the scripture, the word “power” leapt off the page at me. In fact, the Microsoft “grammar police” actually underlined it for me and I honed in my focus on that one word. The first thought that popped into my head was that for one to truly understand and share the things of God, they must be plugged into God’s power. Ok, that’s a no-brainer, I thought, and I asked for more. That’s when the Holy Spirit whispered into my own spirit, breaking it down a little further for me and using the computer power supply to help me better understand.

From a technology and scientific standpoint, AC adapters are used with electrical devices that require power, but that do not contain the internal components to derive the required voltage from the main power source. This adapter “adapts” the power so that the device—in this case a laptop computer—can make proper use of it.

I then imagined myself as the laptop computer in this analogy. Without power and the proper power adapter, I am destined for failure. Sure, I may run for a little while on stored up power or even from a corrupt power source, but I will eventually shut down and die. My AC adapter—His Word and Spirit—serves as the bridge between me and the main power source, which is, of course, God. And, like the computer, I alone do not have the internal components to derive and make proper use of God’s power. To live in His Power, I must have His Word and His Holy Spirit within me. And that is the only way to truly possess and promote the Kingdom of God; to walk the walk and not just talk the talk.

Indeed, without Him—like the computer whose value and purpose plummets to nothing without power—we are dead and useless. Aha, point taken. Lord, help me to plug into Your power today and everyday. Amen and Ehmen!

Point to Ponder

/ Bybrendat / Leave a comment

No matter how hard and much we may wish that aPoint to Ponder branch in our lives will bear fruit, sometimes it just doesn’t, especially if it is not biblical or doesn’t line up with God’s will for our lives. And, while it may hurt at the time, we should be thankful that He cuts it away. I know I am.
“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.” John 15: 1-4

Putting it in perspective

/ Bybrendat / Leave a comment

I met someone recently. A refreshing your lady eager to help me with something work-Featured Image -- 351related. She sounds like a super, super busy person, and yet she is going well out of her way to help me get something done that is very important for my job. And she’s doing it because “she’s just happy to be able to help.” That’s not something I’m used to running into and her kindness just blew me away. And then she explained a little more about why her attitude is what it is. You see, when she says she’s “just happy to be ABLE to help,” she really means it. In the most literal sense. For just a few months ago, she was run over by a drunk driver while leaving work and it is nothing short of a miracle that she has lived to tell about it. My prayer is that God continues to bless this young lady in her healing. And I thank Him for bringing her into my path, not just for this much-needed answer to a problem, but for reminding me how precious life is and that it is all about perspective. God, thank you for this reminder. And, please, please help me to follow this sweet girl’s lead and just be “happy I’m able to help.” Amen and Ehmen.

Prayer for today

/ Bybrendat / Leave a comment

Today’s Ponderment: God is ALWAYS on your side, but, until you get on His side, you might not recognize Him standing there.

Dear God, Thank you for today. I know that everything I am and everything I have is a result of what you have allowed in my life. Sometimes life is hard and, at other times, it is full of happiness. Either way, I know you are always there and your blessing is available…if only I will listen and obey. That is the key, listening and obeying. Please help me to recognize the gifts you send and the doors you open and give me the wisdom to see and do your will. Please use the spiritual gifts you have planted inside of me to work in and through me to minister to the world and draw people to you. In Jesus’ name I pray and give you praise. Amen and Ehmen.

And The Word of God Says…

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” –Joshua 1:9

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.  Isaiah 41:10

 

Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” Deuteronomy 31:6

Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:20

Of Love and Purpose

/ Bybrendat / 2 Comments

Did you know that God not only loves you, but He has loved you since the day of creation; not your creation, but the creation of the very world upon which we live? Did you know that He knew you before He even breathed the breath of life into Adam’s nostrils?

My dear friends, you are not an accident. You were planned that long ago. The fact is, our Father in Heaven knows no time; so, technically, you have always been and you have always been a part of His plan. I can only imagine how hard it must be for God to understand why His own children don’t see their value and role in the grand scheme of things.

Trust this. If He went to the trouble to plan you that long ago, don’t you see that it would make absolutely no sense for you to not have a purpose? He does not waste anything. Not one single second. Not one single breath. Not one single heartbeat. Not one single person.

Oh, how I wish all of us would recognize this and see that living with and for Him is so much better than living in the world. He is coming again one day and He is bringing paradise with Him. The Promised Land is not just for the Israelites. Once He came and died for us, our names were added to the deed. The Promised Land is heaven and heaven is ours for the taking.

But, my friends, heaven is not yet perfect. He is still building and preparing it for me, for you and for all of His children. What’s missing, you ask? The hearts of too many. Too many lost sheep. He can’t open the doors of heaven until all hearts have had a chance to choose to be a part of it all. That’s where we come in. That’s our purpose. Praying that we all follow our purpose today and every day.

Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done….on earth as it is in Heaven. Amen and Ehmen.

And the word of God says:

Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. Ephesians 1:4

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. John 15:16

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. Psalm 139: 13-16

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Matthew 28:19

The Tree That Couldn’t Leave…

/ Bybrendat / 3 Comments

christmas tree art

I’m always reluctant to take down my Christmas tree. Needle-less to say, there have been some years where I could practically vacuum it up. I seem to be heading that way again this year.

I just love the smell and the twinkling lights; not to mention the ornaments that tell the story of a half a century of Christmas’ past. I love the angel that stands guard atop the tree and the faded, but jolly old Santa that has been the first ornament on the tree every year since I was old enough to help decorate. I love the color and the vibrancy.

But, most of all, I love what the tree stands for; the season that it celebrates. Sometimes I imagine that on that night over 2,000 years ago when God sent his own son into this world as a tiny little baby, that the stars fell from the heavens just so they could be closer to Him. Like snowflakes, they fell gently upon the trees, lighting each branch in love, awe and celebration.

Yes, I sure wish I could just leave it up all year; but I know that eventually, it will have to come down. Today is not that day, however. And, for that reason, I can’t help but smile. Merry Christmas to all and to all a happy and healthy 2016!