Month: September 2020

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
12 Corinthians 10:5

Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Ephesians 5:20

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

So come on, let’s go, my friends. It’s Monday and that means another grand and glorious week full of opportunities for Jesus to show us His faithfulness and love.

Look for His favor!

Thanking and praising God in all things,

Mark

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will grant the right to eat from the tree of life in the paradise of God.
Revelation 3:22

20 Behold, I (Jesus) stand at the door (of our heart, mind and emotions), and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me (This is the greatest opportunity in the universe).
Revelation 3:20

It is nothing short of supernatural to do God’s Word with the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Doing God’s Word brings such amazing blessings in our spirits and lives. We have to experience it to believe how magnificent His deliverance is. He’s just waiting for us to come to Him, for us to realize how much He can bless our lives with His rich spiritual blessings.

5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6

Annie and I had an incredible time with the Lord the other morning (9-19-20) – lots of cleansing tears that blessed us so deeply. Ever so gently, God showed us how we were leaning on our own understanding in a matter instead of really turning the whole thing over to Him and trusting He that knew exactly how to handle it without any intervention on our part. He delivered us and we never saw it coming. He is so faithful. Truly, His Truth and His ways set us free deep in our spirits.

19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness (didn’t want to leave their ways and turn to God) rather than light, because their deeds were evil (apart from God’s ways). 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God [accomplished in God, divinely prompted, done with God’s help, in dependence on Him].
John 3:19-21

19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out (it’s so wonderful/refreshing to have your sins, your ways, replaced by God’s ways), that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,
Acts 3:19

28 Come unto me (repent), all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (rest by exchanging our ways of living for God’s ways of living). 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me (be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind); for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke (God’s ways) is easy, and my burden is light.
Matthew 11:28-30

Sin is missing God’s mark. It’s living life our way instead of living life the way God intends for us to live – free indeed.

Repenting, turning away from our way of living to live God’s way, is often associated with guilt, condemnation, and even anger. These days, it’s often viewed as judgmental, legalistic and completely unnecessary. Nothing could be further from The Truth. Repentance gives us the opportunity to line up with God and His ways that bring times of refreshing to our lives. The changes (refreshment) God can make in our lives when we repent are often deep and spiritually cleansing. I know in my own life that I often experience a lifting of a load off my spirit, a load I had no idea I was carrying that was making life so much harder for me and, often, for those around me.

God is so freeing and loving. What a matchless, wonderful thing it is to actually feel Him work deep in your spirit as He sets you free indeed.

Thanking and praising God in all things,

Mark

Wow, sometimes, I don’t even know what to say or what to send out. I’m writing down so many of the glorious things God is sharing with us. Too many to send out. Maybe we can put them in a book someday.

God is saying and doing so many wonderful things to us and in our spirits. These are freeing Truths He’s going to let us live in. Wow, how fun and healing is that?

Just yesterday, I was walking through our home when the Holy Spirit reminded me of the scripture, Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth…Ephesians 4:29f.

Immediately He told me He was going to remove all fearful communication from Ann and me. He was going to do a deeper work in us by letting us walk in more and more of Heavenly faith. He was going to do this to make our lives even more free in His wonderful love. This isn’t living in fantasy land. It’s Him – The Truth – living more and more in us. We can feel His Presence working in us. Boy, oh boy. I don’t even know if I can put this into words or make it clear, but it’s so wonderful and more of His precious healing work in our lives. And He’s confirming everything He’s telling us with more and more pieces of information He sends us. Even the book, Walking Among The Unseen (by Hannah Hurnard) our good friend Kimberly just sent us, and the devotional we got from The Chosen movie series reinforced what the Holy Spirit said today.

God is SO faithful, precious people – I know, you already knew this, right?

Follow where He leads. His steps lead to the Kingdom and what a blessed Kingdom it is. The Kingdom is full of Jesus and all of His beauty. And, we’re only seeing just a small part of Who He is. Much more to come. Yipee!

He’s taking us deeper and deeper into His peace, joy and rest.  How good does it get?  Who knows, but what’s up ahead is going to be more of Him, more love and fun times. 

We love you all. ☺☺♥♥

Thanking and praising God in all things,

Mark and Annie

Note: While we may not agree with everything a particular church or Christian group teaches or believes, there are times when we can be blessed by something outside the realm of our current understanding of God.

9 Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

10 But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity.

11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

13 I can do all things (I can face anything He in His wisdom allows in my life) through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Philippians 4:9-13

In whatsoever state is one of the most important ways God is making my paths straight, how He’s calming me down, how He’s healing my CCPTSD, how He’s making me like Him (free indeed deep in my spirit), how He’s filling me with being able to always trust Him. What deep healing He’s doing in my life by teaching me that He is with me and in control…always. For so much of my life, I didn’t know this.

As He makes my paths straight, I become more like Him, I spend more and more time in His dwelling place, I abide in His wonderful rest and care.

Thanking and praising God in all things,

Mark

Note: While we may not agree with everything a particular church or Christian group teaches or believes, there are times when we can be blessed by something outside the realm of our current understanding of God.

I remember how faithful God was to get Ann and I into a counselor early in our marriage. We met with him for about 2 years. Our pastors, and many of the people at Christ’s Center Church in Junction City, Oregon also taught us so many wonderful things about marriage. It was such a blessing to have the opportunity to have so much good input and such healthy examples of what marriage could be in Jesus. We took what we learned and applied it to our lives, and we keep adding Godly insights to our marriage at the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Here’s a great way to start out the week. Ann and I heard a Family Life program last week on KPRZ here in San Diego that talked about having a healthy marriage (it can be applied to other relationships as well). They said this was key.

“The six most powerful words in a marriage are, “I was wrong, I am sorry.” If you want a great marriage, make sure those words are a regular part of your vocabulary. If those words are absent from your vocabulary, or if just one of you is saying those words consistently, then it’s a dysfunctional situation that needs help and you need a counselor.”
_{By Pastor Scott Sauls, author of the book “A Gentle Answer.”}

The Heavenly atmosphere that can be brought into a home and marriage is so wonderful when we humble ourselves and follow Jesus.

We love you all. ☺☺♥♥

Thanking and praising God in all things,

Mark

“In the pursuit of His Presence, He’ll fix all things that need to be fixed.”

Amen. What Love.

Draw Me Into Your Presence
By The Maranatha Singers

Draw me into Your Presence
Draw me into Your Presence
Draw me into Your Presence
I want to know You

For there’s life in Your Presence
Yes, there’s life in Your Presence
There is life in Your Presence
I want to know You

Where else can I go
Where else can I hide
Only in Your Presence, Lord, can I find peace of mind

I want to know You

“When you rest in His Presence, you rest in the knowledge that He is in control.”

Thanking and praising God in all things,

Mark

Note: While we may not agree with everything a particular church or Christian group teaches or believes, there are times when we can be blessed by something outside the realm of our current understanding of God.

14 Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.
Psalm 91:14

God’s “high” place is so beautiful. It’s where He dwells. It’s a place filled with Him, with Who He is. His place is filled with His matchless peace, grace, mercy, quiet, rest, love and joy.

Because he hath set his love upon me. Wow. As I set my love upon Him, as I choose to dwell with Him, I have access to Him. He is so beautiful. He is exactly what I need.

He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
Psalm 91:4

Under His wings, I reach the heights of His love and protection I need in order to live free indeed.

His wings are always there just waiting for us.

Mmm…

Thanking and praising God in all things,

Mark

I always wanted to be in control in life. God had other ideas. He wanted to be the One in control. Praise God!

After having 38 shots in my head last Thursday, having more migraines and continuing to try the different meds the neurologists is giving me, life can get challenging. This morning, I was feeling really wiped out all the way around. God said to keep going and to simply trust Him. What a blessing it is that we can simply choose to put our lives back into His care and walk out our every day lives choosing to trust Him.

Trust God. ☺

We love you all.

Thanking and praising God in all things,

Mark

I (God) love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.
Proverbs 8:17

So come on, let’s go hand in hand with Jesus knowing He’s watching over us with His banner of love. It’s so exciting to anticipate His favor, protection, rest and joy each day.

Thanking and praising God in all things,

Mark

Note: While we may not agree with everything a particular church or Christian group teaches or believes, there are times when we can be blessed by something outside the realm of our current understanding of God.

I’m having more migraines and I have an appointment today for my first series of botox injections at 9am to try to slow down the migraine frequency. The neurologist has me taking a medicine to help when I have migraines as well. We keep believing Romans 8:28, taking thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ and praising and thanking God in all things. God definitely has us walking by faith and not by sight. It’s the only way to live in sure victory.

for we walk by faith, not by sight.
2 Corinthians 5:7

We love you all. Keep up the fight of faith. God has wonderful things in store for those who continue to walk hand in hand with Him. Faith is pretty exciting.

Thanking and praising God in all things,

Mark

Note: While we may not agree with everything a particular church or Christian group teaches or believes, there are times when we can be blessed by something outside the realm of our current understanding of God.

I used to not be willing to praise and thank God in all things. I can tell you I was not happy. Being willing (yes, it’s an act of our will just like it is with all other Biblical spiritual truths that can become a part of our lives if we’ll choose to believe them and apply them to our daily lives) to thank and praise Him in all things has changed me and made me free in Jesus in a way I would never have experienced otherwise. Praise and thank Him in all things. It turns you into a believer and believing Him makes all the difference in your spirit.

While I live I will praise the LORD; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being (as long as I live).
Psalm 146:2

Hallelujah!

Thanking and praising God in all things,

Mark

Note: While we may not agree with everything a particular church or Christian group teaches or believes, there are times when we can be blessed by something outside the realm of our current understanding of God.

Yes, I’m having lots of migraines and other body pain. And it’s true, I could choose to concentrate on those issues and worldly events.

But God!

Here’s the deal. I can either choose to dwell on worldly events and let Covid and all the rest get me down, or, I can choose to dwell on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of my faith. Easy choice, right?

Choose Jesus. Live this life the way He wants you to live it in the freedom He died to give us. The Gospel is good news. We’re going to Heaven, folks. Let’s live like it and live in the moment with our Prince of Peace. After all, He’s overcome this world and offers us the same opportunity to do so in Him.

Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their head.

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Live like you’re redeemed.

Hallelujah!

We love you all. Have a blessed and redeemed weekend and life in The Messiah, Jesus!

Thanking and praising God in all things,

Mark

Note: While we may not agree with everything a particular church or Christian group teaches or believes, there are times when we can be blessed by something outside the realm of our current understanding of God.

I’m discovering the most wonderful thing. As I take God at His Word, He’s doing deep healing in my mind, emotions and spirit. He, alone, knows my needs and He’s being faithful to address those needs so they can be dealt with and healed with His Truth. Amazing.

“Peace I (Jesus) leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
John 14:27

God’s saying in the midst of all situations to not let our heart be troubled by them. Instead, we can trust Him knowing He’s working all things – even, and especially, what we see as troubling things – for our good. This new way of looking at life is so freeing and joyful. And all we have to do is take Him at His Word and believe that what He’s telling us is true. Isn’t that wonderful and amazing?

The next time you’re tempted with something that troubles you, let not your heart be troubled. Instead, let God’s peace keep you as He shows you His faithfulness to work everything together for your good.

To let go of being “troubled” is so healing. And I’m just beginning to understand this Truth God knew I needed.

Thanking and praising God in all things,

Mark

Note: While we may not agree with everything a particular church or Christian group teaches or believes, there are times when we can be blessed by something outside the realm of our current understanding of God.

The acupuncture isn’t relieving the migraine attacks…

I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
Psalm 91:2

In bed this morning, I was having a lot of pain and bad thoughts following another hard migraine headache attack I had yesterday morning – 3 in one week. I was being tempted to question God’s love and care for me. As a result, I did the only thing that came to mind. I began to praise and thank God. Soon, I started thinking that the only remedy for how awful I was feeling was to “will” to trust God with it all. It was the only way out of the weakness I was dealing with physically and spiritually.

I got up and had coffee with Ann. We talked and decided to trust God, again. It’s the only choice He’s ever really had for us. And, it’s the only choice no matter what any of us face. The joy of the Lord is our strength. Nothing else will do.

“Will” to choose Jesus every day. Declare Psalm 91:2 and live free in Him alone.

We love you all.

Thanking and praising God in all things,

Mark

Note: While we may not agree with everything a particular church or Christian group teaches or believes, there are times when we can be blessed by something outside the realm of our current understanding of God.