Here’s a beautiful quote from my Gratitude app to brighten your day 😇 https://gratefulness.page.link/yqbs

Sometimes things happen in life that leaves us in agony. We become distant. We look for the answers to the problems we are facing, but we can’t find them. We worry about it, but what good is that? It only brings more sorrow. So, what do we do? The answer is this; we pray.

Let’s look at what Jesus did in Luke Chapter 22. vs. 39-46: The Prayer in the Garden (Holy Bible pg. 729.)

(vs.39.) Coming out. He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him.

(vs.40.) When He came to the place, He said to them,” Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

(vs.41.) Abe He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed.

(vs.42.) Saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours be done”.

(vs.43.) Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him.

(vs.44.) And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

(vs.45.) When He rose up from prayer, and come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow.

(vs.46) Then He said to them, “Why do you sleep? Rise and pray lest you enter into temptation.”

Jesus knew that His hour was coming to complete the work His Father sent Him to do. It was hard for the disciples to understand Jesus had to do this so that the Scriptures may be fulfilled. He knew that He was going to suffer greatly. He knew that He was going to be denied, and betrayed all in one night. He knew who believed what He told them, and He knew who was going to doubt what He said to them about being raised on the third day.

Jesus was in agony, but He prayed. He did not let the situation stop Him from praying to the Father. God knew that His Son was in agony; this is why He sent the angel from heaven to strengthen Him.

Sometimes when we are weak because of things that have happened to us, we try to pray but we don’t have the strength. So, we ask God to give us the strength we need to pray through what we are feeling in spite of the situation we are in. Sorrow comes to everyone everywhere, there’s no escaping it.

I know that when someone you love betrays you, it hurts more than anything. We never expect that to happen to us, just as the other disciples must have been hurt when they knew it was Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus. It hurt Jesus when Peter denied Him three times even though He knew He was going to do it, and told Peter that He would. See, Jesus knows everything about us. He knew everything about the disciples He chose; He knew how they were, where they came from, and their occupations, but He still used them to change the world.

We can’t let our circumstances keep us from going to the Father in prayer. We have to overlook that because God knows everything that we will ever go through, everything we will ever face, and every situation that will knock us off balance, but we must remember that He is always there for us. The disciples were with Him in the Garden, but they were sleeping because of the sorrow of the heart. Jesus needed them to watch while He prayed, but temptation came and they went to sleep. Jesus had to wake them up and tell them to pray lest they fell into temptation. He had already told them what was about to happen; He needed them, but for that split second, they slept.

Instead of going to God in prayer when we are angry, we go to sleep. When we go to sleep in agony or anger, that’s when the enemy will invade our thoughts. It’s when He will give us nightmares, and put negative thoughts in our minds. We don’t know what’s going on. We wake up madder than we were before we went to sleep. This is why we shouldn’t go to sleep angry, or when we are in agony.

When we talk to God about our problems it makes us feel better. It helps us to know God has everything in control. We don’t have to worry about anything.

When the disciples finally knew that Jesus had risen when Mary Magdalene told them, and Peter and John ran to the tomb to see. Thomas was the only one who didn’t believe it. How could he not believe it without seeing Jesus? Jesus told them what was going to happen. You know, we can be like that at times; not believing something until we see it. We should use our faith. Faith is knowing that something is going to happen before it does. It is trusting that God will make it happen.

Thomas had a doubting spirit about him. This tells me that he didn’t believe the things that Jesus said, he only believed what he saw. He only believed that Jesus had risen when He appeared in the room when they all were together. We all know what Jesus said to Thomas. What if that same thing happened today? How would you react? Would you be shocked? Would you be speechless, or would you faint? This is something to think about. Let us always be believing instead of doubting like Thomas.

I have enjoyed sharing this message with you today. I hope you are inspired by it. When you are feeling doubtful and unsure of what you believe, go to God in prayer and ask Him to give you wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. Ask Him to make things clear to you. Ask Him to teach you through His Word. He can and will. Seek Him with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. He will teach you everything you need and want to know.

If you have not talked to God today, set aside some time and spend that time with Him pouring your heart out to Him. If you do not know Jesus as your LORD and Savior, go to God in prayer and repent of your sins. Repent means to turn. Tell Him that you are sorry for every wrong thing you have done in your life, every mistake you have made, and He will forgive you. From this day forward accept Jesus as your LORD and Savior and live your life solely for Him. It will be the best decision you will ever make in your life for your eternal life. God loves you. It doesn’t matter where you have been; what matters is where you are going from here. You are not defined by your past. God sees you for who you are in His Son, Jesus Christ. He will give you a new life in Him. He will take you places you have never been. He will open doors that no man can shut. He will make a way for you where there seems to be no way. Trust in Him, believe in Him, Honor Him, and give Him praise! He is worthy of all our praise! Amen!

Thank you for joining me on my journey with Food for the Soul. God bless you.

We all have thoughts. Do we ever think about the thoughts we have? Are our thoughts pleasing to God? When we are thinking about things, are they pure thoughts of good things that may help someone? We need to think about things that can benefit us. We don’t want to think about things that are not good and pleasing to God.

There are days when our mind wonders about things of the past that still upsets us, and those old feelings resurface. What do we do about it? Do we continue to think about it, or do we forget about it? The right thing to do would be to forget about it. We don’t want anything from the past bringing us down, or giving us bad thoughts.

Here in Proverbs 16:3-Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.

CONTROLLING OUR THOUGHTS- Many Christians lack strength and victory in their thoughts. They seem to have no control over them. This is so, even though we have received from God not “the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 timothy 1:7). Paul teaches us that God has given Christians weapons that will enable them to bring “into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). Proverbs 16:3 teaches us how we can have this victory. If we allow God to take care of our works and commit everything to Him, He will also take care of our thoughts.

FAITH AND WORKS: YOUR DEEDS AND ACTIONS:

OUR WALK SHOULD MATCH OUR TALK: MATTHEW 7:21-Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

OUR LIVES SHOULD SHOW THAT GOD IS AT WORK IN OR HEARTS: ROMANS 7:4-Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of*Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto *God.

DON’T TRADE YOUR FAITH FOR WORKS: GALATIANS 3:3-Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?

BEING PERFECTED: Galatians 3:3-We are made righteous “in Christ” in a moment of time. This is done while we are still sinful; then the Holy Spirit begins to “perfect” us. Since to be perfect means to be mature or full-grown (Philippians 3:12,15), this comes about by a gradual growth that we can help or hinder. If we do not study the Word and yield to the Holy Spirit, our growth will be slight, if we grow at all.

GOD SAVED US FOR A PURPOSE: EPHESIANS 2:10-For we are his workmanship, *created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

WE MUST LIVE OUT OUR FAITH: JAMES 2:14-17 (2. FAITH NOT FOLLOWED BY FRUITS)-What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man says he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so, faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

Faith works, and our thoughts play a great part. When we believe in something before we see it, that’s having faith. It is showing God that we are believing Him for it to come to pass. When we trust God and have faith, things always work out. God always comes through. We may have to wait a little while, but it is worth it. It makes the blessing that much greater, and we appreciate God. We get to give Him all of the glory for what He has done. There’s not any room for us to say that we made it happen, or that we did it ourselves.

When we change the way we think, things are possible because we believe even though we haven’t seen them yet. God is faithful. He is not a man that He should lie. What have you been believing in God for? I know for certain that when you believe and trust God, you will start to see things happen for you. Don’t be unbelieving, but believe.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend, and as always, thank you for joining me on my journey with Food for the Soul.

Saturday, April 1, 2023
The Conquering King

LISTEN  
“Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey—riding on a donkey’s colt.”

—Zechariah 9:9 

Often when Jesus performed a miracle, He would say something like this: “Don’t tell anyone. My time has not yet come.”

But ultimately His time did come, the time for Him to go and voluntarily die on the cross. And on the day we celebrate as Palm Sunday, Jesus did something that we might call a real attention-getter: He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.

Now, it may seem odd to us that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on what we think of as a humble creature. From our perspective, perhaps an Arabian stallion would have been more appropriate.

However, the meaning was not lost on the Romans or the Jews. It was a perfect choice. In Roman culture, a hero returning victoriously from war would ride in on a donkey as the crowd laid out palm branches before him. For the Romans, Jesus effectively was declaring Himself a king.

Also, the Jews knew that when the Messiah came, He would be riding on a donkey. Speaking through the prophet Zechariah, God said, “Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey—riding on a donkey’s colt” (Zechariah 9:9 NLT).

This was something very significant, and the people understood it. Add to this the fact that Jesus was a wanted man. There was a price on his head. The leading priests and Pharisees had said that if anyone knew where Jesus was, they should report it immediately.

Jesus was playing His hand, if you will. To the Romans He was declaring Himself as a conqueror. And to the Jews He was declaring Himself as the Messiah. Jesus didn’t enter Jerusalem as a helpless victim. He arrived as a powerful victor, marching bravely into battle.

 
 
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The Marriage Devotional by the Luskos

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Infuse your marriage with renewed joy, tenderness, and strength with 52 devotions written by Levi and Jennie Lusko. Whether your marriage needs to be fine-tuned or completely overhauled, you can discover biblical principles and practical guidance that will bring a vibrancy to your relationship that only Jesus can give. Learn to cultivate your marriage so that it doesn’t just survive, but thrive!

Life is often hard when things happen unexpectedly. We often wonder why they do. When we are doing our best to show God we are thankful, things come up against us unawares. I for one have traveled this road many times. Sometimes what we want is not always good for us, but most of the time we have to find out the hard way. Sometimes, starting over at a place we once were for whatever reason doesn’t work, maybe it is because we have outgrown that place and it is time to move on to something that will be better than before.

When someone brings darkness to a place where there was once light, it puts a strain where there was once joy. Everything changes for the worse instead for the better. When you walk into a place and all you can feel is tension, that’s not the place to be. Darkness and light cannot stay in the same place. Things will always be different and difficult.

We all choose the battles that we want to fight. We make decisions that’s best for us at that given moment. In due time, things will work out if we don’t give up. Often times things will happen because they are supposed to. Everything happens for a reason. We don’t know why, they just do.

I don’t like being in that type of atmosphere, it triggered my anxiety, causes me stress, and activates my depression. I have to avoid being in places like that, and I have to avoid being around people who provoke me to anger because I operate on a short fuse.

I don’t know what makes people feel that they can talk to you with disrespect. They feel that they are superior because you are not in the position they are in. Nevertheless, there’s something better for me. I am better than this. It is time for my real blessings to come. My dreams are about to come true. God knows best. Time for me to go, deuces!✌🏾☮️🕊️

Art isn’t just about painting, it’s also about what is in your heart that you share in your own artistic way, and that also includes writing stories. Keep being creative.

This is an inspirational video I created on Canva Designs. I posted by itself. I created it because I wanted to remind myself that no matter what I face in my life I WON’T BREAK! It’s good to lift yourself up. You have to be your own cheerleader sometimes, because there will not always be someone there to cheer you on and lift you up.

It hurts sometimes when you need a cheerleader and no one is there. This is why when I get an idea, I try my best to make it happen for me. When I create something, it is because of how I am feeling at the moment. I do this because it helps me to think positive when I feel like I am going to be visited by anxiety. This is really therapeutic for me. It gives me good vibes.

Whatever you do, no matter what, think positive as hard as it may be sometimes. Until next time, and as always, thank you for joining me on my journey with Food for the Soul.

In those moments in time I am happy, thankful, grateful,and humble. Feeling very blessed.🙏🏾

I will be posting their favorite music on my music site: http://www.music3387.Wordpress.com

There are so many celebrations in the month of July in my family so, why not shout out everyone! I hope you will join me there. See ya later🎵🎶🌹🎼🎤

It is always the simple that produces the marvelous.

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