Month: April 2021

I was brushing my teeth this morning when I had God’s joy well up in me bringing tears of thanksgiving and praise to my eyes. Wow, we’ve been given the most incredible gift. We can trust Jesus. Isn’t that wonderful? Being able to trust Jesus is so valuable. It’s so comforting. It’s so other-worldly. Amazing. I’m so thankful He’s teaching me that I can trust Him.

Trust Jesus. Yay! Yipee! Hallelujah to our great God, Savior and King!

Mmmm…

Thanking and praising God in all things,

Mark

Square off against the enemy and any of his attempts to make you feel defeated and confused. We’re children of the Most High God. Amen!

The Lord bless you and keep you
The Lord make His face to shine on you and be gracious unto you
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace
And I put the Name of the God of the children of Israel on you and bless you in Jesus’ Name, the Name that IS ABOVE every other name.

Let’s continue to live ABOVE with Christ Who is The Truth.

Thanking and praising God in all things,

Mark

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me (and every believer who follows Christ’s example), because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Luke 4:18

Feeling like a downcast?

And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Nothing but “The Truth” can make you free. If you don’t know The Truth, if you’re not intimate with God’s Word, if you’re deceiving yourself thinking you don’t have to do The Truth, you will not be free. God makes it really simple – and all-powerful.

Got up this morning and had coffee time with Annie. While talking, I began to feel wimpy and cornered in my spirit. I began to feel like a failure and like my life must be cursed. Yeah, enemy thoughts can escalate that quickly and send you into a downward spiral. And to think I used to live in those thought patterns all the time. Wow. No wonder I lived such a defeated and bleak existence.

Anyway, I recognized what was happening to me spiritually and began fighting the enemy’s thoughts. I began taking his thoughts captive by being obedient to God, to His Word, to The Truth. Again, I told the enemy to get out of my thoughts and to get out of our home. I began praying in the Spirit and praising God. The air cleared and I felt God’s Spirit rising up in me.

Folks, if you’re tempted to have the awful, persistent, nagging thoughts such as “Why am I even here?,” tell the devil to go to hell and begin taking back your mind in the mighty Name of Jesus. Don’t tolerate any of Satan’s nonsense that tries to steal, kill and destroy you. We’re here to worship and praise God, to renew our minds to His mighty Word, and to not be conformed to this lost world. We’re here to be set free and to proclaim the promises of God, to help set captives free from enemy lies, etc.

Why am I here and why was I born? To worship God, to learn to live free in Jesus and to tell others they can do the same. It’s that simple – and powerful.

Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
2 Corinthians 1:4

Hallelujah! Praise His mighty Name!

Thanking and praising God in all things,

Mark

Wow, times of refreshment are so wonderful. God knows what He’s talking about when He tells us to be tenderhearted towards each other. God loves for us to build rather than burn bridges.

The Lord bless you and keep you
The Lord make His face to shine on you and be gracious unto you
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace
And I put the Name of the God of the children of Israel on you and bless you in Jesus’ Name, the Name that is ABOVE every other name.

Thanking and praising God in all things,

Mark

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,
Acts 3:19

A friend of mine back in the 70s told me his father, who the head of cardiology at a large hospital in Los Angeles, said riding a bike was the best cardio exercise anyone could do.

I love to ride my bike. Some time ago, I was knocked off my bike by being side-swiped by a truck – I really got banged up. Then, I had a little girl turn right in front of me while riding her scooter and I sailed right over my handle bars landing on cement. A while after those two events, I was riding my bike through a nearby neighborhood when a dog chased me down – dogs are supposed to be on a leash. I turned towards the dog’s owner who was about 40 yards from me and yelled at him to call his dog and that he should have had his dog on a leash. I was pretty mad at the guy.

I stopped riding my bike for a couple of years feeling it was unsafe, and because of the knee cap pain I experienced after each ride. As a result, I walked for exercise for a few years.

After being cleared by my doctor after having my knees x-rayed, I’ve started riding my bike again. And, I see the man walking his dog in that same neighborhood. ☺

Lately, the Lord’s begun working on my heart regarding yelling at the man with the unleashed dog. I often see the man while walking and riding my bike and noticed that he always has his dog leashed. I didn’t know if he remembered me or not.

The other day, Jesus impressed on my heart to seek out the man and tell him I was sorry for getting so angry about the unleashed dog incident that happened years ago – yes, even though it was not my fault and that I felt totally justified at my actions back then. I found the man backing his car out of his driveway and stopped him. He rolled down his window and I apologized. He said he was sorry for not having his dog leashed that day and that he’s been diligent to leash his dog ever since. After talking and laughing about the situation with him, he told me I really made his day. Now, he honks and waves at me whenever he sees me out riding.

God is so good. I feel a new freedom since finding that man and telling him I was sorry about my anger towards him. He’s a really nice guy and I feel like I have a new friend.

“And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”
Ephesians 4:32

We can think we’re right, hold onto anger, and begin to let hard-heartedness take root in our souls. Anger can eat at our souls, stump our growth in the Lord, and keep us bound without even realizing it sometimes. Even if you’ve been wronged, being tenderhearted, forgiving and saying you’re sorry is so wonderful. It allows God to bring us times of refreshment.

Thanking and praising God in all things,

Mark

Even when we don’t feel it operating in our lives for whatever reason, His Word is still working to fulfill His promises to those who love Him. It’s cool how the more weak I am, the more I focus and depend on Him and His mighty Word.

The Lord bless you and keep you
The Lord make His face to shine on you and be gracious unto you
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace
And I put the Name of the God of the children of Israel on you and bless you in Jesus’ Name, the Name that is ABOVE every other name.

Thanking and praising God in all things,

Mark

It’s so easy to let the enemy into our thoughts. I had a dream I had another migraine last night and woke up with pain and a lot of fatigue. I was really tempted to give into my weak, depressed flesh. But God…

Be strong and of a good courage…Only be thou strong and very courageous (this is all He asks of me – to stay with His Word)…Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: For the Lord thy God is with thee withersoever thou goest…Only be strong and of a good courage.
From Joshua 1

Hallelujah! We have The Word to encourage us onward for the Kingdom. God is with us in all of life. His faithfulness can be depended on in all circumstances. He is strong in us even when our own strength is lacking.

Happy Monday, everyone. Let’s go with God and see all of the wonderful things He has in store for us. How exciting is that?!

We love you all. ☺☺♥♥

Thanking and praising God in all things,

Mark

As we read in Scripture, joy is a state of being, and it differs from happiness, which may come and go. Happiness is usually measured by our circumstances, whereas joy is measured by what we have been given. As Christians, we have been given something that cannot be taken away. We have joy because of the grace of Jesus Christ that lives in us. We can hold onto joy, we can feel joyful, and we can rejoice with praise no matter what our circumstances may be because no matter what is going on in our lives God is always near working everything together for the good of those who love Him.
^{Taken from Crosswalk.com – Edits mine}

The Lord bless you and keep you
The Lord make His face to shine on you and be gracious unto you
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace
And I put the Name of the God of the children of Israel on you and bless you in Jesus’ Name, the Name that is ABOVE every other name.

The name of the Lord is a strong tower (because we know He is with us working all things together for our good): the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.
Proverbs 18:10

Thanking and praising God in all things,

Mark

Keep looking unto Jesus Who is the Author and Finisher of our faith.

Thanking and praising God in all things,

Mark

To say that God gave me the right wife is such a huge understatement that gets huger all the time. ☺

The other night, Annie was reading in bed while I dozed off. She wanted so much to wake me up and tell me the exciting things God was sharing with her as she was reading. The next morning, she told me all about how God had been telling her that my PTSD – and everything else we’ve faced together – is so good for us because it’s made us seek and cling to God in a way we would not have done unless God had allowed these things in our lives.

Annie tells me all the time that she loves me and that she’s so thankful God let her be my wife – And I tell her the same and how fortunate I am to be her husband. Her love for me and the desire God put in her life to be my wife just amazes me. While our lives have seemed very difficult, we both know God has been in all of it and that He’s used it for good in ways we could never have imagined.

When I think of all the ways God has taught us (mostly me because I needed more teaching and changing than Annie did) to love each other more and more, it just overwhelmes me.

Thank You, God, for my beautiful Annie. Thank You that she needed and wanted You as much as I did. I’m forever grateful for her love and for the way You’ve blessed my life with her precious life.

When love is discovered, tried and blessed by God, the result is a new Love that He keeps creating and blessing with His joyful liberty, adventure and wonder.

What a God He is.

To God and Annie –

You Are So Beautiful
By Bruce Carleton Fisher, Billy Preston and Joe Cocker

You are so beautiful to me
Can’t you see
You’re everything I hoped for
You’re everything I need
You are so beautiful to me

You are so wonderful To me
You are so wonderful To me
Can’t you see
You’re everything I hoped for
You’re everything I need
You are so wonderful
To me

Such joy and happiness you bring
Such joy and happiness you bring
Like a dream
A guiding light that shines in the night
Heavens gift to me

You are so beautiful to me

Thanking and praising God in all things,

Mark

strengthening and establishing the hearts of the disciples; encouraging them to remain firm in the faith, saying, “It is through many tribulations and hardships that we must enter the kingdom of God.”
Acts 14:22

I can honestly tell you that Annie and I would not be entering the Kingdom of God if it had not been for all of the tribulations and hardships God has allowed in our lives. We could not possibly be learning to trust in the Lord with all our hearts, that He is working all things together for our good, to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, to cast all our “care” on Him, and to praise and thank Him in all things if it had not been for the trials and hardships He has been using to remove our weak, circumstance-reliant flesh from us.

The Kingdom of God is so wonderful and He keeps revealing more and more of it to us. Before we learned that God can be trusted in everything, we were miserable and constantly tossed to and fro in our spirits. The tribulations and hardships are teaching us that God is always faithful and that fact is everything in life – God is building our lives on Christ, the firm foundation that is immovable, the Rock. That we can rely on Him in it all is the greatest blessing we could have ever imagined. We can see the Kingdom like never before and it’s a wonderful, care-free, peaceful, restful, loving, joyful, ever-expanding place.

I hope you’ll listen to Messianic Rabbi Jonathan Cahn’s 3 minute message excerpt below.

The Promises of God They Never Preach [From Completing Your Mission (Message 2268)]

Do you have tribulations and hardships? Rejoice! You’re entering the Kingdom where you learn to live ABOVE and free from circumstances and where He takes all of your “care” from you. Hallelujah!

These things I (Jesus) have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
John 16:33

Thanking and praising God in all things,

Mark

What a blessing it is to be in Jesus instead of being in myself. He is so fantastic and His glory that He shares with us keeps coming and expanding into all of who we are. What joy is ours as we choose each day to exchange us for Him.

The Lord bless you and keep you
The Lord make His face to shine on you and be gracious unto you
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace
And I put the Name of the God of the children of Israel on you and bless you in Jesus’ Name, the Name that is ABOVE every other name (even ABOVE the “end times”).

Thanking and praising God in all things,

Mark