Do You Have It?

August 31, 2019August 31, 2019 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

The symptoms:

You have to be home before it gets dark. You double or triple check the locks on your doors. It causes you to miss out on opportunities. It can frustrate, and even hurt others who don’t have it and who struggle to understand why you still do. It can grip your heart, and hinder, or paralyses you at times. You have to have someone else with you or you won’t leave the house.

Do you have it? Do you have fear?

Charlie 27 Those who believe in God should be void of fear. I know a woman who trust God while it is light outside, but she doesn’t trust him at night. It’s not totally her fault, she was raised to be afraid of everything. She hasn’t learned to overcome the lies, but I know she will! Joyce Meyer says fear is:

F alse
E vidence
A ppearing
R eal

John 14:27 Amplified Bible (AMP) Peace I leave with you; My [perfect] peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. [Let My perfect peace calm you in every circumstance and give you courage and strength for every challenge.]

When you really trust God, there is nothing to fear.

Why be afraid of something that may never happen? Another scripture, Job 3:25 says, “What I fear the most has come upon me.” I know this can really happen. I have a friend that shared her greatest fear with me and about 3 years later it happened almost exactly how she feared it would.

Fear, says to God, “I don’t think you can handle this Lord.” You are limiting God! God has the authority over everything, He always has, and He always will. Would you like someone to not trust you, especially knowing with you, nothing is impossible? God probably does hard things for breakfast!

So if you believe in God, act like it!

It’s okay to ask God for help to believe in his power and might. In Mark 9:24 a man cries out, ““Then I believe. Help me with my doubts!” If you do, soon you will be living in freedom, and those around you will be amazed and your confidence in God will be a witness to others.

Because it Just Feels Right

August 28, 2019August 27, 2019 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

I had just finished heating up water for my wife’s instant coffee when I sensed the presence of God about me. The sun was shining bright through the kitchen window, and my focus was drawn to the rising steam . I still can’t tell you why, but I grabbed my phone and took the following picture.

When I looked at the photo on my PC, it was then I saw what looked like a dove descending. One of my favorite things in life, is knowing I am in the presence of God. Why? Because it just feels right!

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John 1:32 New International Version (NIV)

Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him.

Problem or Opportunity?

August 24, 2019August 21, 2019 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

Charlie 777 I ordered an item from Kohl’s. I was looking forward to its arrival as it was going to be a gift for someone I love, a lot! (My wife! Who were you thinking of? By the way, don’t tell her because she doesn’t know.) Can you feel my disappointment when it didn’t arrive on the promised date(s)? I tracked it, and learned it couldn’t be delivered for some reason, not disclosed to me. So the item was sent back.

Was I mad? No, but not happy about the situation either. I like things to go smooth, and I am allergic to “problems”. I looked on Kohl’s website to see what could be done when the bill arrives, but the package doesn’t. I found an 800 number. I called and John answered. (Name changed to protect the loved.) John listened and then looked to see what he needed to do to resolve the “problem”. While he was working, I mentioned living in the Philippines. John said, “That’s where I am right now.” Yes, Kohl’s has a call center in Manila.

When John informed me of his whereabouts, I heard the Holy Spirit whisper to me. I said, “John, can I put you on my prayer list?” He agreed that was okay, but asked why.. I answered by saying, “John, I sense you have an issue going on in your life right now that bothers you, or is hurting you.” “I do,” John said. I continued, “God knows it, and He wants you to know how much He loves you. He loves you so much John, that He allowed me to have a “problem”, so you would have an “opportunity”, to know He sees you and how much He loves you. My missing package was no accident!” John was receptive.

If we, who believe in God, will stop complaining about “problems”, and look for “opportunities” for God to show his mighty hand, it would change our attitude, and a result of a changed attitude is it could change the life of someone else and change the world. Isn’t that what Jesus called us to do?

NOTE: Did you happen to notice Kohl’s very own tag line? “Expect great things”. What a statement of faith!

Stella, This Ain’t Hollywood

August 21, 2019August 20, 2019 / Mark Brady / 2 Comments

20170921_092347 I watched a good movie the other night. I won’t say which one, because I am going to give away the ending, and I don’t believe in “spoiler alerts!” The movie was about a father and a son, and their relationship. At the end of the movie the two were out fishing, and the father finally said some words his son had waited a very long time to hear, and then the father died. I lost it. Tears all over the couch. It was a real mess that even challenged “Bounty”, the quicker picker upper!

The truth is, the last few months my father was alive was difficult. He was acting out of fear and it hurt. I saw one of my father’s old friends last week, and he told me my father started fearing me controlling his life before I ever moved back to my home town after retirement to assist him as he wanted and needed. So by the time I had gotten here, my father had it in his mind how life would go, but it didn’t, and he refused to accept it, because it wasn’t the reality he had built up in his mind. I’m so glad though, four days before my father passed, we had a nice, peaceful, fun conversation.

Why am I sharing this? To vindicate myself? No. I know in my heart and before God how I treated my father, but the point is, I wanted my father’s last days to be his best days. I dreamed of my father and I out fishing. Having a nice day. Lots of laughs, and because he loved to fish, dad finally catching his trophy fish. Me, snapping a picture, and dad releasing the fish back into the lake, and then passing on, similar to the movie I mentioned above. But this ain’t Hollywood, and life doesn’t go like the well scripted, command performance acting, as in the movies.

So when life doesn’t go as scripted, what do we do? We give it to God, and we do everything to love the other people in the scene as best as we can. Love endures, remembers no wrong, and writes a great ending because love, always wins. (Love – 1 Cor. 13)

(The title of this post came from the Christian rock group, DeGarmo & Key, from 1980)

Don’t Forget

August 14, 2019August 8, 2019 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

God vs satan (2)

What If, “What If,” Never Happens?

August 10, 2019August 8, 2023 / Mark Brady / 1 Comment

WHAT IF’S: It’s sad, but so many live in fear. What makes it worse is, they don’t think they do. They deny it. You talk about being deceived by the devil. They believe his lies instead of the Truth. They roll play, “Well what if…” this happens, or that happens? Do you want to know the truth? Many times, those “What if’s” never happen! They only steal your time thinking about them, and worrying about them. Even worse, living bound up by those fears hurts others, especially those who know the Truth, who know Jesus, who have themselves been set free. The battle is fear vs faith. Terror vs trust. Fear and terror may never happen, but faith and trust always do!

You can annihilate the “What if’s” with “God if’s”

GOD, IF’S: When something in life comes up, and you don’t know what is going to happen, or how things are going to turn out, instead of worry and fear, instead of “Well, what if?”, you can simply pray, “God, if you will take care of this for me.” Or, “God, if you will walk with me through this.”

Living like this will calm your mind, calm your spirit man down to where you can walk, and live in peace. How else would one walk through the valley of the shadow of death and fear no evil? This is how you can sit, and relax enough to eat, at a table, in the presence of your enemies. (Psalms 23)

The battle is in the mind. You must learn to rethink how you look at things and situations.

Look at things from God’s point of view!

Asking God will break the chains of fear, and will set you free. You will feel better because now, you will breathe like you have never drawn a breath before. You will skip down the sidewalk, because of the joy you now feel. Because of the Light in your life instead of darkness. Okay, perhaps you won’t actually skip, but you will want to.

“God, I thank you personally, that we have an alternative we can choose from. In you, and in your strength, we can flip the environment. Just knowing we don’t have to live in bondage is liberating in itself. I love you God, and I know you love me, and everyone, especially those who have read this battle plan to defeat the devil. You’re so awesome. Thanks!”

Great Advice!

August 7, 2019July 31, 2019 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

Be Positive

My Last Stop

August 3, 2019 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

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Living in the Philippines, for the last six months, has taught me a lot! More than I could have ever imagined. I have observed, and recorded in my mind the people, their lives, their world. I foresee, one of these days, the residents here showing up in a story somewhere.

I have tried my best to settle in, and get comfortable, which is difficult when you are a pampered American. I have done what I could to fit in, but looking so different than them, some wouldn’t let me. Like today, at the time of this writing, I was cursed and the old woman made a spitting motion at my feet three times. I’m not saying I know racism in its fullest now, like some do in America, but I have experienced a taste of it, and it doesn’t taste too good. On the flip side, I have made friends, who call out my name whenever they see me out on the streets. That’s a good feeling no matter where you live!

As I made this place home, there were days I was jolted when the realization hit me, Mark, this is not your home. You’re an alien, a sojourner. Just passing through, for a specific time and purpose. For that matter, America is not my home either. I’m an alien there as well, just passing through for a specific time and purpose.

So where is my residence?

“So then ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but ye are fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God” Ephesians 2:19 (ASV)

After I accepted Jesus, my forwarding address was in heaven, God’s kingdom. As a residence of that land, I have full rights to everything the kingdom of God offers. I’m an heir to the King of Kings. I fit in. Everyone is accepted, no matter how weird they are on earth. Racism doesn’t exist! With nothing but love there, I am making heaven, my last stop.