Sight Unseen

July 16, 2017 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

052012_47JB Would you buy a house sight unseen? Probably not. On the other hand, have things or people always been as they appear? Most likely no. So why is seeing so important? Why is one state, I traveled through today, called the “Show me state”? We put so much infaces on seeing before believing, that when it comes to God we want the same thing.

I asked a coworker some years ago this question, “What would it take for you to believe God was real?” He thought long and hard and finally could not give me an answer. Possibly in his mind anything God would do for him, would still trigger doubt, and disbelief. Knowing how He made us, I think that is why God asks us to accept Him by “faith”. Faith, is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)

It can be difficult, somethimes, to believe in God. Especially when life is tough, but given the chance, and time God has proven Himself to me over and over. He also promises to prepare a home for me in heaven. I’ll accept that home, “sight unseen”!

Boxed In?

July 8, 2017 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

20170708_220718 One thing that makes moving successful is having enough, and right size boxes for your stuff. Moving works best when you have the time to put the right things in the right size boxes and number them, and then keep a running list of what is in each one.

When it comes to moving spiritually, what size box do you try to put God in? Do you cram Him in a small one, because He is only a “small” part of your life? Or does the God you serve fit in a refrigerator box? How do you list the contents of the box you put God in? That probably depends on what you think of God and His power. Maybe it is limited by your experience with Him so far.

We’re human. Our mind has limits, but when it comes to God we shouldn’t limit Him at all. We should never put Him, and His abilities in a box. Instead of saying, “Why can’t God…?” we should say, “My God can…” When you start living with this kind of thinking about God you will begin to find your life outside the box.

Thorns and Thistles

July 1, 2017 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

080512 169 Have you ever asked yourself, “Why is life so hard?” You strive to do good, get ahead, but at times it seems the more you press forward the further behind you get. In your finances, at work, or in relationships. The truth is, it’s not your fault. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden part of the punishment was life would be harder. They received their sentence before they were evicted from the home God wanted for them. See the scripture below:

Gen 3:18 The ground will sprout thorns and weeds, you’ll get your food the hard way, Planting and tilling and harvesting, (MSG)

All the more reason we need God to lift us out of the weeds and thorns of life that desire to choke, and overcome us. If you’re tired of weed whacking then stop, and ask God for help. He will, and He can. Consider the fact His way was for us to live in a garden. My neighbor once saw me planting flowers several years ago. She said, “You don’t know what you are doing!” My reply, “I know, but I’m having a great time.” God, the master gardener, knows what He is doing. Turn your life over to Him then trust and obey. That’s the only way to live life in the garden.

Good Words

June 23, 2017 / Mark Brady / 1 Comment

I recently read this devotion by Max Lucado, and was moved by the truth and power of the words. I decided the best thing to do was to share it with others.

Quarry the Deep Qualities of God

Don’t equate the presence of God with a good mood or a pleasant temperament. God is near whether you’re happy or not. But do quarry from your Bible a list of the deep qualities of God, and press them to your heart. My list reads like this:

· He is still sovereign.
· He still knows my name.
· Angels still respond to His call.
· God is still faithful.
· He is not caught off guard.
· He uses everything for His glory and my ultimate good.

Lay hold of the unchanging character of God. Pray your pain out. Pound the table. Even Jesus offered up prayers with what Hebrews 5:7 describes as “loud cries and tears.” Your family may be gone. Your supporters may have left. But God has not budged! His promise still stands, “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go.”

To read more from Max, or to sign up for his devotions click on the link below:

Max Lucado

How Satan Gets In

June 17, 2017 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

Sieve Jesus warned Peter (Simon) Satan wanted to get inside him and tempt him. Satan wanted to see if Peter’s life was rattled, shaken would his belief in God remain.

Luke 22:31 “Simon, stay on your toes. Satan has tried his best to separate all of you from me, like chaff from wheat.” (MSG)

So how does Satan get inside our hearts in the first place?

Perhaps when a family member hurts us. – Resentment
Maybe when a neighbor gets a new car. – Jealousy
Could be when difficult financial times fall upon us. – Fear
When your boss rides you, even though you work very hard. – Hatred
It could be after the loss of a loved one. – Grief, or sorrow
Through a battle with a serious illness. – Desperation
If a child goes astray with their life, or departs from God – Hopelessness
You feel there is no one out there who really loves you, understands you. – Loneliness
A situation or person ticks you off – Anger

These are only a few examples of how our lives can be shaken, sifted. If this is happening to you will God remain? I hope so. One way to make sure is to do an evaluation of what is in your heart. Clean it out and then keep the door to your heart and soul SHUT! And it wouldn’t hurt to lock it either.

Recognize quickly when Satan tries to sneak into your heart, because he will, even if the door is barely cracked.

Hereeeeee’s God

June 10, 2017 / Mark Brady / 1 Comment

Ya know, sometimes God words things just right. Good enough to convey His point clearly, so I give you God. He will be quoting His original writing from Amos chapter 5, verses 7 – 14.

7) Woe to you who turn justice to vinegar and stomp righteousness into the mud.

8) Do you realize where you are? You’re in a cosmos star-flung with constellations by God, A world God wakes up each morning and puts to bed each night. God dips water from the ocean and gives the land a drink. GOD, God-revealed, does all this.

9) And he can destroy it as easily as make it. He can turn this vast wonder into total waste

10) People hate this kind of talk. Raw truth is never popular.

11) But here it is, bluntly spoken: Because you run roughshod over the poor and take the bread right out of their mouths, You’re never going to move into the luxury homes you have built. You’re never going to drink wine from the expensive vineyards you’ve planted.

12) I know precisely the extent of your violations, the enormity of your sins. Appalling! You bully right-living people, taking bribes right and left and kicking the poor when they’re down.

13) Justice is a lost cause. Evil is epidemic. Decent people throw up their hands. Protest and rebuke are useless, a waste of breath.

14) Seek good and not evil– and live! You talk about GOD, the God-of-the-Angel-Armies, being your best friend. Well, live like it, and maybe it will happen.

What more do you want?

June 3, 2017 / Mark Brady / 1 Comment

Earth

Bible

Mary 2

Cross

Heaven

I created a beautiful place for you to live.
I wrote instructions, on how to live.
I gave you my Son who lived perfectly,
I allowed him to die, as a sacrifice, for your wrong doing.
I prepared a place for you……..to live eternally.

Is that You God?

May 6, 2017 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

phone handset If I was to call you right now, and started speaking without first telling you who I was, you wouldn’t know it was me. I would start talking and you would say, “Who is this?” but the more often we talked, you would become familiar with the sound of my voice. The same goes for learning what it sounds like when God speaks to you. Joh 10:27 My sheep recognize my voice. I know them, and they follow me. (MSG), and we are God’s sheep.

Here is how to begin distinguishing what it sounds like when God speaks to you. There are 3 places a thought in your head can come from. Those are: Satan, you, and God. When a thought comes into your mind, analyze its source. If the thought goes against God’s word (hint: a good reason to read the Bible) then the thought probably came from Satan, or even you. If the thought seems smarter than you then rule out yourself as the source. So that leaves God if the thought lines up with His Word, and is full of wisdom. Keep in mind, God will use your vocabulary.

Hearing God, takes time and practice. Ask Him to speak to you, and also be aware that at times He will use something someone else says to speak to you. At other times, you may be reading His word, and a scripture will resonate with you. There will come a day, when you’ll appreciate knowing, in a moment, who it is speaking to you.

God?

April 30, 2017 / Mark Brady / 2 Comments

It would be so much easier if you could see God, touch Him, and hear Him audibly. But if all that was possible don’t you think it would cheapen your faith? I mean faith’s value goes through the roof when you chose to believe in who you can’t see, touch, or hear, and yet the things you have been talking to God about, happen.

If you asked God for His will for your life and the next morning you found an email in your inbox from God telling you to do something that you didn’t like you probably would label it as “Spam”. Or, you might be tempted to click on “unsubscribe”. You see God has a way of taking His desires for our lives and developing them in us to the point we start asking Him for the same thing. Thinking it was our idea. Steering wheel isolated on a white background

One thing about God’s will is the timing. Maybe you do know His will, but do you know His timing? A good way to discover His timing is by moving. It’s hard to steer a car when it is parked. When you are moving in the direction you think is God’s will He can steer you, but you have to prayerfully watch the road signs. It’s like this, just because someone offers you a job out of the blue, doesn’t mean it is God’s will for you to work there.

Another way to find His will and timing is to talk to mature Christians who have been there and have done that. They can counsel you in the ways of God, and also be praying with you. Remember this verse: Isa 55:9 “For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think.” (MSG) Trusting, believing, and obeying provides you the greatest adventures you will ever have and the most rewarding, and satisfied life.

Starved for God

April 22, 2017 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

Starving man “I’m looking for the next party!” One recently shared with me. The next day I read the following scriptures from the Old Testament book of Hosea 9: 1-6 (MSG).

Don’t waste your life in wild orgies, Israel. Don’t party away your life with the heathen. You walk away from your God at the drop of a hat and like a whore sell yourself promiscuously at every sex-and-religion party on the street. All that party food won’t fill you up. You’ll end up hungrier than ever. At this rate you’ll not last long in GOD’s land: Some of you are going to end up bankrupt in Egypt. Some of you will be disillusioned in Assyria. As refugees in Egypt and Assyria, you won’t have much chance to worship GOD– Sentenced to rations of bread and water, and your souls polluted by the spirit-dirty air. You’ll be starved for GOD, exiled from GOD’s own country. Will you be homesick for the old Holy Days? Will you miss festival worship of GOD? Be warned! When you escape from the frying pan of disaster, you’ll fall into the fire of Egypt. Egypt will give you a fine funeral! What use will all your god-inspired silver be then as you eke out a living in a field of weeds?

I feel sorry for the one who spoke those words to me. Their soul will always be starving for God. They will continue striving to feed their soul with the things of this world. I did my best to share this with them, but they didn’t want to hear the message, the Truth, and we know the Truth will set them free, and satisfy their soul.