Decide Now

July 21, 2023July 20, 2023 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

You have all the information you need to make an informed decision!

I will confess that I have recently been binge-watching a TV show. It depicts the lives and interactions of lawyers. I have noticed they all seem to have the same central issue. That is: “Trust.” It comes up in every episode, I think. They ask themselves or someone else, “Do I trust them?” or “Can they be trusted?” I once heard the saying, “One who doesn’t trust can’t be trusted.”

Trust is hard yet easily broken! A single lie or deception can destroy someone else’s trust. And once it is gone, it can be almost impossible to rebuild. Ask anyone who has experienced the hurt and pain of realizing they can no longer trust someone. The more they think of that person as a long-time friend, workmate, or spouse, the more it intensifies the agony.

This is why it is critical to know that God can be trusted. His word, the Bible, is true. The devil, on the other hand, is a liar. God says that he is the father of lies.

“If God were your father,” said Jesus, “you would love me, for I came from God and arrived here. I didn’t come on my own. He sent me. Why can’t you understand one word I say? Here’s why: You can’t handle it. You’re from your father, the Devil, and all you want to do is please him. He was a killer from the very start. He couldn’t stand the truth because there wasn’t a shred of truth in him. When the Liar speaks, he makes it up out of his lying nature and fills the world with lies. I arrive on the scene, tell you the plain truth, and you refuse to have a thing to do with me. Can any one of you convict me of a single misleading word, a single sinful act? But if I’m telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? Anyone on God’s side listens to God’s words. This is why you’re not listening—because you’re not on God’s side.” John 8:44-47 (MSG)

The devil lies to you and deceives you to keep you far from God and, therefore, not accept His free gift of salvation. If you have never read the Bible, you should! Within the pages is all the information you need. You will read the truth. You can trust it! There may be parts you don’t understand (I still have some issues with parts of it), but you can count on one day having the knowledge you seek. What’s important, though, is the parts about God’s love for you and that He gave you His only Son to die for you.

“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him. John 3:16-18 (MSG)

Knowing this should make you feel confident in deciding the most important issue in your life. And that is this: is God real, and do I trust Him and his Son, Jesus, enough to ask for forgiveness of my sins and to invite Jesus into my life? The answer is, “Yes!” God can be trusted!

More Than Enough!

July 26, 2022July 23, 2022 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

I love the true story, as told in the Bible, of the time Jesus fed the 5000. Of course, that was just the men. There are so many thoughts to consider when reading this miracle.

One, I seriously doubt that no one else had any food with them. They hid it, or worse, lied about having it. They looked at the situation with natural eyes and thought, “There is no way what we have is going to feed this huge crowd!” And honestly, they were right. But those same individuals didn’t fully know who Jesus was. They didn’t understand what could happen if you place what you have in Jesus’ hands and then trust him. Yes, even to do the impossible!

Two, The boy who gave the small lunch he had brought did know and therefore trusted Jesus. He also believed Jesus was the son of God. The lad had a giver’s heart, and I think he gave it cheerfully. In fact, he probably had to convince Jesus’ disciple to take it. They, too, were looking with natural eyes.

You could count the boy’s lunch. Two fish and five loaves of bread equaling seven pieces. Seven, the number of completion! Jesus took what was given, and He blessed it, and it was multiplied.

“How many vs. how much. How many you can count, how much comes by faith!” Steven Furtick

God will meet your needs when you place what you have in His hands and then trust him. He may not give you all of it at once. Like manna that fed the children of Isreal, He will provide for the needs you have for one day. I wake up, and I realize my bills due today are paid. We have food to eat and gas in the car; for today. Of course, my greatest need was salvation, and forgiveness of my sins, and He provided for that as well.

“Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes. Mat. 6:34 (MSG)

I am currently in a situation I never saw coming or planned for, and if I had known it was coming, I would have resisted it, or worse, said, “No, God.” For I would have looked at it in the natural and had seen the “how many” and have thought, “There is no way! I can’t afford that!” Yet, I have to admit God is making a way. He is funding this project because it is His project! It is genuinely day by day, but His faithfulness provides. “Great is Thy faithfulness!”

Yes, you could count the boy’s lunch. Two fish and five loaves, yet in the end, it was more than enough!

Know Him

February 11, 2022February 7, 2022 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

If you find yourself deciding to trust God, then you must also trust in all of his nature. Going all classic Amplified Bible on ya; knowing, being confident, non-wavering, on the very issue that God runs the universe and nothing happens that He doesn’t make or at the very least, allow!

Who could confront me and get by with it?
I’m in charge of all this—I run this universe!
Job 41:11 (MSG)

One who is trust worthy demonstrates certain qualities. They are:

Integrity, Sincerity, Reliability, Consistency, Commitment, Competent

The list above are not qualities of God, but part of his very nature! This is just simply who He is! When you get to know him, by talking to him in prayer, and reading his word, the Holy Bible, his nature is revealed to you. Just as important is knowing that God doesn’t ever change who He is due to what is happening around us, but forever the same.

For Jesus doesn’t change—yesterday, today, tomorrow, he’s always totally himself.
Heb. 13:8 (MSG)

Keep in mind, Jesus repeated often, in the gospels, that he does what He sees his heavenly Father do, therefore we can know that God doesn’t change either! Spending time with someone is the best way to get to KNOW THEM. So I challenge to do just that. Spend time with God, and perhaps his nature will rub off on you. Umm, not such a bad idea.

First Bank and Trust

April 9, 2021April 7, 2021 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

Life sure can be rough at times, and dealing with people can make it even more difficult. It can be hard to believe people and extremely challenging when it comes to trusting them. Being hurt by someone in the past comes into play when deciding to trust a new person in your life. You can be afraid to open up your heart knowing, like before, you could get that heartbroken, again.

When you hold back your trust the person desiring it can get agitated, even mad. Only they know if what they are telling you is 100% true or not. This may be someone you love, a lot, and you really do want to believe them, but your past experience can cause you to proceed with caution.

There is nothing wrong with being careful, but not opening up your heart to love again most likely will lend you to being single the rest of your life or in a relationship that experiences bumps along the way.

When it comes to God, be assured, you can trust him completely. In fact, in order for the relationship with God to work best trust is vital. Trust, believes what is said, and what is done believing that the motives are pure, and with God, they are. Please don’t project on God the hurts you have experienced from humans.

God did not come from Adam and Eve, as mankind did.

“The Lord came to us from far away, saying, “I have loved you with a love that lasts forever. So I have helped you come to Me with loving-kindness.” Jer. 31:3 (NLV)

God has not sinned. He is Holy. He will always treat you with the utmost love, concern, and care. You can bank on it.

Tired of Sand in Your Underwear?

November 3, 2018November 3, 2018 / Mark Brady / 1 Comment

sand “But it’s what I know! Yes, you’re right. I don’t like living like this, but…I just don’t know how to change it,” said the man, asking for a handout.

Because of where my church is located, I see several people who don’t live like I do. I feel bad for them, as you see them year after year in the same dessert, making another trip around Mt. Sinai. They remind me of the Children of Israel. They wanted so bad out of Egypt, but after they were out, they wouldn’t let go of Egypt. Most found their new life required them to trust God daily for their needs. Believe it or not they wanted to go back and live and die in Egypt.

The Israelites said, “Why didn’t GOD let us die in comfort in Egypt where we had lamb stew and all the bread we could eat? You’ve brought us out into this wilderness to starve us to death, the whole company of Israel!” (Exo 16:3 MSG)

The children of Isreal would have rather lived in slavery then in freedom in the land flowing with milk and honey that God promised was theirs. The effort to take the land proved to be too daunting, so they lived in sand. I see some people choosing to live the same way today!

I find sand to be irritating. It’s gets into everything and everywhere! When I got tired of sand in my underwear, I decided it was time to trust God and go to a new place, a new level in him to walk and live. I have been learning how to defeat the giants in the land, and when you put your trust 100% in him you find it doesn’t require that much of you. God simply wants to be trusted.

It’s All About Obedience

October 20, 2018October 19, 2018 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

simple truth I have been reading from the Bible book of Exodus. Today, I read a portion of chapter 12. The true story of Pharaoh and the children of Israel has always intrigued me. In meditating, upon this portion of God’s word, I realized one thing, being with God, being in his presence, is all about obedience.

You see, it was disobedience, by Adam and Eve that caused mankind to be separated from God in the first place, when they ate fruit from the tree, God told them not to. Then, God gave us his son, Jesus, and it takes obedience of accepting him to be back in God’s presence.

Growing up in an Assembly of God church, we sang the song, Trust and Obey. Some words in that song say, “there’s no other way.” Simple truth, but truth none-the-less that will save your soul from eternal damnation. God knows that when you obey him, and come into his presence, you enter into the greatest love story ever written. It’s an amazing feeling to wake up loved, to lay down at night and close your eyes wrapped up in love, and living in between with God’s love abounding in your life. God welcomes you, invites you, to partake of his love. All you have to do is obey him, and stop eating the fruit the devil keeps putting in front of you. A simple verse, but a true, loving verse none-the-less:

For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life. (Joh 3:16 AMP)

Believing Builds Believing

June 16, 2018June 5, 2018 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

“I just don’t believe there could be one, all-powerful being,” David said.

“So you would like proof, first, before you would choose to believe in God,” I replied.

“Yes!”

“God asks us to believe in him by faith,” I said.

“I need proof.”

“Okay. Let’s say God will, because of how much he loves you, let you have proof first. What would it take? What would you need to see, or witness, in order to believe in God?” I asked.

As David sat in his office chair, he was visibly considering my question. After ten minutes, he turned, looked at me, and said, “I don’t know. I don’t know what would be enough.”

God_you there A somber event took place in front of me. The reality is this; for a man, using his own reasoning, which is limited, nothing could satisfy him. No proof would be enough. Everything God might do, or has done, to prove his own existence, some men would reason it away, and have. It’s as if they try to make God conform to their rules of existence, and that’s just not going to happen.

Another reality is this; God does exist. I have met him. I have talked to him, and he has answered me. I have seen his work, in creation, in the most intricate details of nature, and in the life of a man. Only God, can take the vilest of men, and change him forever. One example is Saul. He saw Jesus. Saul had a life changing encounter with Jesus, and he went from wanting to kill those who believed in God, to preaching to those that didn’t.

All this time Saul was breathing down the necks of the Master’s disciples, out for the kill. He went to the Chief Priest and got arrest warrants to take to the meeting places in Damascus so that if he found anyone there belonging to the Way, whether men or women, he could arrest them and bring them to Jerusalem. He set off. When he got to the outskirts of Damascus, he was suddenly dazed by a blinding flash of light. As he fell to the ground, he heard a voice: “Saul, Saul, why are you out to get me?” He said, “Who are you, Master?” “I am Jesus, the One you’re hunting down. (Act 9:1-5 MSG)

If you want to see God the Father, then study the life of Christ. For Jesus himself said, “To see me is to see the Father. So how can you ask, ‘Where is the Father?” (Joh 14:9 MSG)

(Note: The person’s name, in this real story, was changed.)

It’s About Time!

June 9, 2018June 1, 2018 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

Old Testament time: Mankind was given “time” by God. He created light, and separated it from dark. He called the light “day”, and the dark “night”. That was day one. (Gen. 1:3-5) Pastor Robert Morris says, time gives us stability, and rhythm to life. During eternity, there will be no need for time. Jesus operates in a whole different realm than we do. He is not bound by time. He can go back in time, and forward in time, in no time.

Abraham’s wife, Sarah, had time reversed for her body and appearance. She did not look like an old grandma when she had Isaac at the age of 90, but like a beautiful young woman. So much so, while Abraham was camping in Gerar, he lied, and said she was his sister so he would not be killed for actually being her husband. (Gen. 20:1-18)

New Testament time: When Jesus’ mother, Mary, asked her son to turn water into wine, while at a wedding, he answered her request. One of the wedding guest commented the host saved the best wine for last. Good wine takes 2 years to make. How did Jesus do it? I’m not sure, but I believe he could, can and did. Mary believed as well. (John 2:1-11)

Your time: I heard a testimony the other day where a kid closed the car door on his hand. His mother prayed that his hand would go back to how it felt 2 minutes before the accident. When she got done praying, he said his hand didn’t hurt any more.

Why am I sharing this? There is a realm, we who call ourselves believers, need to move into. The realm of possibilities that Jesus lives in. A realm that is not bound by time. Being “Christ like” can be for these days, and not just after we arrive in heaven. Why now? Because as we approach the last days our faith will need to be stronger. We will need to know the impossible has always been possible, if we just learn to believe it, and ask for it, like Mary did. We don’t have to know how, but that it can be done. The Holy Spirit is sharing this with others around the world. Jesus will help us and welcome us into this new realm of believing and living. In fact he will probably say, “It’s about time!”

God’s Top Ten List

May 5, 2018May 4, 2018 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

The Ten

No other Gods before me.
I’m to be your first priority.
Nothing should be your idol.
Keep your life pure.
Don’t use my name when cussing.
Understanding this can bring humility.
Keep Sundays Holy.
Resting one day a week is a wonderful thing.
Honor your father and mother.
Doing so will bless your life.
Killing is not good.
Love is a much better way.
Committing adultery tears people apart.
Learning intimacy will bring people together.
Don’t take what isn’t yours.
If you do, you’ll never learn to trust.
Lying is a bad idea.
Honesty is always the way to go.
You shouldn’t want what isn’t yours.
Contentment brings peace to your life.

God didn’t come up with these 10 commandments to make your life miserable. He didn’t do it so we would become “religious”, and start a bunch of denominations with a list of “rules” to live by. He gave us these principles, to live by, so we could relate to him better, and with each other.

Your First Thought

April 14, 2018April 13, 2018 / Mark Brady / 4 Comments

20180412_200110 It happened again. The explosive temper from one I am supposed to love, and I do, but the pain. I left their presence, but I was a “walking wounded”. I kept rewinding the scene and playing it over and over in my mind. Why? This didn’t need to happen. I begin seeking comfort.

I went to one of my favorite pizza places and ordered a pizza. Sad, I know, but I tend to turn to favorite foods for comforting. Later in the evening God whispered, “Why didn’t you turn to me for comfort?” I searched for the truth and then had the realization, so my reply was, “It wasn’t my first thought. God… (tears) I’m so sorry! Help me loving Father to make you my first thought.”

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of sympathy (pity and mercy) and the God [Who is the Source] of every comfort (consolation and encouragement) 2Co 1:3-6 (AMP)

But I turned to pizza instead of God. The very pizza pictured in the photo. It was extremely windy, and as I was taking my second step out of the restaurant a gust of wind blew the box right out of my hand. I went back in, ordered another one, and then cleaned up the parking lot. To be honest I looked both ways to see if anyone was watching. You know, that five second rule. I decided it didn’t apply to asphalt! My turning to food first, instead of God, made for a very expensive medium pizza. Lesson learned, I hope!