What Day is This?

June 12, 2020June 12, 2020 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

061220 I notice patterns. I also see common denominators. I can’t help it. It’s the way I am made. I think I could have that disorder: Denoterns. Anyway, perhaps many others have it as well, but I have noticed several times in the Bible where it took three days to change someone, or something.

Take Jonah. God gave him direct instructions to go to Nineveh and share whatever message God told him to. I think Jonah took it upon himself to judge the people there, and he boarded a ship going the opposite direction. Perhaps his heart was full of hurt he associated with the people there and he wanted God to wipe them off the map. You can read the whole story for yourself in the book of Jonah in the Bible, but after he was thrown overboard and spending three days in the stomach of a great fish, his heart changed.

Three days!

There are many other instances whether they journeyed, stayed or not ate for three days. Three days can seem like eternity when you are hungry, thirsty, hurting, or desperate for an answer from God.

Jesus in the tomb is probably the most famous story of a three day ordeal in the Bible, but after his third day, anyone in the world can have their wrong doing forgiven, just by accepting Jesus.

On a personal note, three days after my wife gave up on hoping, asking, and believing God to send her a husband I sent her a message. On the fourth day, her life changed. It seems as if it takes three days to work out the flesh. In other words, it takes that long to realize that when your situation changes it wasn’t you, but had to be God.

I don’t like going through a three day ordeal, but I hang on, because I love the fourth day.

If you are going through something, and you have turned it over to God, realizing you can’t do anything about it otherwise, then know this; your forth day is coming!

CONFESSION: I made up the disorder Denoterns.

Protest Hell

June 9, 2020June 9, 2020 / Mark Brady / 2 Comments

060920 2 Throughout this whole COVID-19 ordeal, I have been sad as the numbers climbed, but the impact did not land on my front porch, until now. Ten days ago, my friend, Chris called and informed me he caught the disease from work. Chris is 65. Today, I called to see how he was doing, but he did not answer the phone. About an hour later I received a text message letting me know he was now in the ICU.

I prayed for Chris and his wife, who also has it, but I felt as if I needed more people to agree with me in prayer on his behalf. We needed to pray and protest hell! You see, sickness, death, hate, and disease is of the devil. There is power when people gather, agree, and pray. Picture hundreds, or thousands marching against the gates of hell, pushing back evil.

^“Again, I give you an eternal truth: If two of you agree to ask God for something in a symphony of prayer my heavenly Father will do it for you.” Matthew 18:19 The Passion Translation (TPT)

I posted in Facebook the need, and right away people started telling me they were praying. At first, three, then 20, and at last check over 90 people have said, “I will stand with you Mark, in the gap for your friend Chris.” I even heard from people 8000 miles away.

My heart was touched, and to be honest, my eyes started leaking at the out pouring of concern, and love. This is the kind of action we need to take right now for our world as well. I would say, not one of those who said they would pray, knows Chris, but they took time to pray anyway.

I didn’t know George Floyd, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, or the others who have died when they shouldn’t have. I didn’t know the five police officers ambushed in Dallas either.

My point is this; we, who do know God, should be praying more now than ever for all people affected by the recent events and for our country. This cannot be the story of America. We don’t have to know them first, like those praying for Chris don’t know him, but prayed anyway, expecting results.

Thank you to all who have prayed for Chris, or will after reading this post. People of God cannot give up hope, grow weary, get discouraged, or turn to fear, because we know God is bigger than all things, and he is more powerful than evil.

Let Them Tell You No

September 27, 2019October 23, 2019 / Mark Brady / 2 Comments

Suite T header 2014 w chrome I wrote an article for The Author’s Blog presented by Southern Writers Magazine and it came out today. Even though it is a magazine for writers, the principle I shared can work for you. Check it out at the following link:

http://southernwritersmagazine.blogspot.com/2019/09/let-them-tell-you-no.html

2019

January 9, 2019January 9, 2019 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

I wanted to share a post from Ava. She is a fifteen year old young lady, from my church, who is an amazing follower of Jesus Christ, and a great writer. Be blessed by the words God led her to share.

a collection of sunsets

Well, my main goal in 2018 was to write one blog post every month and I am proud that I accomplished it! (December 31st, 2018 / 11:24 p.m.) I promise I posted this when it was still 2018 😉

Even if this year has been hard for you or people you love, we can still be thankful for it. We must learn to dance in the victory that we believe is coming even while tears stream down our faces. The Lord is teaching his children to dance on disappointment. Whether you experienced the greatest joy or the greatest sorrow (or a mixture of the two) God is with you, fighting your battles. understanding that we have a Father who knows us and cares about us is so important; his reckless love and power are always there to rescue you. he is fighting your battle, you need only to continue to…

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Short

December 18, 2018December 18, 2018 / Mark Brady / 1 Comment

loving Jesus My phone is short on battery life. Some are short on money. Many find themselves short on time, but there is one thing we are never ever short of, and that, is the love of God!

Have You Considered?

June 2, 2018June 1, 2018 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

Covering of protection

Have you ever considered what your breaking point would be in life? How much you could take? What could you handle, but what is too much? Severe sickness of you, or of the ones you love the most? Losing your entire net worth? Being abandoned by the very ones you thought cared the most about you?

“And the Lord said to Satan, Have you considered My servant Job?” Satan replied, “Have You not put a hedge (a covering) about him and his house and all that he has, on every side?” (Job 1:8 & 10 AMP)

God, because of Job’s relationship with him, had put a covering over him, or had his hand over him, so the results of a fallen, sinful, world could not affect Job, his family, or his possessions. Once I got really angry at one of my neighbors. I was so mad, I wanted to harm her, but I didn’t. Instead I prayed and asked God to take revenge on her for hurting me, After all, “Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.” (Rom. 12:19 MSG) One day I asked God what happens when he gets vengeance on someone. He whispered back, “I slowly remove my hand from their life.”

I shuttered! As time went on, I witnessed my neighbor losing her job, experiencing vandalism, and worst yet, the death of her oldest daughter. I prayed for her. I know God was hoping she would stop resisting him, and in turn, run to him. She finally did.

Job resisted the temptation to blame God for his troubles and die, but eventually repented of his prideful way of thinking. Then God restored everything back to him and doubled what he had lost. Could you have handled such loss? Or perhaps the better question is this, would God ever say to Satan, “Have you considered my servant: __________?“ (fill in blank with your name)

Amazing Love

August 26, 2017August 23, 2017 / Mark Brady / 1 Comment

c2gpic2 I would turn all the lights green when I drive. I would make people act right when I am in their presence. I would make them drive according to the rules of the road too. Nothing would ever go wrong in my life. This is what I would do if I had the powers of God.

Funny thing really. God has the power to do what I would and more. But God doesn’t use His power for selfish reasons. He never has, never does, and never will. He uses His power to bless us. To provide a perfectly balanced in the solar system place to live called, “Earth”. He provides food, and water. The things we need, and occasionally He spoils us, and blesses us with something we want.

Why does God do this? Because He loves us. He loves you. If you could see how much He loves you, how much He cares. God’s love cannot be measured, weighed, or exhausted. So what’s keeping you from believing it? Or a better question, what’s keeping you from accepting it? God’s love is available despite you. You can’t out do it, hide from it, or stop it. Really, there is no other word for God’s love except, “Amazing”!

What is Hell?

April 9, 2017April 9, 2017 / Mark Brady / 1 Comment

Art work by Duncan Long

I asked that question at work this past week. One lady replied, “Sitting in Chicago traffic and having to go to the bathroom really bad!” But what is hell to you? Or, what do you think hell will be?

Several don’t believe in hell. Others think it will be one big party. Here are some facts about hell: (to me, the last point about hell is enough to be called, “hell”!)

IN HELL – DARKNESS

1 Sam 2:9 “He will protect his godly ones, but the wicked will perish in darkness. No one will succeed by strength alone.”

IN HELL – FIRE & BURNING

Matt 25:41 “Then He (Jesus) will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels (demons).”

Mark 9:48 “… and the fire never goes out.”

IN HELL – NO HOPE

Prov 11:7 “When a wicked man dies, his expectation will perish, and the hope of the unjust perishes.”

IN HELL – NO MERCY

Psalms 103:4 “Who redeems your life from the Pit, Who crowns you with loving kindness and compassion (tender mercies).”

IN HELL – NO PEACE

Isa 57:21 “There is no peace for the wicked, says my God.”

IN HELL – NO PURPOSE

Psalms 6:5 “For there is no mention of You in death; In Sheol who will give You thanks?”

Eccl 9:10 “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might; for there is no activity (work)or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol (Hades/Hell) where you are going.”

IN HELL – NO REST

Rev 14:11 “And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”

IN HELL – NO WATER

Luke 16:24 “The Rich Man shouted, `Father Abraham, have some Pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in anguish in these flames.”

HELL IS A PLACE OF ETERNAL SEPARATION FROM GOD

2 Thess 1:7-10 “And God will provide rest for you who are being persecuted and also for us when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven. He will come with His mighty angels, in flaming fire, bringing Judgment on those who don’t know God and on those who refuse to obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from His glorious power, when He comes to receive glory and praise from His Holy people. And you will be among those praising him on that day, for you believed what we testified about him.”

You, who are reading this, are alive. You still have hope! Recognize Jesus Christ is God’s Son, and ask Jesus to forgive you of your wrong doing, your sins. Then ask Him to live in you, to guide you. You do this, and mean it, you will escape hell.

Just Imagine

June 11, 2016 / Mark Brady / 1 Comment

Dust 01 (2) When I got married I thought I had found the perfect woman. She hated to mop and I hated to dust, so I would do all of the mopping and she did the dusting. Most of us think of dust as a nuisance. Something that none of us want to collect, yet we all do.

God looks at dust a little differently. He actually loves dust. How do I know that? Because He formed, or made, man from dust, and God loves us.

Gen 3:19 “…for dust you are and to dust you shall return.”

Yep, that’s right, you came from dust, and you are loved by God.

While I was attending this year’s writer’s conference, held at Wheaton College, in Wheaton, Illinois I was getting away for a moment and went to the 5^th floor. I started noticing some really cool art. Then my eyes became fixated upon the image posted at the top of this blog. It was so beautiful. Then I read the little white sign to the right of the art. The title of this piece of art is, “Corpus” by David JP Hooker. The art piece is the contents of vacuum bags collected from all over the campus of Wheaton College.

If a man can make a master piece like this from dust imagine what God can do with dust. Just imagine what God can do with you.

Do You Window Shop?

June 5, 2016June 8, 2016 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

Have you ever noticed how something in a store window looks great, and you get this sense that if you were wearing that outfit it would look equally just as great? You think everybody that sees you in that outfit will just ooh and awe as much as you did when you saw it in the window. Well if you are honest then you know it doesn’t really go that way. You have learned the store has professionals dress their windows to suck you in.

On a recent trip where I picked up my mother and drove her to another state to meet her great granddaughter I witnessed another kind of window shopping. Not only did my mother meet her new great granddaughter for the first time, but she also got to meet my ex-wife’s husband. At the end of the day we were reviewing the events that had unfolded. My ex’s new husband came up. My mother went on and on about how wonderful he was, and how funny, and smart, and had the most beautiful eyes, and nice curly hair. I finally had to shut her down by saying, “Mom, I get it. My ex-wife traded up!”

My point is this: Anybody can look good in a window where the lighting is good etc., but when you really get to know someone you see through the window and into the heart. When you see their heart are they still so attractive? God is not fooled by the view through the window, but he always sees the heart. The truth is we need to be more concerned about how our hearts look, and when the heart looks great the rest will too.