believe

Talking to God

/ Mark Brady / Leave a comment
Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

Some may not even know they can talk to God. Others may have learned as children to do it every night before going to sleep. How many genuinely believe that He hears you? A bigger question may be, how many believe that He can answer you?

God can answer in many ways. He can respond immediately with a supernatural act. Or He may use someone else to provide the answer on his behalf. The one way most dislike is with silence. In a world where we are used to “instant” anything, we may find it challenging to wait for his answer.

‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’
Jer. 33:3 (NIV)

Have you ever wondered what in the world He is doing while we sit in silence? He could be getting us, or our hearts, ready to receive his answer or action. He could be moving certain people into places that He desires to be a part of his master plan.

There was an elderly lady in the Walmart parking lot who was struggling to get 12 packs of soda out of the bottom of those mini carts. I was heading to Walmart but got mad when I didn’t go the route I had wanted to. I realized later that if I  had gone the way I wanted to, I would have arrived too early. As it turned out, I was right on time, God’s time to help the lady.

She let me help her but asked, Where did you come from?” I immediately answered, “God sent me!” The look on her face was priceless. She didn’t say if she had asked him for help or not, but she needed help. God does care.

God wants to hear from us. He loves us. Remember, before the fall, Genesis tells us that God walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the garden. He wants to know what is on our hearts and minds. There are times when His Spirit will whisper an answer into our spirits. You can learn how to hear and recognize his voice.

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. John 10:27 (NIV)

It’s comforting to hear God speak, but when He doesn’t, we have to trust Him. Know that He has heard us and is working on our behalf. Some may talk to God without even knowing for themselves that He is real and alive. If an individual is on a plane that is going down, they will cry out to God to save them just in case.

I recall the story of Beth. She was in distress over her home life. One day, when she got home from school, she found herself alone in the house. She sat at the kitchen table and said out loud, “God, if you are real, move this cup.” The cup didn’t move. Nine years later, she was sitting on a school bus talking to the driver. The driver had a great relationship with God. She paused the conversation and then said to Beth, “I feel like God wants me to tell you that the cup just moved.” when she witnessed Beth’s reaction of tears, she knew, somehow, the message made sense.”

God could have physically moved the cup, but how much more powerful was his demonstration of revealing that He is real? It was to use a friend who didn’t know what Beth had asked. Sometimes, people will refuse to believe in God no matter what they see or hear.

Talk to God. See and know that He is real and that He really cares for you. He already knows what you are going through and may be simply waiting for you to invite him into the situation.

Copyright © 2024 Mark Brady  All Rights Reserved

Angels in the Audience?

/ Mark Brady / 1 Comment

Have you thought about where two thirds of the angels were that didn’t challenge God like Satan and one third of the angels did?  Did they encircle the thrown of God and draw their swords?  Were they ready to fight to the death to protect the realm God had setup?  Did God stand up and say, “Its okay guys.  I’ve got this.”  Or did they know the awesome power of God and simply set back in the grandstand, with popcorn, and say to each other, “Oh this is going to be good.”

I think about stuff like the above.  I know, there are more important things to think about, but it intrigues me.  As well as thinking about what is their day like?  Are they laying around on clouds and watching us?  Or are they there, by our side, waiting for us to ask God for help, knowing He can dispatch them in a moment’s notice to do of his good pleasure in our lives.

Angels are definitely real.  They must be big and overwhelming, because typically the first words out of their mouth, when appearing to a human, are this, “Fear not!”  Not sure I want to see one, but I totally want them active in my life.  God dispatches them to minister to us.  To deliver healing, hope, encouragement.  They help fight our battles especially when that battle takes place in the spiritual realm.  The one that is very real, but unseen.

Your hand-to-hand combat is not with human beings, but with the highest principalities and authorities operating in rebellion under the heavenly realms. For they are a powerful class of demon-gods and evil spirits that hold this dark world in bondage.  EPH. 6:12 (TPT)

So just as the devil and demons (fallen angels) are real, so are God’s angels, and their not fat, weak little cherubs that have been painted over the centuries, but instead, they are messengers, and warriors ready to fight.

7-8 “I, Daniel, was the only one to see this. The men who were with me, although they didn’t see it, were overcome with fear and ran off and hid, fearing the worst. Left alone after the appearance, abandoned by my friends, I went weak in the knees, the blood drained from my face.

9-10 “I heard his voice. At the sound of it I fainted, fell flat on the ground, face in the dirt. A hand touched me and pulled me to my hands and knees.

11 “‘Daniel,’ he said, ‘man of quality, listen carefully to my message. And get up on your feet. Stand at attention. I’ve been sent to bring you news.’

“When he had said this, I stood up, but I was still shaking.

12-14 “‘Relax, Daniel,’ he continued, ‘don’t be afraid. From the moment you decided to humble yourself to receive understanding, your prayer was heard, and I set out to come to you. But I was waylaid by the angel-prince of the kingdom of Persia and was delayed for a good three weeks. But then Michael, one of the chief angel-princes, intervened to help me. I left him there with the prince of the kingdom of Persia. And now I’m here to help you understand what will eventually happen to your people. The vision has to do with what’s ahead.’  DAN. 10:7-14 (MSG)

I took a class titled, “Seeing Angels”, based on the book by Joshua Mills.  It was a good class, and a great book.  I learned there is a hierarchy of angels, and they have different jobs, or assignments.  I begin to find it encouraging, and exciting to work with angels.  To be watchful of their presence, and activity around me.  Yes they are there, but they aren’t simply in the audience, but at hand, ready to go.

I encourage you to learn about them if you never have.  They are one more resource we have in defeating the enemy, the devil, and advancing God’s kingdom.

Copyright © 2021 Mark Brady.  All rights reserved.

If I Fail

/ Mark Brady / 2 Comments

Charlie 022920“If it’s too good to be true, it usually is.”  Something a few people forget before they get taken financially.  In other words, there aren’t many good deals or 100% guarantees in life.  So when I saw the picture with this blog post, which is a sticker that was on the side of a product, I laughed.

As I was laughing, my thoughts turned to God.  What if God came with this sticker?

I heard a testimony tonight where a prophet shared God’s love with a dictator.  The prophet told the dictator the code name of a top secret mission, and he also told him something that happened on his daughter’s birthday the dictator felt very bad about.  The dictator replied, “Those things are guarded secrets.  How did you know?”  The prophet said, “God told me.”  The dictator was so moved he accepted God and tried to give the prophet a bag of money.  The prophet laughed, but said, “The only cost to God’s love was paid for by his Son, Jesus when he died on a cross for our sins.”

So if there is no cost to accepting God then there would be no money back if you one was not satisfied.  Could that be why some don’t accept him, his love, his Son?  They want a written guarantee before they believe?  If they read the Bible they will get their written guarantee.

God will never fail.  1 Corinthians 13:8 tells us that love never fails, and 1 John 4:8 tells us that God is love.  If one gets to know God, his true nature, they would walk with him 100% satisfied.

Copyright © 2020 Mark Brady.  All rights reserved.

People Live Their Belief!

/ Mark Brady / Leave a comment

my lifeLast week I wrote about helping a young man.  The focus should not be on the things I bought to help him for a few days, but on the words I shared with him, that if accepted, and acted upon will last him for eternity.

I had a captive audience.  He wasn’t about to jump out of a moving car, at least without the bags of food in the back seat.  I told him this: “I don’t like helping people I don’t know, but because of the love that God has shown me, I can’t help but share that love with others.  I am only helping you because of God’s love.  God loves you Justice.  He orchestrated us connecting to show you how much He loves you.”  I shared with him where the church I go to is, and there he can learn more about this love of God.

Then I went on to say, “Aren’t you tired of this life you are living?  Is the way you are living really working out for you?  Aren’t you tired of asking people for help?  You need a job in order to properly provide for those children, and your household.  You need God, and his help, his power in your life, his guidance to direct you to that job you need.”

He said he read the Bible, and to that I said, “Then act like it!”  I know.  A little direct and ruff, but the word of God does instruct us to “compel” them to come in.  The Message translation says to “drag them in. (Luke 14:23)”  The devil is doing a great job of keeping people’s lives so filled with drama they can’t see Truth, Jesus, standing right in front them, and inviting them to accept him, and a better way to live.  God’s word says this:

His huge outstretched arms protect you– under them you’re perfectly safe; his arms fend off all harm. Fear nothing–not wild wolves in the night, not flying arrows in the day, Not disease that prowls through the darkness, not disaster that erupts at high noon. Even though others succumb all around, drop like flies right and left, no harm will even graze you. You’ll stand untouched, watch it all from a distance, watch the wicked turn into corpses. Yes, because GOD’s your refuge, the High God your very own home, Evil can’t get close to you, harm can’t get through the door. He ordered his angels to guard you wherever you go. If you stumble, they’ll catch you; their job is to keep you from falling. You’ll walk unharmed among lions and snakes, and kick young lions and serpents from the path. “If you’ll hold on to me for dear life,” says GOD, “I’ll get you out of any trouble. I’ll give you the best of care if you’ll only get to know and trust me. Call me and I’ll answer, be at your side in bad times; I’ll rescue you, then throw you a party. I’ll give you a long life, give you a long drink of salvation!”  (Psa 91:4-16 MSG)

If you believe God, and accept him, and his word then live like it!  Ask God to deliver you from the drama in your life.  Speak into the issues in your life, in Jesus’ name, and say, “Peace be still.”  We have the same authority Jesus was given by his heavenly father, God.  Declare, Psalms 91 over your life.  You will be amazed, what the positive words out of your mouth will produce.  Believe it, and live it.

Copyright © 2018 Mark Brady, All rights reserved