Keep The Faith

Not every prayer spoken aloud is a prayer God honors. Scripture teaches that the heart, motives, and posture behind our prayers matter deeply. This reflection explores what the Bible says about the kinds of prayers God receives—and the kinds He does not. Prayers God Does Not Honor 1. Prayers from a proud or self-exalting heart Luke 18:11–14 — The Pharisee prayed publicly with pride, yet Jesus said his prayer was not accepted. Only the humble man was heard. 2. Prayers asking God to bless sin, violence, or injustice Isaiah 1:15 — “When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes… your hands are full of blood.” God does not bless what contradicts His righteousness. 3. Prayers with selfish or fleshly motives James 4:3 — “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” Motives matter. 4. Prayers from a heart refusing obedience Proverbs 28:9 — “If anyone turns a deaf ear to my instruction, eve...

Sometimes the Lord places a picture in our hearts long before we understand it. Over time, those images grow clearer, inviting us to reflect, to listen, and to choose the path that leads toward Him. What follows is a meditation I wrote years ago—now gently polished, but still carrying the same conviction the Spirit stirred in me then. I have had two pictures of our future in my mind for some time now, and those pictures are becoming clearer to me. Two separate paths will lead us to two separate results. One path will lead to destruction, and the other will lead to peace and serenity. I believe God is giving us—both collectively and individually—the decision of choosing which path we will take. The Bible talks about a new heaven and a new earth. I see that this could happen in two different ways. If all of humanity chose to receive the Living Water and become One with God in Christ Jesus, then Satan would be defeated. He would have no more control or influenc...

😕😲😧 It is hard to put into words my feelings and thoughts right now; about the future of America and the world. I did not vote for Trump. I do not hate him but I don't know that I could say that I love him either. I will definitely pray for him, for me, and for our nation.  That word,"hate", I have heard it so many times lately. I have heard it come from the mouths of Christians. The very word Christian means you believe in Christ Jesus and profess His teachings which is love not hate; love God, love neighbor, and even love our enemy (I would like to tell you, hopefully in the next post, about a book I last read which tells how enemies during WWII became friends through the gospel of Christ). I had a feeling that Trump would be nominated as our next president. I even made a comment on Facebook to a friend a while back that I thought that he probably would be elected. But, when all was done and he was elected, I was stunned, shocked. How did this happen? I do bel...

The Spirit as Living Water There are times when the Spirit gives us a picture that helps everything else come into focus. Recently, the image that keeps returning to me is water — not still or stagnant, but living, moving, flowing. That sense led me back into Scripture, searching for how God reveals Himself through this image and what it means for how we walk with Him. I’ve been trying to picture the Holy Spirit in a way that feels real and grounded — something I can hold in my mind when I pray, when I read, when I walk through my day. The image that keeps coming back to me is living water — flowing, cleansing, refreshing, restoring. So I went searching through Scripture to see how often the Spirit is connected to water, and what that might mean for how we walk with God. Broken Cisterns and the Fountain of Living Water Jeremiah 2:13 struck me immediately: “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out c...

Demons, also called evil or unclean spirits do exist. They can occupy and take control of us humans if we don't have Jesus and the Living Water (Holy Spirit) in us. When Jesus was here on earth, He cast out evil spirits many times. There is a test to see if someone has an evil spirit within them. They can not say out loud these three words, "Jesus is Lord" . I want to pray right now. If anyone who is reading this right now tries to say these words and can not, I pray in the name of Jesus that the evil spirit or spirits will be cast out and that it will be made very clear that the only way to keep these spirits from returning is by letting Jesus come in and to ask for the Living Water (the Holy Spirit, our Helper). To the bond-servants of the Lord, this is our battle. The more humans who receive Christ and the Holy Spirit, the less places these evil spirits have a home to occupy. I don't know what happens to these spirits if there is no longer any of us humans l...

The Fire That Heals When truth reaches the heart, God brings healing — not condemnation. We all see the faults in others. We all hold onto things we should release. And we all fall short of the commandments God has given us. None of us are innocent in these things — not me, not you, not anyone. But there is a path back to peace, and it begins with seeing the truth about our own hearts. When the truth finally reaches us, we feel shame — not because God shames us, but because we suddenly see what our sin has cost. This is what Scripture means by “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” It is not God tormenting us; it is the heart breaking under the weight of truth. Shame is simply the pain of realizing the separation we created, the peace we broke, and the love we resisted. And even then, God’s desire is not to leave us in that pain. Revelation says the leaves of the Tree of Life are for the healing of the nations. God reveals truth so He can heal us, not destroy us. Jesus didn’...

Sometimes the only way to understand God’s plan is to look at creation itself — the water, the fire, the body, the Spirit — and notice how everything He made points back to Him. These are some of the pieces of light I’ve been seeing. Exposing Some Light I’ve been doing a lot of research lately — online and through other sources — trying to understand what we now know about ourselves and creation, and whether these discoveries help us understand Scripture more clearly. For me, it feels like pieces of God’s plan are starting to fit together. I believe God intends to save all His creation, including humanity. If God has the power to create everything, He certainly has the power to restore or destroy it. But I believe His plan is restoration. I want to touch on a few basics to shed some light on these “puzzle pieces.” The Human Beginning A baby begins when the father’s sperm joins with the mother’s egg. Each contributes 50% of the DNA — the full blueprint for the child. DN...

Genesis 8:21 New International Version (NIV) 21 The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart : “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.” Deuteronomy 4:29 New American Standard Bible (NASB) 29 But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul. Deuteronomy 4:39 New American Standard Bible (NASB) 39 Know therefore today, and take it to your heart , that the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other. Deuteronomy 6:5 New American Standard Bible (NASB) 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These scriptures are just a tiny fraction of Bible references to the heart, its condition, and importance. I used to think that this u...