Jesus Is Seeking The Lost!

The Holy Spirit is so awesome! When the same thought is brought to my mind in several different ways over a period of days, I start to pay attention. God has been reminding me of how much He loves my family, whom I am praying for, and He desires to save them and give eternal life to them.

Perhaps you are like me, praying for 20+ years for your sons and daughters to give their lives to Jesus. There is no outward change that you can see. Do not be discouraged. The change will begin in their heart where the Holy Spirit is dealing with them.

Remember the parable that Jesus gave about the lost sheep?

“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?

“And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’

“I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.” Luke 15:4-7

“For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
Luke 19:10



I was delighted to find the blog, “My road, as I travel it” yesterday, and was blessed by the Nov. 18th post. This article is right in line with the message the Holy Spirit has been teaching me this week.

I want to share part of it with you, and encourage you to go to her site to read the entire article.

"The Atheist Theology Student Who Was Found by God"

John Powell a professor at Loyola University in Chicago writes about a student, in his Theology of Faith class, named Tommy.

Tommy turned out to be the "atheist in residence" in my Theology of Faith course. He constantly objected to, smirked at, or whined about the possibility of an unconditionally loving Father-God…

When he came up at the end of the course to turn in his final exam, he asked in a slightly cynical tone, "Do you think I’ll ever find God?"I decided instantly on a little shock therapy. "No!" I said very emphatically.

"Oh," he responded, "I thought that was the product you were pushing."

I let him get five steps from the classroom door and then called out, "Tommy! I don’t think you’ll ever find Him, but I am absolutely certain that He will find you!"

He shrugged a little and left my class and my life…Later I heard that Tommy had graduated and I was duly grateful…

Then a sad report, I heard that Tommy had terminal cancer. Before I could search him out, he came to see me…

“…What I really came to see you about," Tom said, “is something you said to me on the last day of class. I asked you if you thought I would ever find God and you said, ‘No!’ which surprised me. Then you said, ‘But He will find you.’

“I thought about that a lot, even though my search for God was hardly intense at that time. But when the doctors removed a lump from my groin and told me that it was malignant, then I got serious about locating God. And when the malignancy spread into my vital organs, I really began banging bloody fists against the bronze doors of heaven.

“But God did not come out. In fact, nothing happened. Did you ever try anything for a long time with great effort and with no success? You get psychologically glutted, fed up with trying. And then you quit.

“Well, one day I woke up, and instead of throwing a few more futile appeals over that high brick wall to a God who may be or may not be there, I just quit. I decided that I didn’t really care ... about God, about an afterlife, or anything like that.”…

(He goes on to tell the story of making reconciliation with his family and the joy it brought.)

“I was only sorry about one thing, that I had waited so long. Here I was just beginning to open up to all the people I had actually been close to.

"Then, one day I turned around and God was there. He didn’t come to me when I pleaded with Him. I guess I was like an animal trainer holding out a hoop,
‘C’mon, jump through. C’mon, I’ll give you three days, three weeks.’

“Apparently God does things in His own way and at His own hour. But the important thing is that He was there. He found me.

“You were right. He found me even after I stopped looking for Him."

Blessing to all of you and may you have
a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Carolyn

Be Still My Soul

Are you a mom who has cried night after night, maybe even year after year, for your unsaved child? You know that he will go to hell if he does not repent and accept Jesus as his Savior and it breaks your heart. Your cries are usually cries of desperation and fear, which leaves little room for faith.

Remember the story in Mark 4…the disciples were so frightened of the windstorm whipping their boat in the dark night that they forgot that Jesus was with them. When Jesus spoke to the wind saying, “Peace, be still!” the wind stopped and there was a great calm.

He then said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?”

Yes, there is a time and place for desperate prayer…when God places a heavy, heavy burden in your heart to pray. You know that you are in a spiritual battle and you must pray until you get relief and have peace in your heart.

But when the heavy burden leaves, we must not give up praying. Now is the time to worship God in praise. His presence is in the midst of our praise! He gives us complete peace in our situations when we acknowledge His faithfulness and truly believe that He is working all things together for our good.

I have a son who is suffering bad effects from a surgery that he had three weeks ago. In the natural it is a great concern and hard for me to watch his pain, but God has given me a beautiful peace about it.

I trust my Lord completely and believe that He is using this illness to get my son’s attention. Many, many prayers have been prayed for him to come back to Jesus.

I feel certain in my heart that victory is ahead for both healing and salvation!

Only the supernatural peace of God can give me this calm spirit!

By faith, I praise my Jesus for answering prayer!

Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27

Listen to this beautiful song, “Be Still My Soul” by Selah. First, mute 'My Playlist' at bottom of page. Enjoy and be blessed.



“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13

Love and Prayers,
Carolyn

"5 Keys To Reaching Your Family For Christ"

“Nothing is more painful to a child of God than knowing his or her unsaved relatives are facing the possibility of an eternity in hell, separated forever from the light, love and presence of our Creator. Seeing them saved should be a desire beating strong in the heart of any serious believer.”

These are the words of author Arni Jacobson in his new book,
“5 Keys To Reaching Your Family For Christ”.

I had the privilege of hearing Pastor Jocobson in our church several months ago, when he spoke on this subject, and talked with him briefly about our Moms’ prayer group. As most of you know, praying for our kids’ salvation is the passion of my heart.

I was thrilled when he sent me a copy of this new book last week. I found it to be simple and direct with a very timely message. It is an easy read and you will be blessed and encouraged when you read it.

You can order it online at his website www.arnijacobson.com or www.amazon.com
It will be in the stores in January.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Love and Prayers,
Carolyn

Distractions

Do you ever become distracted? Or are you able to always stay focused?

I believe that most of us today have schedules that are too full, causing us anxiety and a lack of focus. I am retired, and I still have too many things to do!

Do you know that the devil delights in keeping us busy and getting us off tract?

Even if everything you do is good, it can still be wrong for you if you are distracted from the things that God wants you to do. You can be so busy, even with church activities, that you have no time to pray or sing praises to God.

Satan will do anything he can to keep us from being obedient to the Holy Spirit. It doesn’t have to be a sin, just something to keep our minds occupied and busy.

Recently I realized that I was not praying with the same intensity or as often as I had been, and I was not posting on this blog as often as I had before. I felt like the Lord was telling me to give up one of my church activities and to use that time to pray more.

I did...but then I became distracted! I have been in the middle of a spiritual battle, but not fully aware of what was happening. When I opened up more time for prayer, the devil immediately filled it with something else. My activities have been good and important, but they were not what God had told me to do.

The meaning of “distract” per Webster’s is:
“To divert attention from; to draw towards different objects”.
A friend describes distraction like this: to lose traction, or to get off track, losing your direction and moving aimlessly.

Remember the story of Martha and Mary?

“As Jesus and His disciples were on their way, He came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to Him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what He said.

But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to Him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Luke 10:38-42

Let us be like Mary, who sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to Him. Our focus should be, building our relationship with Jesus by entering into His presence with worship and prayer. When we are in His presence, we can ask anything in His name, believing, and He will do it for us.

We must have that close relationship with Jesus to learn how to intercede for our family’s salvation. Don’t let Satan win by keeping you distracted!

You will be blessed as you watch this video and join Selah as they sing, “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus”.

(Need to first scroll to bottom of page to mute the music on My Playlist.)



Blessings, Carolyn