Most people assume that when someone becomes a Christian that their lives will be a glorious paradise afterwards.
That it will be as if Christ had come and whisked them off to Heaven and they will henceforth have no more troubles in this life.
But my walk with the Lord has been just the opposite.
And from my study of scripture, the Gospel teaches that Christians should expect suffering as a normal part of their journey with Christ.
One is either called to suffer or to serve those who are suffering.
There are no two ways about it.
Jesus said, “And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it.” Matthew 10:38-39 KJV
All God’s children are equal and the Lord has no favorites.
Jesus said, “““…You are all equal as brothers and sisters…Whoever serves you like a servant is the greatest among you. People who think they are better than others will be made humble. But people who humble themselves will be made great.” Matthew 23:8-12 ERV
I live with an autoimmune illness that causes me to suffer from chronic daily migraines. These have been all but unbearable in the past few months. But for the grace of my precious Savior, I could not survive them.
When Christ saves a soul, it is not to take us out of this world, but to help us overcome it through His power, strength and grace.
Only Christ’s presence within me enables me to survive through the darkness of this illness.
Any artist or photographer who works primarily with graphics or photography software will be familiar with a function known as the invert tool that reverses an image from light to dark.
During severe migraines all of the light goes out of my heart and it’s as if I have been transposed into a shadowland of darkness.
I cry out to Christ to reverse me back into His world of light and love where there is peace, hope, and joy.
For in the inverted world of darkness there is no joy, hope, or peace, only intense suffering and pain.
Oh Jesus, I pray! Guard my heart from the world of darkness in this place of trouble and fear and pain.
And Jesus comes and holds my hand. He is with me in the storm and guides me safely through.
For His Word promises, “…Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” Psalm 23:3-4 KJV
And He keeps every promise forever. Psalm 146:6
He promises “… I will never leave you; I will never run away from you.” Hebrews 13:5 ERV
“Be strong and be brave. Don’t be afraid of those people because the Lord your God is with you. He will not fail you or leave you.””
Deuteronomy 31:6 ERV
God brings the soul who trusts in Him through their trials.
He has proved Himself faithful time and again as my saving strength.
No amount of prosperity, fame, money or anything material will purchase peace, joy, or health.
If one comes to Christ seeking Him for material blessings they will be sadly disappointed. For He is not found in secular things that can be lost in the blink of an eye. I lost my health in an instant and my world was upended in the prime of my life. Never would I have suspected that I would lose something I had taken so much for granted.
Christ is a spiritual God who will be there for the soul even when they have lost everything else in this world.
For the world and everything we see around us is passing away, and when it is gone, God will be there waiting for every child who believed, hoped, and trusted in Him all along.
Jesus said, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 KJV
In Jesus’ name, amen.
This is a prayer poem that I made this morning in my journal after suffering from a horrible migraine. Once the Lord got me through the storm He helped me make this graphic so I could share this prayer. I pray He will use it to bless others who suffer through the shadow valleys as I do, in Jesus’ name, amen.
All glory be to our wonderful Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for this latest instrumental album Redeemed for Resurrection in Christ ~Original Keyboard Instrumental Prayers! The newest release is the natural follow up to the instrumental album “Behold The Lambreleased in February 2023.
While “Behold The Lamb” is a musical meditation on Christ, the Lamb of God who sacrificed His life by dying on the cross for the sins of humanity, the theme of Redeemed For Resurrection asks listeners to reflect on what redemption in Christ actually means for the soul who receives Jesus as their Savior.
The Lord has always given me the titles for each song to use for His albums.
The titles are often inspired by a scripture.
The Lord revealed to me several years ago that His instrumentals were musical conversations intended to ignite intimate conversations~ prayer ~between Himself and the precious souls who take them into their prayer closets. (*see Matthew 6:6)
“But when you pray, you should go into your room and close the door. Then pray to your Father. He is there in that private place. He can see what is done in private, and he will reward you.” Matthew 6:6 ERV
The verse~ the song, was as a flame, a light to stimulate His children to go to their bibles, to seek His face, and believe by faith that Christ will teach them through His Word, by His Holy Spirit. For “…faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.”Romans 10:17
The Lord has promised in His Word to reveal Himself to His children who believe in Him and keep His commandments.
Jesus said, “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.”
Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.” John 14:21, 23 NASB1995
And He promised “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.” John 10:27-28 NASB1995
One caveat if we are of a worldly mindset, ( here is the dictionary definition of worldly: *of or concerned with material values or ordinary life rather than a spiritual existence: ie~ “…his ambitions for worldly success”)
~ then the Lord stressed that worldliness would be that one factor that would bar the Holy Spirit from entering the door of their heart.
Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments, and I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him…” John 14:15-17 NASB
A worldly heart, Jesus told His followers, cannot see the Holy Spirit or ever know Him. It could not ever know or walk with God.
I pray always that the Lord Jesus will speak to many through the things He shares through me to those who find them scattered throughout the earth.
Those gifts are always meant to help His children seek His face through His Word and pray directly to Him.
I believe the Lord desires to have an intimate relationship with His children even as Enoch walked in such a way with God.
The scriptures say “And Enoch walked with God and he was not, for God took him…” Genesis 5:24
Enoch also believed God. Because of Enoch’s faith, God took him away to heaven. He did not die like other people. As a result, nobody could ever find him, because God had taken him away. Before God took him away, it was clear that Enoch had made God happy.” Hebrews 11:5 EASY
Jesus said, ‘“This is eternal life that they might know God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.” John 17:3
How can we know God if we don’t spend time with Him and read His Word?
The Lord had specifically said, “Do not self promote…”
All of the business models were in opposition to this plan. The Lord’s guidance did not make sense. “I don’t see how this will ever help Thy songs to reach Thy children,” I prayed. Of course He meant don’t self promote in the way the world does. Which seemed to be all the time. I was to share only as the Lord led me to share. He told me that when I published something to share His seeds and then whenever He asked me after that, but not until He said to.
But the Lord was always opposed to the never ending streams of commercial business advice and strategies for success that were ever being hurled at me.
SoI just kept on doing what the Holy Spirit led me to do, ever relying on God’s Word, trusting that He who loved me would never fail me.
“But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.” John 16:13 NASB1995
As far as the songs were concerned, I named them what the Holy Spirit led me to name them. For it was all His music.
The Lord said not to worry about trying to gain favor with the culture. I was to only care about God’s favor. All I had to do was to honor and obey Him.
The Lord impressed on my heart that what mattered to worldly vanity would never matter in the Lord’s Kingdom.
Each saint is the Lord’s temple in which Christ resides when they invite Jesus into their heart. (*see 1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19)
“For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” 1 Corinthians 6:20 KJV
Conforming to the world He stressed had no place in Christ’s kingdom and can never serve Christ’s purposes. By conforming to the world He meant doing things that in a way that was not according to His will. He wanted me to abide in Him in prayer, to listen to His voice, and to trust Him by faith that He would lead me by His Holy Spirit down the right path. That He would not fail me. That He is real and not an imaginary Creator.
The Lord stressed that if I would trust Him, and do everything He asked that He would demonstrate His faithfulness to His Word. And so thirty six albums later He has not failed me and done everything exactly the way He has promised.
Jesus said, And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.” John 12:32 KJV
He told me His reality could only be manifested as I removed my focus from this world and off myself by gazing upwards in sincere worship, living for my Savior who had given Himself without reservations to redeem our souls so that we might serve Him in the resurrection of the new lives He had purchased for us through His death on the cross.
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” John 14:26 NASB1995
Christ would teach His children these truths through His eternal Word as they sought Him with a pure heart.
God is love.
He has no favorites. He loves each of His children as if they were the only child He had to love. He longs for each of us to come to know Him and spend time with Himeach day.
Jesus promised to reveal Himself to those who would believe.
Whoever loves God is known by God- 1 Corinthians 8:3
Preview all of the music from Redeemed For Resurrection Original Keyboard Instrumental Prayers on my Peaceful Prayersongs Music Website at the following Web Address: https://peacefulprayersongs.com/home
The vertical lines in the first frames suggest an oncoming tornado. Those lines normally would never have appeared and didn’t until the final edits.
When I saw them I was astonished. The Lord said not to remove them. He absolutely is the true Artist of not only all my drawings, but of each of our lives.
What often appear to be mistakes, disappointments, rebukes, shameful failures are things our Creator is engineering in our lives that from His perspective He is working out into something that will become a great Masterpiece. Which His Word declares that each of His children are in Ephesians 2:10. ♥️
“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”
Ephesians 2:10
May the Lord use this video to encourage you today, in Jesus’ name, amen.
It was 5 weeks ago today that I fell and broke my left humerus.
I didn’t think I could survive this affliction the pain was so excruciating and it left me quitedebilitated.
But here it is five weeks later and the Lord has helped me persevere despite what I was dead certain I could not live through. He is showing me yet again that He will never fail me in the trials He takes me through. He in His limitless love, mercy, and faithfulness has provided everything I’ve needed and so much support and prayer from so many wonderful people.
Through every trial He takes me, though it’s never pleasant, I’m always reminded He is always with me and He never fails. If He hasn’t failed me thus far, then I don’t have to walk in fear and doubt that next time a crisis occurs, He might slip up.
But as the following scripture passage from the Book of Hebrews relates, that is just what happened long ago to God’s special people whom He rescued from Egypt.
“God’s Holy Spirit says this:
‘You must listen when you hear God speak today.
Do not refuse to obey Him.
Do not be like God’s people many years ago.
When they travelled in the wilderness, they turned against Me.
They wanted to see if I would punish them.
For 40 years your ancestors saw the great things that I did.But still they did not obey Me.
That is why I became angry with them. I said, “They always want to do what is wrong. They refuse to understand My message.”
Because of that, I promised to punish them.Because I was angry with them, I said, “They will never arrive in My special place of rest.” ’
So be careful, my Christian friends. Do not refuse to trust God.That would be a very bad thing to do.
Do not turn away from the God who lives for ever.
Instead, help each other to be strong every day.
Today, you can still hear God’s message.
While that is still true, do not refuse to obey God.
Do not think that sin will not hurt you. That is a lie.
We must continue to trust Christ very well, as we did when we first believed in Him.
We must continue to trust Him until the end of our lives.
Then we will share in everything that is His. We have seen what the Bible says:
‘You must listen when you hear God speak today. Do not refuse to obey Him.
Hebrews 3:7-14 EASY
FEAR AND DOUBT
The Hebrew children saw God’s mighty works, His miracles, for forty years as they traversed the desert wilderness.
God often tested their faith, but instead of trusting Him building on the experience of how He’d brought them through the previous times, they repeatedly fussed, doubted, and complained against God and grew not in their faith.
They seemed never to cross that bridge of fear and worry to advance with God toward the Promised Land.
This gives us a sobering message and warning.
For all God’s children will be tested in our faith according to His Word. However the Lord asks that we trust Him.
How often The Lord in His mercy has spoken to my heart in the midst of countless afflictions, “These troubles are not going to kill you. However, fear, stress, doubt, and depression ~ now these are the dark things that can kill you. But trust, hope and faith will conquer those things and you have to choose to walk with Me by faith.”
“Many adversities come to the one who is righteous,but the Lord delivers him from them all.”
Psalms 34:19 HCSB
“He protects all his bones; not one of them is broken.”
Psalms 34:20 HCSB
I asked the Lord, why He didn’t keep His scripture promise to protect my bones.
The Holy Spirit reminded me that first of all Psalm 34:20 is a prophecy referring to the Lord Jesus Christ specifically, but in a metaphorical sense the Lord will keep all the bones of His children from breaking always.
What are bones? They are the foundation of our body. And God in this verse is promising to hold together my very foundation no matter what adversity I might have to face from any trial He puts me through. Jesus Christ God’s Son, holds all things together, even the very foundation of my being.
“Christ is before all things, and by Him all things hold together.”
Colossians 1:17 HCSB
No matter if everything seems like it is going to fall apart, Christ is still here, ever present, holding all things together. His word promises “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of His nature, sustaining all things by His powerful word…” Hebrews 1:3 HCSB
Peter wrote:
“You are being protected by God’s powerthrough faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. You rejoice in this, though now for a short time you have had to struggle in various trials so that the genuineness of your faith —more valuable than gold, which perishes though refined by fire —may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
1 Peter 1:5-7 HCSB
Whatever challenge we may find ourselves in right now, it is a good idea to look back over the trials we have faced in the past and write down how God has brought us through those hard times.
Rehearse how faithful the Lord has been to you and give Him thanks. This practice will strengthen your faith.
I know He has never failed our family or anyone I can think of who has trusted in Him. So many people I know have amazing stories to tell of His awesome faithfulness.
We might be tempted to think that if the Hebrew children had taken the time to review God’s amazing miracles with each trial they faced during their forty year sojourn, perhaps faith would have overcome doubt and fear.
However, no one can judge them. For it must have been very hard for those people. Whenever I put myself in their shoes I shudder and thank our merciful God for sending His Son Jesus Christ to be the propitiation for our sins, He is our Mercy Seat.
Personally I know from some of the testings the Lord has put me through that I am certainly no better than His precious Hebrew children were. And I am so grateful for His mercy and grace expressed in the sacrifice of His Son. For we turn the chapter and the writer of Hebrews offers us hope:
“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens —Jesus the Son of God —let us hold fast to the confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tested in every way as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the proper time.”
Hebrews 4:14-16 HCSB
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for sending Your only Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins that we may be forgiven and made Yours forever. Help us to review the ways in which You have come through for us in the past and trust that You will never fail us no matter what is going on now to challenge our faith. Thank You, Lord, we love You, In Jesus holy name, amen.
Peaceangel Song 
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