Saturday

Wonder Why A Closed Door?

Trust in the Lord with all your Heart...

We need to learn to praise the Lord as much for a closed door as we do an open door. The reason God closes doors is because He has not prepared anything over there for us. If he didn't close the wrong door, we would never find the right door.God directs our path through the closing and opening of doors. Once a door closes, it forces you to change your course. Another door closes, it forces you to change your course again. Then, finally, you find the open door and you walk right into your blessing.The Lord directs our paths through the opening and closing of doors, but instead of praising him for the closed door (which keeps us out of trouble); we get upset because we "judge by the appearances. "You have an ever-present help in the time of trouble that is always standing guard. Because He walks ahead of you, He can spot trouble down the road and set up a roadblock or detour accordingly. But through our lack of wisdom, we try to tear down the roadblocks or push aside the detour sign. Then the minute we get into trouble, we start crying, "Lord, how could You have done this to me?"We have got to realize that the closed door can be a blessing. Didn't He say that no good thing would He withhold from them that love Him?If you get terminated from your job, praise God for the new opportunities that will manifest themselves: it might be another job, it might be school.If that man or woman won't return your call, it might not be them, it might be the Lord setting up a roadblock (just let it go).One time, a person had a bank they had been in business with for many years tell them "No!" to a $10,000 loan. The Lord put in their spirit to call another bank. That bank gave them $40,000 at a lower interest rate than the first bank was offering.We can sometimes trap ourselves in doubt and discouragement through judging by appearances. Be grateful for the many times our Father has closed doors to us just to open them in the most unexpected places.The Lord won't always say in spoken words: "Go to the left, now to the right" ...sometimes He will just close the doors that are wrong for you.God Bless You Always!Author Unknown

...and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Proverbs 3: 5,6

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Tuesday

God Gave Us Guardian Angels...


Guardian Angels: Seek Them In Times Of Stress And Danger
By Michael H. Brown

Today (October 2) we celebrate the feast of the guardian angels and in times such as this it's important to know that they're there, they are all around, they wait for us to call on them. When it's the will of God, when it's done in the right way -- with enough prayer -- we can even ask them to do our bidding, to go on missions. Angels guard us. They can be sent to guard members of our families. They give us information. Many good thoughts originate from them, as do many of our uncanny intuitions. When something suddenly "comes" to us, when we just "know" something that turns out to be true, it's often their subtle whispering.

They inform us and guide us as they informed Saint Joseph and the Virgin Mary. And they minister. When you're down or ill, when you really need something, when you're trying to discern, ask for their intercession. As we know, they even ministered to Jesus. They wait for our requests, and they're only too glad to help. Surround yourselves with them. Ask them to go before you and prepare the way. Ask their intercession in difficult circumstances. Ask them to speak to the angels guarding people you may be having problems with. If you have sorrow ask them to remove the sorrow and if you have fear ask them to remove the fear. They protect, and they radiate. I believe that when we see a "glow" around someone, it's often because they have been enveloped by an angel. It's angels who orchestrate many supernatural gifts and when we're under attack our angels can chase off dark spirits.

Call on them. Pray for them to come. Ask their intercession! Last week we repeated an account of a series of dreams in which an angel who called himself Michael and two others seemed to be ministering to me. It was in a dream, which is how they often communicate. I believe there have been other times they have dramatically intervened, as they intervene in all our lives, often without our realizing it. At times the intercession is dramatic. On September 19, 1988, I was working upstairs in my parents' home when I felt an unusual prompting to go downstairs. I always took a noon nap upstairs but I kept getting this prompting (take your nap downstairs!) . I finally did, and good thing: a fire erupted upstairs that would have probably suffocated me if I had been sleeping up there.

The more we call on angels, the more they're there. The more we pray the more we empower them. Of course, we do this all in the Name of Christ, and with the help of Our Blessed Mother -- who is Queen of Angels! They even help in what seem like "little" things. In 1994 we moved to a new house and I had to do something I had never done: plant a lawn. I didn't even know how to run a lawn mower. But with the help of my father-in-law, I went about this daunting task and at one point, when I absentmindedly left the sprinkler on so long it should have washed everything away, "someone" shut off the hose even though I was the only one home.

At the time, I was writing a book about angels!

And when the grass came up, I was astonished by how lush it was. I couldn't believe the reaction to it. It had come up perfectly, and at one point a stranger passed on the street, stopped, and smiled a smile I can still see.

Scanning the lawn, he said, "This must be because you're a Catholic author."

We had just moved into the neighborhood. I don't think I had even told the neighbors yet what I did for a living. But somehow this man knew. I never got his name. He just stopped and pointedly admired the lawn and one of us joked that I had used "Miracle-Gro. "

Actually I think it was "angel-gro." The man left for the other end of the subdivision, but in the years that followed I never saw him again...

Let us never forget to call upon our Guardian Angel...
In the morning before I start my day, I ask my angel to go before me and prepare the day and to be with my children.


Psalm 103:20
Praise the LORD, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word.



Friday

One Man's Action To Bring Healing To A Wounded World

This was sent to me today and as I viewed the video I laughed and cried at these “Free Hugs’. Ah...the joy of a hug! I thought of the Lord of the Wind and the Waves; Mark 5: 35-41. Jesus, this Savior of ours, who can do all things...he could still the mighty wave... by sending this simple hug on a ripple through out a wounded world. It could bring peace to someone, healing to another...this simple act of Love.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4&mode=related&search

You are LORD God All-Powerful! No one is as loving and faithful as you are. You rule the roaring sea and calm its waves. Psalms 89:8-9

"Let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love. " Mother Teresa

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Change The World One Thought At A Time

Peace begins with a smile. Mother Teresa

What would happen if one and all thought the word "PEACE"? Just woke up in the morning with this one thought on their mind; then image, visulize what it would be like to live in peace. Asking questions like... what would peace bring to the world; what would it be like? They could even draw pictures, seeing themselves, their friends, their loved ones living in "PEACE". Look at the wonderful colors you could put into your peaceful world, colors of laughter, health, happiness...freedom!

My thought; if I lived each day with the thought of peace... if I put that thought into action with everyone I encountered...with a kind word, a kind deed... What would happen?

Back in 1996, in the capitol city of our nation, Washington D.C. the crime rate was at an all time high; the highest in the United States. Something was tried; there was an invite to 1000 people from 100 countries in the world to come for a day of meditation and prayer, focusing thoughts to lower the crime rate by 25% in the nation’s capitol. The police chief made a statement on TV, which even in the best of days, Washington D.C.’s crime rate was never that low. Needless to say that when the day was over and they evaluated the rate for crime...it had dropped by 25%.

What would happen if WE LIVED PEACE one day at a time?

Isaiah 2: 4-5"...they beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not raise the sword against another, neither shall they learn war any more... let us walk in the Light of the Lord."

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Sunday

O' Lord...Help Me Find The Way

Come back O'Lord,

WHEN DID IT BECOME SO HOPELESS? Why is your hand not with me? I do not feel it, Come back. Please. Now come back to me. Lord God, you are my father; you are my friend. Be gentle with me, show me where I have walked away from the ideas you want me to live by; from what you want me to be.

"Because the needy and the poor groan... I will now arise." says the Lord; "I will place them in the safety for which they long." The promises of the Lord are promises that are pure... silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times. Psalm 12:5-6

Meditate...let the Psalms wash over you...become your words, your cry to our God. Pray and know he will answer... He will deliver you from the darkness of the night. Be ever watchful for the way ... you will know it in your soul. Give him praise and thanks ...

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other. Mother Teresa


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Friday

Remember... He Is Just A Breath Away

Breathe on me Breath of God...renew in me a clean spirit.

Listen to the still small voice of God, using the art of centered breathing and meditation... meditation interlaces thought, imagination, emotion and desire. By using our imagination we can create a picture of the scripture and deepen our prayers with the thoughts of the heart.

Of you my heart has said "Seek His Face!"
Psalm 27:7-9

St. Ignatius of Loyola shows us how fantasy will enhance our understanding and appreciation of Scripture. How when we see with the sight of the imagination, the villages, the synagogues and hilltops where Jesue spoke, taught and healed his people... come alive. Then using our thoughts, emotions and desires we can pray, we can talk to our Lord...and listen as He speaks his Word to us.

In the early hours of morn, God gave me a comforting message…John 20:21-22 (include 23)… Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, even so I send you.” And when he said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit…”

Breathe on me breath of God... draw me closer to you.

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Sunday

The Miracle of Loaves and Fishes

I am God Most High! The only sacrifice I want is for you to be thankful
and to keep your word. Pray to me in time of trouble. I will rescue you,
and you will honor me. Psalm 50:14-15

A Thanksgiving Prayer
Oh, God, when I have food, help me to remember the hungry;
When I have work, help me remember the jobless;
When I have a warm home help me remember the homeless;
When I'm without pain, help me to remember those who suffer;
And remembering, help me to destroy my complacency and bestir my compassion.
Make me concerned enough to help by word and deed, those who cry out for what we take for granted.

Hear my prayer O' Lord...

Samuel F. Pugh


"Jesus said to his disciples: "My heart is moved with compassion for the crowd...' He took seven loaves and a few small fish, blessed them and distributed them. About 4,000 people ate their full." Mark 8:2-9

Oh my Lord... you are calling and I offer my thanksgivings...

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Monday

On The Wings Of A Snow White Dove...

Abba, Father,
You have written to us a love letter, the main message, that You love us so much... that You died for us and that Your love is real and you sent us this pure sweet love on the wings of your Holy Spirit

Psalm 8

The power of God's name…Praise the author of creation...

Yahweh our Lord ~ how majestic is your name throughout the world! Whoever keeps singing of your majesty higher than the heavens... even through the mouths of children, or of babes in arms...you make him a fortress ~ firm against your foes to subdue the enemy and the rebel. I look up at your heavens, shaped by your fingers, at the moon and the stars you set firm ~ what are human beings that you spare a thought for them... or the child of Adam that you care for him? You made us a little lower than you yourself, and you have crowned us with glory and honor. You let us rule everything your hands have made. And you put all of it under our power~ the sheep and the cattle, and every wild animal, the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea... when he makes his way across the ocean. This you did for us!
Yahweh our Lord, your name is wonderful everywhere on earth!
Glory: Both now:Alleluia

I watched this wonderful video movie..."JOSHUA"... all about a stranger who came to a small town and brought healing.
The song...
"ON THE WINGS OF A SNOW WHITE DOVE.. HE SENDS HIS PURE SWEET LOVE
SIGNS FROM ABOVE… ON THE WINGS OF A DOVE…" words and music by Bob Fergeson
I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world. Mother Teresa

Thursday

Confident Hope in God Restores

As I look at the news...with headlines not very encourageing...strange weather across the earth, war between Lebanon and Israel and the latest warning about the dangers of what our doctors are perscribing. I hold onto hope that God is in control... That he gives us his angels to ministers to us.

PSALM 42:1-11
As a deer pants for flowing streams... so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night,while they say to me continually, "Where is your God?"
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.
My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you. Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me. By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. I say to God, my rock:
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

God's Peace and Healing Love be with us...

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Sunday

Here I am Lord...


...I hear you calling in the night

I awoke and it was about 3 A.M… Wide awake I laid in bed as thoughts of Israel filtered through my mind. I knew God was calling me to prayer; to pray for Peace and for Israel’s safety. I reached for my Bible…

Psalm 140:1-2 Deliver us, O' Lord, from evil men; preserve us from violent men who plan evil things in their heart and stir up wars continually.

Psalms141:1- 2
God, come close. Come quickly! Open your ears—it's my voice you're hearing! Treat my prayer as sweet incense rising; my raised hands are my evening prayers.

Psalm 85:9-10, 11-12, 13-14
I will hear what God proclaims; the LORD —for he proclaims peace. Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him, glory dwelling in our land.Kindness and truth shall meet; justice and peace shall kiss. Truth shall spring out of the earth, and justice shall look down from heaven.The LORD himself will give his benefits; our land shall yield its increase. Justice shall walk before him, and prepare the way of his steps.

Psalm 146: 1
Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!

Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation...

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