Podcasts about heaven you

March 16, 2025Preparation for WorshipTime for GatheringOpening Hymn “King of Kings”In the darkness we were waiting without hope without light'Til from Heaven You came running there was mercy in Your eyesTo fulfill the law and prophets to a virgin came the wordFrom a throne of endless glory to a cradle in the dirtChorusPraise the Father praise the Son praise the Spirit three in oneGod of glory Majesty praise forever to the King of KingsTo reveal the kingdom coming and to reconcile the lostTo redeem the whole creation You did not despise the crossFor even in your suffering You saw to the other sideKnowing this was our salvation Jesus for our sake you died (Chorus)And the morning that You rose all of Heaven held its breath'Til that stone was moved for good for the Lamb had conquered deathAnd the dead rose from their tombs and the angels stood in aweFor the souls of all who'd come to the Father are restoredAnd the church of Christ was born then the Spirit lit the flameNow this gospel truth of old shall not kneel shall not faintBy His blood and in His name in His freedom I am freeFor the love of Jesus Christ Who has resurrected me (Chorus)Praise forever to the King of KingsPrayer of PraiseSong of WorshipPrayers of the Church and the Lord's PrayerOffering and DoxologyScripture Lesson Jeremiah 29 & Daniel 6Sermon Dr. HoornbeekClosing Hymn “Great is Thy Faithfulness”Great is Thy faithfulness O God my FatherThere is no shadow of turning with TheeThou changest not Thy compassions they fail notAs Thou hast been Thou forever wilt beChorusGreat is Thy faithfulness great is Thy faithfulnessMorning by morning new mercies I seeAll I have needed Thy hand hath providedGreat is Thy faithfulness Lord unto meSummer and winter and springtime and harvestSun moon and stars in their courses aboveJoin with all nature in manifold witnessTo Thy great faithfulness mercy and love (Chorus)Pardon for sin and a peace that endurethThine own dear presence to cheer and to guideStrength for today and bright hope for tomorrowBlessings all mine with ten thousand beside (Chorus)BenedictionFellowship• NEW MEMBER ORIENTATION: Next Sunday after service in the Sunshine Room• Sunday Morning Study: Experiencing God | 9 AM in the Sunshine Room• Sunday Prayer | 9:30 AM in the Sunshine Room• Tuesday Bible Study with Emil & Anneke| Everyone 12 PM, Ladies 6PM in the Sunshine Room and via Zoom• Wednesday Issues Hour | 11 AM in the Sunshine Room and via Zoom• F3 Ladies Luncheon: Tuesday, March 18th | 12 PM at Fish. Individual checks, please sign up.• Solidarity with Israel Rally: Thursday, March 20th | 3:30 PM at the corner of Airport-Pulling Rd N & Pine Ridge Rd• F3 Book Club: Friday, March 21st | 10 AM at 7515 Pelican Bay Blvd. The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins.• Funeral Service for Ed Wilcox: Saturday, March 22nd | 11 AM here at the church.• Free Men's Steak Cookout: Thursday, March 27th | 4:30 PM at Falconer's home. Please sign up.• Girls Night Out Dinner: Thursday, March 27th | 5:30 PM at Bellini. Please sign up, individual checks.• Justin's Place Graduation: Thursday, March 27th | 6 PM at Covenant Church of Naples.• Member Spotlight: Sunday, March 30th | Join us after service as we learn more about Ray & Fran King.• Thank you to Joel & Juliann Thomason for providing the cookies today.• The chancel flowers were given by Virginia Puroll in memory of her husband Ed.

Passage: 2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 13 Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, ‘What is his name?' what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.'” (Exodus 3:2-4, 13-14 ESV) Song: Great Things by Jonas Myrin and Phil Wickham, sung by CAIN Lyrics: Come let us worship our King Come let us bow at His feet He has done great things See what our Savior has done See how His love overcomes He has done great things He has done great things O Hero of Heaven You conquered the grave You free every captive and break every chain O God You have done great things We dance in Your freedom awake and alive O Jesus our Savior Your name lifted high O God You have done great things You've been faithful through every storm You'll be faithful forevermore You have done great things And I know You will do it again For Your promise is yes and amen You will do great things God You do great things Hallelujah God above it all Hallelujah God unshakable Hallelujah You have done great things You've done great things You have done great things O God You do great things Prayer: Great protector of Abraham's descendants, you are blessed forever. Starting from the truth which our forefather knew when he changed his way, you guided him by a vision, and you taught him about this world. What you taught him went before his faith, his faith grew from what you taught him, and the covenant grew out of his faith. For you said: “I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted” (Genesis 13:16 NIV). You gave him Isaac, and you were called his God, saying, “I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham” (Genesis 26:3). When our father Jacob was sent into Mesopotamia, you said to him, “I am going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers. I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you” (Genesis 48:4). And so you spoke also to Moses, your faithful and holy servant, at the vision of the bush, when you said, “I AM WHO I AM. This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation” (Exodus 3:14–15). Great protector of Abraham's descendants, you are blessed forever, amen. —Apostolic Constitutions

You have been created for a reason - to advertise the purposes of Heaven - You're only as effective as your surrender. #EquippingForLife #TeachingTacticalTools #HePickedYou #ThePowerofBeingChosen #YourFutureIsBright EquippingForLife.netword

February 16, 2024 Today's Reading: Daily Lectionary: Job 12:1-6, 12-25; John 5:30-47For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. John 5:36In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Jesus gives us so much in those few words: “the works that the Father has given me.”What does it mean to be Son of the Father? For Jesus, it means to receive all things by way of gift. Jesus, as God the Son, has all power. Is anything outside His grasp? Yet, Jesus considers nothing according to how He can grasp it (see Philippians 2:6-7). Rather, Jesus receives all things as a gift. Before He ascends to Heaven, He tells His eleven Apostles (Judas has not yet been replaced), “all authority in Heaven and on Earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28). The word of Gospel Jesus speaks, this, too, is given Him by his Father (John 17:8). What does it mean for Jesus to be Son of the Father? It means that from His Father He receives all things not by way of power and grasping, but by way of gift.  You are a child of the Father—a son or daughter. After all, Jesus gives you to pray, “Our Father, who art in Heaven …”You belong to Jesus because you have been given to Him by His Father (see John 17:6). In this way, everything Jesus did to redeem you, to purchase you with His own blood and atone for your sin, to gather you into His Church—He has done it all because it was given Him to do by His Father.So now, you are a child of the Father. Everything comes to you by way of gift. Our temptation is to think that things come to us by way of our work, by power, by what we can grasp. This is, indeed, the way of the world, which is under the Law. So in our world, if you don't work, you don't eat. If you don't study, you don't pass. If you don't take the bull by the horns, you come up empty-handed. That is the way of the Law, and it remains thus in our world until our Lord comes again.But in our life before the Father, our life of faith, it is all a gift. The Father gives His words to Jesus, Jesus receives the gift. Then Jesus speaks His words to us, and by those words, He makes us children of the Father. You belong to the Father.  In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.Father in Heaven, let your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Your will is that your Son's word go forth to all sinners. Let me daily hear your Son's word, and let me rejoice in speaking His word Jesus to comfort my fellow Christians and, where you give me opportunity, to bear witness to my neighbor. In Jesus' Name, Amen. -Pastor Warren Graff is retired from Grace Lutheran Church, Albuquerque.Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, Ky.The Lutheran Reader's Bible helps you develop a habit of devotion and Bible reading so you can slowly but intentionally understand and grow in God's Word. Through introductions to the sixty-six books of the Bible, guided reading plans, and more, this Bible builds your confidence to study Scripture on your own.

Passage: For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him. (1 Peter 3:18-22 ESV) Song: King of Kings (https://open.spotify.com/track/5E2v6b4Mo4jxuPrcK4YEIF?si=1f03b16baac44851) by Brooke Ligertwood, Jason Ingram, and Scott Ligertwood Lyrics: In the darkness we were waiting Without hope without light Till from Heaven You came running There was mercy in Your eyes To fulfil the law and prophets To a virgin came the Word From a throne of endless glory To a cradle in the dirt Praise the Father Praise the Son Praise the Spirit three in one God of Glory Majesty Praise forever to the King of kings To reveal the kingdom coming And to reconcile the lost To redeem the whole creation You did not despise the cross For even in Your suffering You saw to the other side Knowing this was our salvation Jesus for our sake You died And the morning that You rose All of heaven held its breath Till that stone was moved for good For the Lamb had conquered death And the dead rose from their tombs And the angels stood in awe For the souls of all who'd come To the Father are restored And the Church of Christ was born Then the Spirit lit the flame Now this Gospel truth of old Shall not kneel shall not faint By His blood and in His Name In His freedom I am free For the love of Jesus Christ Who has resurrected me Prayer: This is another day, O Lord. I know not what it will bring forth, but make me ready, Lord, for whatever it may be. If I am to stand up, help me to stand bravely. If I am to sit still, help me to sit quietly. If I am to lie low, help me to do it patiently. And if I am to do nothing, let me do it gallantly. Make these words more than words, and give me the Spirit of Jesus. Amen.

Devotional Prayer by Be Inspired by His Word © Good Morning Song by Chandler Moore In the darkness we were waiting Without hope without light 'Til from Heaven You came running There was mercy in Your eyes To fulfill the law and prophets To a virgin came the word From a throne of endless glory To a cradle in the dirt Praise the Father praise the Son Praise the Spirit Three in One God of glory Majesty Praise forever To the King of Kings To reveal the kingdom coming And to reconcile the lost To redeem the whole creation You did not despise the cross For even in Your suffering You saw to the other side Knowing this was our salvation Jesus for our sake You died And there was a woman who for eighteen years had had an illness caused by a spirit (demon). She was bent double, and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are released from your illness.” Then He laid His hands on her; and immediately she stood erect again and she began glorifying and praising God. Luke 13:11‭-‬13 AMP Prayer King of glory I worship honour and magnify you for who you are to me Lord thank you for this wonderful day and grace of life in Jesus name Lord thank you for the forgiveness of sin and your blood shed for my salvation Ancient of days thank you for being the king eternal and the all knowing one Father thank you for your word in my life that constantly directs and empowers me in Jesus name Lord grant me grace and enablement to overcome every challenge and opposition against my faith Lord thank you for destroying the manifestation of evil and attributes of wickedness in my life Lord intervene in all nations of the world in the mighty name of Jesus Father erase every ordinance of wickedness keeping me in a position below your purpose for me Lord remove all long term infirmity that keeps me in the position of pain in Jesus name Lord remove every situation that has renamed me or is about to rename me due to its existence in my life My lord and God, regarding (mention) direct me and shine your light in my path do not let me walk in darkness Father whatever has bent over in myife against the right posture, let it begin to receive divine intervention henceforth Father wipe away every tears from my life in the mighty name of Jesus, arise and glorify yourself in my life in Jesus name Lord over the life of the vessel used for this daily prayer, all impacted it and our household, intervene over our lives and all situation that burdens our existence against your will in Jesus name *Personal Prayer* Thank you ancient of days for answered prayers in Jesus name *Confess Day;Sin shall not have dominion over me,I am operating in the power of the word of God. I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus by faith as Jesus is so am I in this world. The lord is in control over my life, no matter how difficult it may seem, I have my victory. The light of God shines over my life. The lord is at work in and through me. The grace of God is sufficient for me in all situation. The lord is working in my life, doing wonderful things beyond my understanding. The seige is broken, the ban has been lifted up. I am free from confinement of the mind, soul, body and spirit in Jesus name amen.* Today's Prayer by Be Inspired (by His Word) © 19th January 2022 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/be-inspired-by-his-word/message

Your life is a story. In every situation and circumstance you are writing the book of your life. Sometimes the hardest part of life is waiting. In this message, Pastor Jamie Nunnally shares how you can write your story while you are waiting. Three things you should know about your story: 1. Your story is history. Isaiah 43:25 2. Your story is ministry.  2 Cor. 1:3-4 – “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. 4 He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.”  3. Your story is incomplete.  2 Corinthians 4:8-9 – “We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. 9 We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.”   When you stop short of finishing a story you come away with the wrong conclusion. You are writing your story while you are waiting. One of the hardest lessons for a Christian to learn is how to stand strong during the uncertain time between a promise and its fulfillment.   Luke 2:21-40 : Simeon and AnnaTwo things NOT to do while waiting: 1. Change your theology.James 1:16-18  2. Get mad at God. Acts 14:21-22 So how do we keep writing while we're waiting? Do what Anna and Simeon did - worship and pray.  Prayer is the point of contact with your Father during a season of waiting. Prayer is not making demands of God but making conversation with God.  Isaiah 60:18 Worship is the redirection of your passion from the world to God. Revelation 21:21 Pearls are formed thru irritation and conflict. When we praise God without manipulation and in spite of our uncertainty, some thing beautiful forms and an entry point is created where God can move in your situation. You can worship God on earth in a way you'll never be able to worship Him once you're in Heaven: You can praise Him through pain.  What story are you writing while you wait?

Prayers Heard in Heaven "You will Soar" (Orig. Aired 3/7/21) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Retirement Is about much more than money. Your planning should be, too. Joe Casey, Retirement Wisdom, will be the special guest host of a Free Webinar at Retirement Researcher.com Learn more & sign up: https://buff.ly/3m54yEM April 8 at 2:00 PM ET ____________________________ We help you balance your retirement planning. No other podcasts cover this side of retirement planning in-depth. Here's a recap of what we learned in the second month of our 4th season of The Retirement Wisdom Podcast talking with: Barbara O'Neill, A Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Rutgers University and author of Flipping the Switch: Your Guide to Happiness and Financial Security in Later Life. J. Kelly Hoey author of Build Your Dream Network. Lance Oppenheim, a filmmaker from South Florida, on his first feature film: Some Kind of Heaven ___________________________ You can listen to the full conversations here: When Will You Flip the Switch? – Dr. Barbara O’Neill How’s Your Network? – Kelly Hoey Some Kind of Heaven – Lance Oppenheim ___________________________ About Retirement Wisdom We help people who are retiring from their primary career – and aren’t done yet –  discover what’s next. A long retirement is a terrible thing to waste. And a meaningful retirement doesn’t just happen by accident. Schedule a call today to discuss how our Designing Your Life® coaching programs can help you make yours great. ______________________________________ Explore retirementwisdom.com  

 Prayers Heard in Heaven "You will Soar" See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kealan and Cody break down the question, “How do I choose a finish line for my spending?”. A majority of the time, when someone's income goes up, their spending goes up some degree as well. But when we really think about the idea that everything that we have belongs to God, we realize that there is only so much that we need for ourselves and our families. A finish line is the maximum amount we need to support ourselves and our families each month. If God blesses us with any income beyond our finish line, we set it aside to give away as God leads us. There are a number of practical considerations when choosing a finish line, and the guys break each of these down one by one. NOTE: The Finish Line Pledge was formerly known as Aspiring to the Median. All references to Aspiring to the Median and to www.aspiringtothemedian.com are interchangeable with the Finish Line Pledge and www.finishlinepledge.com. The former IMPACT program has since evolved into Finish Line SPRINTs.  QUOTES TO REMEMBER: “If you think back through the Bible narrative, even back to Genesis 1, God creating everything from nothing, it seems obvious that everything belongs to God, but that's often not how we intrinsically think about our finances.” “There's an intense physical ownership that we feel when it comes to our money.” “When we see ourselves as a manager of something that belongs to God, the question starts to change from ‘How much do I owe back to God' to ‘How much of God's wealth should I be taking for myself?'” “Money and wealth are very powerful, and there are two sides to that coin” “One thing that is clear is that our wealth on this earth certainly will not follow us to Heaven” “You never see a hearse followed by a uHaul” LINKS FROM THE SHOW God and Money by John Cortines and Greg Baumer The IMPACT program BIBLE REFERENCES FROM THE SHOW Ecclesiastes 5:12 | No Satisfaction in Money Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep. 1 Timothy 6:9-10 | Money is a Root of All Kinds of Evil 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. 1 Timothy 6:18-19 | Don't Put Hope in Wealth 18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, 19 thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. Matthew 6:19-21 | Where Your Treasure Is, Your Heart Is 19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 25:35-40 | What You Did for the Least of These 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! If you have a thought about something you heard, or a story to share, please reach out! You can leave a comment below or reach out on our contact page.

Prayers Heard in Heaven "You're Called by My Name" Originally aired 8/16/20 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Prayers Heard in Heaven "You're Called By My Name" See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.

Philippians 3:20-21 ESVWhat is a citizen?• An inhabitant of a city or town especially one entitled to the rights and privileges of a freeman.• A member of a state.• A native or naturalized person who owes allegiance to a government and is entitled to protection from it.Colossians 3:1-2 ESVYour allegiance is to God and His word above everything else.Colossians 3:10-11 ESVYour identity is rooted first in Christ not your race, culture or ethnicity.Acts 17:26 ESVEvolution and secularism leave room for the lies that have divided us racially and ethnically for generations. We must approach things Biblically.As a Citizen of Heaven:• You are not better because of your race, culture or ethnicity.• You are not less because of your race, culture or ethnicity.• You are a new creation in Christ.- You are a child of God.When considering race, culture or ethnicity from a Biblical perspective:• Don't denigrate• Don't elevate• Appreciate2 Corinthians 5:16-17 ESVMatthew 12:46-50 ESV

Music written by Francis Cummings for 'Fire from the North' Conference 2005 The new heavens and the new earth Look, I am creating new heavens and a new earth, and no one will even think about the old ones anymore. (Is. 65:17-18) Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. The sea also was gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be His people. God Himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All those things are gone forever.” And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” (Rev. 21:1-5) Reawaken us, Lord Jesus, to the call of how Heavenly things will truly be. Selah Where the limitations of our earthly roles and responsibilities have placed too tight a constriction on our perspective, and led to so many routine repetitions, we choose now to eagerly consider the heavenly rewards you spoke so much about and to anticipate the Epiphany of our Lord. We discard from our hearts all that tends to the ‘What’s the point?’ – and even the assumption that all will be so well catered for in Heaven that there will be nothing for us to do. Expand in our mind the Narnian cry of “Further up and further in;” for even in Heaven You have so much more in store for us. For nothing of value that You direct us to on Earth will ever be lost, in a Kingdom where seeds acquire their fullest expression and all we long for finds its richest outworking.

Why does it take so long to get a haircut on Lag B'omer? Because of all the barber queues.... I think I dined out on that joke for about 6 months. But seriously, what is this day about? It is referred to in various places for various reasons. It is surely not enough to say that 'hooray, Rabbi Akiva's students stopped dying'. Indeed, as my Rebbe R' Moshe pointed out, they only stopped dying because there was none left to die! And, taking into account Shabbos and Yom tov, there would have been around a thousand funerals going on each day. Eerily germane to out current situation. Hardly a cause to celebrate - and muted at best. No there must be something more. Something in recognising כבוד - respect (the discerning ones will already note the numeric depth here). See it in others, have it in yourself. Ascribe it to Heaven (You will find part of the secret of the Omer itself here too - we give G-d the Omer and He gave us the same, every day in the desert). You will see where the Source of it all is. Then you will begin to understand the light that was revealed by one of the survivors (or successors, depending on when they became his students) - Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. The day of his passing revealed to us huge secrets of the Oral Law - on the day which signifies the Torah Shel Baal Peh and כבוד at its maximum - Hod she'behod.

Prayers Heard in Heaven (You are the Redeemed 2 )

Prayers Heard in Heaven "You are my Priority" (Originally aired 12/8/2019)

Prayers Heard in Heaven "You are the Redeemed"

Prayers Heard in Heaven (You are My Priority)

Transcript: Peace…it's a funny thing how this lovely fruit of the Holy Spirit seems so close yet so far at times.  It seems just out of our grasp most days and right when we think it's within our reach, it slips through our fingers.  It appears that the harder we try the further we are from the most highly coveted gift - the Lord's Peace.  After all, that's why we stressed about educating ourselves as young adults and finding the highest paying job we could get without experience.  That's why we endured a job we hated for so many years so we could move up the ladder of success and finally be at Peace.  That's why we married him – to share our misery with someone and find healing and finally be at Peace.  Or we married him so we could raise the family we only dreamed of and take trips and make memories and finally be at Peace.  Once we were married, we worked ourselves to death inside or outside the home to make sure our family had everything they needed and finally be at Peace.  We volunteer at our parishes, tithe at Mass, give to the homeless to alleviate the gnawing dis-ease in our hearts and satisfy our desire to give-back to finally be at Peace.  But somehow, Peace seems to escape us.  There's always a loved one who makes that wrong choices, a job that gives us no security, one health condition after another, and there's always something breaking down at home, or a car that needs repair.  There's never enough money, never enough patience, never enough Peace! Please keep in mind that, when I speak about being anxious or sad, I'm not talking about clinical depression and anxiety.  When I encourage you to have peace in all circumstances, I'm not asking that we be content with extreme cases of abuse or catastrophic events.  I'm referring to the everyday life situations we find ourselves in as friends, moms, daughters, sisters, aunts, and grandmothers. How do we find the Lord's Peace?  We know prayer is the answer.  It's absolutely the answer but often a short-lived answer that lasts up until we lose our wallet, a family member's in an accident, we get rejected by someone we love, or we get laid-off.  Then no amount of prayer can settle the dis-ease in our hearts.  Our prayers turn into pleading for relief from the pain and suffering.  “Dear Lord, please take this cup from me!” How many times do we get trapped in the if-only's.  If only I earned more money, I wouldn't have to work so much.  If only I could afford a housekeeper or a cook, I could spend more time with the kids, grandkids, and my husband.  If only I had more time, I'd spend more time in prayer.  If only that difficult person saw things from my point-of-view, we'd get along better.  Instead of embracing the Will of God, the world tells us that only WE can decide what's best for us.  That somehow, we, with our little minds and limited foresight can decide what brings us to the ultimate peace and happiness.  It's in our human nature to want to design our life and fill it with worldly things only to find that we're chasing the wind and building houses out of sand. In any case, the fallacy of “balance” stems from our belief that Peace can be acquired from something outside ourselves.  The world tells us that balance means taking time to indulge ourselves in a massage, time alone to read a good book, treat ourselves to something we love, or spend more time with the kids.  These things are definitely good and necessary, but they are not the answer to attaining balance and ultimately, the Lord's Peace. We can't make Peace happen.  Peace is a gift from the Prince of Peace himself, our Lord Jesus Christ.  All we can DO is prepare our interior dispositions to receive this beautiful grace.  We are made for God.   My sisters-in-Christ, the core of every evil we will ever face starts in the same place for all of us – our tireless and relentless thoughts.  The enemy starts with the same weapon – placing doubt in our hearts of God's love and good Will for us.  When we lose our Peace, it is a sign that our Faith is being attacked. In the book, Searching For and Maintaining Peace, by Fr. Jacques Phillipe, he says that only by acquiring the Lord's peace of heart and mind is God able to perform good works.  He illustrates it this way.  “Consider the surface of the lake, above which the sun is shining.  If the surface of the lake is peaceful and tranquil, the sun will be reflected in the lake; and the more peaceful the lake, the more perfectly will it be reflected.  If, on the contrary, the surface of the lake is agitated, undulating, then the image of the sun cannot be reflected in it.” Does this mean God asks us to do nothing to change our situation? Does this mean we should take on a passive role and simply not take responsibility for our lives? Fr. Jacques Phillipe says that we should take action and do everything to resolve the conflicts in our lives, BUT only with the gentle and peaceful disposition of the Holy Spirit.  Not with discouragement, dis-ease, agitation, or excessive rushing. Does this mean we need to become self-centered, insensitive, or indifferent to our own needs or the needs of others? On the contrary, having true peace and total dependence on God frees us to love and be of greater service to others.  This was one of Saint Teresa of Calcutta's secret of life-long service. So we've come to the questions.  What is the necessary disposition of heart in order to attain the Lord's peace? If peace is not inaction and laziness, then what must I DO? How do we get there? My husband and I were late bloomers.  We met in our mid-thirties, got married, had our first child when I was 36 and the other 3 in our 40's.  Having lived the single life for so long, I had a lot of time to think about the kind of man I wanted to marry, the house I wanted, the car I wanted, the trips I wanted to take, the number of children I wanted to have naturally with no anesthesia, the kind of stay-at-home mom I wanted to be, you name it, I visualized it.  Of course, because I spent my younger years absorbing what the world teaches…you can be what you want to be, you can have what you want to have, and no one knows what makes you happy better than you.  I clearly remember asking God to send me a man with a strong Catholic faith and prayer life.  That was the most important thing to me.  Having been raised in a dysfunctional home with an absent father, I knew in my heart that my path to healing had to come from God and I wanted a man who would lead our family to Jesus through prayer.  But I think God looked at my list of things I wanted in life and laughed.  He was like nope, nope, nope, nope, strong Catholic man – ok, nope, and nope.  One thing I've learned is that when God says “yes” to something, He gives it abundantly.  He blessed me with a man who has 4 uncles who are Catholic priests and a sister whose a nun.  My husband makes it a point that we pray as a family daily and a weekly family Rosary.  When we met I was whoa, Lord, I'm not that Catholic yet but I'm so grateful.  I will honor and cherish this man for the rest of my life.  But nothing else on my little list came to fruition and it drove me crazy.  The world says I deserve what I want so why don't I have it?  As a real go-getter, I was all for going after what you want and working relentlessly to get it.  To ask God what He wanted wasn't even an option.  My brothers and sisters, one of the biggest sources of pain we experience is learning to let-go of our ideas of what life should be and embrace what God knows is best for us.  Not because He doesn't want us to experience the beauty of His Creation in this life, but because he wants us to experience the beauty of Heaven in the life hereafter.  True love, true beauty, true Peace. Sometimes we overthink and worry so much that we remove ourselves from the only place we're ever going to find Peace – the dwelling place of the Lord called “the present moment.” Father J.P. de Cassaude wrote in his book Self-Abandonment to Divine Providence that, “The present moment is the manifestation of the Name of God and the coming of His Kingdom.  The present moment is always the ambassador who declares the order of God.  The heart always pronounces its fiat. The soul pours itself forth by all these means into its center and goal; it never stops, it travels by all winds; all routes and methods advance it equally on its journey to the high sea of the Infinite.  Everything is a means and an instrument of holiness; everything without any exception.  The ‘one thing necessary' is always to be found by the soul in the present moment.  There is no need to choose between prayer and silence, privacy or conversation, reading or writing, reflection or the abandonment of thought, the frequentation or avoidance of spiritual people, abundance or famine, illness or health, life or death; the ‘one-thing necessary' is what each moment produces by God's design.  In this consists the stripping, the self-abnegation, the renunciation of the creature in order to be nothing by or for oneself, in order to remain as regards everything in God's order at His pleasure, finding one's only contentment in bearing the present moment, as if there were nothing else in the world to expect.” Here are 4 ways we can prepare our hearts to receive the gift of Peace… 1 - Bring to light the subtle ways the enemy agitates you by journaling all your worries and fears in a notebook then turning them into a prayer of abandonment to Divine Providence. I find journaling to be a tremendous tool for healing and spiritual growth and all you need is a 50 cent spiral notebook and a pen.  This is what I did to help me heal from a horrifying event that caused me serious spiritual, mental and emotional trauma.  Back in 2010, my husband and I were living in a Mexican border town, when 3 armed me home invaded us.  I had lost my peace for a very long time but journaling helped me return my heart to God and gain a little bit of the Lord's peace, that of which I had never known before the incident.  Father Jacques Phillipe says that God doesn't expect us to be perfectly peaceful in times of turmoil.  Our efforts to trust Him more and more each time will be rewarded with the grace of His Peace.  It is not necessary to resolve every problem, what's necessary is that we open our hearts bit by bit to trust Him more and more and remain still. Let us ask the Lord for His peace and increased trust in God because only this way can we make right decisions and see things clearly.  St Ignatius of Loyola says that in the spiritual life, there are moments of peace and consolation and there are moments of struggle and desolation.  We won't always feel the Lord near us but it's small acts of Faith, in spite of how we feel, that help us earn the grace of Peace.   2 - Establish a daily practice of mental prayer. Saint Teresa of Ávila says: “Mental prayer, in my opinion, is nothing else than a close sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us.” Connie Rossini, author of The QA Guide to Mental Prayer, says that, “Teresa sees two aspects to mental prayer: sharing with a friend (remembering that this Friend is far above you, but nevertheless calls you into an intimate relationship with himself); and time set aside specifically to be alone with God. The word mental signifies that this prayer comes from your own mind, rather than being written down by some-one else, as in vocal prayer. It is usually a silent prayer,but does not always have to be. When you spend time with a friend, you do not usually recite to him or her someone else's words about friendship. When you spend time with a spouse, you don't usually read Shakespeare's sonnets to that person. Instead, you speak from the heart. You know you can share your deepest self with your companion, because you love one another and will not reject each other. The time you spend together draws you even closer.”   3 - Embrace little acts of mortification to slowly detach yourself from your own Will. Father John Bartunek says in an article on SpiritualDirection.com that, “The root word for “mortification” comes from the Latin, mors and mortis, and it translates as “death.” In the spiritual life, therefore, mortification refers to voluntary actions by which we gradually “put to death” all of our vices, sinful habits, and the self-centered tendencies that lurk beneath them. Spiritual writers use terms like abnegation, sacrifice, self-sacrifice, and self-denial to refer to the same thing. CCC #2015 says, “The way of perfection passes by way of the Cross. There is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle. Spiritual progress entails the ascesis and mortification that gradually lead to living in the peace and joy of the Beatitudes: He who climbs never stops going from beginning to beginning, through beginnings that have no end. He never stops desiring what he already knows.” St. John of the Cross says that we must aim to have perfect detachment from created things in order to be perfectly attached to God and go to Heaven.  In heaven, souls have perfect detachment, where as in hell, we have constant attachments… no exceptions, no middle ground.  4 - Practice self-abandonment to God's Will through conscious acts of Faith. CCC #305 Jesus asks for childlike abandonment to the providence of our heavenly Father who takes care of his children's smallest needs: "Therefore do not be anxious, saying, "What shall we eat?" or "What shall we drink?". . . Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well." In Father JP de Caussade's book, Self-Abandonment to Divine Providence, he says, “The will of God gives to all things a supernatural and divine value for the soul submitting to it. The duties it imposes, and those it contains, with all the matters over which it is diffused, become holy and perfect, because, being unlimited in power, everything it touches shares its divine character. But in order not to stray either to the right or to the left the soul should only attend to those inspirations which it believes it has received from God, by the fact that these inspirations do not withdraw it from the duties of its state. Those duties are the most clear manifestation of the will of God, and nothing should take their place; in them there is nothing to fear, nothing to exclude, nor anything to be chosen. The time occupied in the fulfilment of these duties is very precious and very salutary for the soul by the indubitable fact that it is spent in accomplishing this holy will. The entire virtue of all that is called holy is in its approximation to this order established by God; therefore nothing should be rejected, nothing sought after, but everything accepted that is ordained and nothing attempted contrary to the will of God.” This is very good news but what does this mean? It means that as long we strive to fulfill our duties according to our state in life, we are living in accordance to the Will of God.  This is self-abandonment to the Will of God.  It is simple.  We as humans, complicate things by interjecting our own wills and ideas of what we think life should be.  Living in the present moment and devoting every little and seemingly insignificant action to glorify God is all that's needed to abandon ourselves to Divine Providence.  This sanctifies everything we do if we make our desire to do God's Will first in our lives.  Therefore, mopping the floor, if done for the glory of God, is just as sanctifying as going overseas as a missionary.  Cooking your family meals or playing with your children is just as sanctifying as serving the poor in a half-way house.  St. Therese of Lisieux, who wanted more than anything to work as a missionary, never had the opportunity to do so, but her laying in bed, suffering for the love of Christ, writing Story of a Soul, and devoting her days and nights to prayer, sanctified her earthly life which evidently lead her Heaven.  She says, “I understood that all we accomplish, however brilliant, is worth nothing without love."  And Saint Therese revealed the secret to attaining the Lord's Peace in this life when she said, “Jesus has chosen to show me the only way which leads to the Divine Furnace of love; it is the way of childlike self-surrender, the way of a child who sleeps, afraid of nothing, in his father's arms." My brothers and sisters in Christ, let us take comfort in John 16:33 “I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.” Live in the present moment. “Do not be anxious about tomorrow.” Trust in God with all your heart.  Don't be tormented, God will give you what you need at the right time.  Let's pray together as the Lord taught us… In the name of the Father… Our Father, who art in Heaven… You'll find the transcript to this episode at TheCatholicServant.com/peace and please share it with someone who may need today's message.  And, also continue to send me your prayer requests to Alexandra@TheCatholicServant.com so we can lift you up in prayer during our next family Rosary. May you have a blessed and prayerful week.

Music written by Francis Cummings for 'Fire from the North' Conference 2005 The new heavens and the new earth Look, I am creating new heavens and a new earth, and no one will even think about the old ones anymore. (Is. 65:17-18) Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. The sea also was gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be His people. God Himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All those things are gone forever.” And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” (Rev. 21:1-5) Reawaken us, Lord Jesus, to the call of how Heavenly things will truly be. Selah Where the limitations of our earthly roles and responsibilities have placed too tight a constriction on our perspective, and led to so many routine repetitions, we choose now to eagerly consider the heavenly rewards you spoke so much about and to anticipate the Epiphany of our Lord. We discard from our hearts all that tends to the ‘What’s the point?’ – and even the assumption that all will be so well catered for in Heaven that there will be nothing for us to do. Expand in our mind the Narnian cry of “Further up and further in;” for even in Heaven You have so much more in store for us. For nothing of value that You direct us to on Earth will ever be lost, in a Kingdom where seeds acquire their fullest expression and all we long for finds its richest outworking.

Be careful not to love this world so much that you don't look forward to Heaven. Our treasure is in Heaven, not here on Earth. Are you looking forward to Heaven? You should be! MORE From Pastor Tom: 24Today.org - https://24today.org TomWhitesel.com - https://TomWhitesel.com 24TODAY Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/P.T.24Today/ 24TODAY PODCAST - iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/2... Google Play: https://play.google.com/music/listen#...

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I have heard You call my name I have heard the song of love that You sing So I will let You draw me out beyond the shore Into Your grace, Your grace As Your love, in wave after wave Crashes over me, crashes over me For You are for us You are not against us Champion of Heaven You made a way for all to enter in You make me brave You make me brave You call me out beyond the shore into the waves You make me brave You make me brave No fear can hinder now the love that made a way YOU MAKE ME BRAVE, BETHEL MUSIC