(Reprint of an article of the same title appearing at BibleResources.org)
How to enter into God’s Rest when you are weary from carrying a heavy load.
How can we overcome the feeling of being overwhelmed? In the hour we live, there is so much to do with seemingly no time to get everything done. Responsibilities seem insurmountable and we see no way out of the modern day “rat race.” The world around us seems to crowd us in with overwhelming circumstances, impending doom and threatening evil, which adds additional stress to our already busy days. God wants us to be able to enter into His rest and learn to follow His leading in all things so that these foreboding things will not threaten us as, He wants us to have His perspective. God does not want us to live stressful lives when we face these kinds of circumstances. We all, at times, find ourselves with more things that need to be done that just keep piling up, while we are unable to complete the things we already have on our “to do” list. The Bible addresses this dilemma throughout its pages. The book of Proverbs is a good place to start reading as it is a very practical book that can bring help and rest to our souls in our everyday lives. (We offer a daily devotional book that is a mini-study of Proverbs which can be read in just 5 minutes a day). Go to this link:
I want to share, as a Christian, the things that helped me to overcome this feeling of being overwhelmed and gave me the freedom to live my days in peace and joy. I want to give you some information on how to manage your time as well as your projects so you can do the same and enter into God’s rest spoken of in the New Testament. (more…)
Is Bitcoin Real Money? What about Gold and Silver?
A Looming Global Monetary Crash Coming Soon?
Wall Street & Broadway intersection near the New York Stock Exchange
All the top financial experts are predicting a soon coming global stock market crash that will include bank closures, as they see a total collapse in the entire financial system that could result in a change to the entire monetary system of America. They see this crash happening not only the USA, but one that will affect the entire world. The root cause of this crash is attributed to the printing of trillions of dollars of paper money that will result in deflation of the dollar which will lead to a depression world-wide, since most of the nations are all doing the same thing. (I will address more about this below.) The majority of well-known financial experts all agree about the crash coming, they just do not know when it will happen. Most think it is imminent. Where they disagree, is in their approach as to what we should do about it.
Many financial speculators are giving financial advice and telling people to protect their life savings and move their cash to Bitcoin or silver and gold or real estate or hard assets. Is all their advice scriptural? Is some of it good? There is talk of governments moving to a cashless society and using crypto and/or digital currencies. What is real money? What are crypto currencies? Is Bitcoin a safe investment? How will these things affect us? Will there be inflation and a depression? Is there something we can do to protect our life savings? As Christians, who can we trust? Should Christians even be involved in this discussion? When will this happen? Is the new administration making plans to change our entire financial system? I will attempt to answer some of these questions in this article by sharing my personal opinions after some research and study and scriptural advice from the Word of God. The most important thing will be our faith in God to sustain and protect us and lead us in these matters..
Our Forefathers Started This Nation on Christian Values, Now We Must Keep Them
As Christians, we should care about the future of our nation. We should care about who serves on the Supreme Court, and social issues like abortion and traditional marriage and also the social and cultural future of our nation. We have the opportunity to vote for men and women who support our Christian values. Some people do not want to vote as they believe we are to separate church from state. However, separation between church and state does not mean we are to be isolated from politics, but rather that we influence politics with Christian and biblical principles. Separation between church and state was meant to keep the government from overruling the church; as the new republic our forefathers founded, wanted to be free of the government telling the church what they could do. It was about freedom of religion so the government would not interfere with the freedom of God’s people.
We must have a president who will support religious freedom at all levels of government. I am thankful that our current President has taken a strong stand for religious freedom for Christians in this nation, as well as his strong stand against abortion. Remember we are voting for more than just one leader, we will also be voting for either the Democratic Party Platform or the Republican Party Platform when we choose our president. Read the platforms of both parties and you will find that the Democratic Party supports abortion, while the Republican Party supports the sanctity of life. That one thing alone should influence our Christian vote. There are many other issues on the Democratic Platform that are opposed to the Christian belief, but this one issue alone should tell us what party to vote for.
Democratic and Republican Platforms Side-by-Side Posted on Billy Graham’s Website:
Our current and future president will face enormous challenges and problems and he will need our support and prayers, not our criticism. We are admonished in the Word of God to pray for all leaders, as God wants us to have leaders that will make decisions that will allow us to live quiet and peaceable lives (not chaos) in an environment of godliness and honesty according to the scripture below:
1 Timothy 2:1-5: 1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; 2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
My Prayer for the Elections
We have diligently been praying about the upcoming elections, as so many other Christians are doing, as well. “Lord I pray that we elect the right people who will hold the offices that will determine the future of the United States. Give Your people and others who don’t even know You, discernment and wisdom in the voting for the offices of president, senators and representatives that will ultimately rule over us. Lord, there is much division in the body of Christ and our nation, may we hear Your voice and rally around You and Your Word, as we make any decisions. Lord I come against the spirits of division and confusion that keep the church and the nation divided. Lord, I stand against all the lies, confusion and chaos that are bringing deception to Your people. Lord, reveal to us the truth as we vote for people and for the issues on the ballots across the land. Lord we know You look at things differently than we do, as You look at the hearts of people and You know the future, so we can trust You to show us Your choices. Give us Your wisdom to vote properly. Deliver us from all deception and show us the truth and let us be led by Your Spirit, not just in voting, but in every area of our lives because we are surrounded with so many threats at this hour like Covied19. Protect us from this evil and bring an end to it. We know if we seek You and repent You will forgive our sins and give us Your mercy and grace to overcome in these perilous times. Give us revelation of Your will and the grace to obey You in all things. Let there be revival in the land. Lord, we know You are shaking all things and allowing sin and rebellion to be exposed. Expose the lies and the people who have been lying. Lord, search our hearts and show us anything we have believed that is wrong and show us where we have been deceived so we can be set free. Let us hear from You about these elections. Let Your anointing rest on the elections and may we vote, led of Your Spirit and be guided in all of our ways. Let us all hear Your voice and walk in Your ways. May we all surrender to Your will in all things and then Lord, we will know the truth, as that is the key to hearing Your voice. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.”
John 7:17“If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.”
Is the Covid19 Virus Pandemic a Judgment from God?
First of all, God did not overtly orchestrate this Covid19 Pandemic as a judgment to punish the world or His people. However, it is a judgment from God. It is not the “wrath of God” that the Bible speaks about that is to come upon the world in the last time as the final judgment on the wicked. I know some have said this is not a judgment of God and it comes from the devil. Yes, it does comes from the devil, but our problem is we need to get a Biblical definition of what “the judgment of God” is in order to understand what is happening now.
Although judgment usually has an evil connotation to it (the execution of the penalty for sin), it also has a positive side. Judgment has to do with the sowing and reaping process. This is defined in Galatians 6:7-9 “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
From this we can see that the negative side of judgment is that evil reaps destruction, while on the positive side; good that is sown through Jesus is rewarded. God’s judgment on evil is seen by the curse that is on wicked men. While God’s judgment for the righteous will manifest in His blessings and rewards on them. This is true for individuals as well as nations. Negative judgments have been hanging over our nation for some time because of the many sins that we have corporately committed. Now we are reaping the fruit of our national sins.
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
As a nation (the USA where I live) we have sown good and evil. I believe God has been gracious and merciful to us because we have reached out to help the other nations of the world. The church has sent many missionaries around the world. Christians in this nation have supported many missionary works, while Christians and others have supported humanitarian works in every nation. The United States government has poured billions of dollars into foreign aid and forgiven billions of dollars of indebtedness to other countries. We are one of the first on the scene to arrive with aid and assistance when natural disasters, such as earthquakes, strike other countries. America has helped the oppressed and poor of other nations. She has helped rebuild infrastructures, railways, etc. after nations have been ravaged by war. I could name many more, but this should suffice.
As a nation, we have also sown much evil. We have exported our ungodly music, movies, pornography, tobacco, alcohol. Our tobacco companies cannot sell their wares to the young people in our nation, but they are allowed to export it to the youth of other nations. We have been hypocritical in calling ourselves a Christian nation when we allow abortion. Many Americans are drug addicts, and are consumed with pornography and vile movies. We commit adultery without blushing and are sex-crazed. I have noticed that the most prevalent types of ads that daily come across the Internet are ads pertaining to sex and money. They are selling something pertaining to sex, ads that tell you how to become a millionaire so we can live indulgent lives. There are those that encourage gambling, as a means to obtain wealth quickly, instead of pursuing wealth by honest work. They are trying to take a shortcut to obtaining wealth. We export our vices instead of being a good example to the world. Sharing Christ with other nations is difficult when they see our lust and materialism. (more…)
Since we live in Arizona, the Lord reminded me this year not to refer to Arizona’s dry season by the phrase Arizona’s “fire season.” The first reference is to the season of dryness before the monsoons come and the other is actually a confession that we expect fires to come, as it is the season for them.
As God’s people, and especially His praying people, there is power in what we say and what we pray, according to these verses in Proverbs:
Proverbs 18:21 “Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.”
Since we can speak “death” or “life” to our situations, we should ask the Lord how to phrase the things we say and pray, because we reap what we “say” or “confess,” according to the above verse. For example, if I am under attack with symptoms of any kind of illness, I do not confess that it is mine, even if a doctor states that I have some infirmity. I simply say, this is what the doctor has diagnosed me with, but I declare I am healed according to the Word of God that says, “By His stripes I am healed.” This is not denying that I am experiencing the symptoms of an illness, but rather I confess the Word of God over it, as God’s Word and His power is greater than any sickness the devil may want to inflict me with. As Christians, we must always side with the Word of God in every circumstance as circumstances or feelings should not rule our lives. If we line up with the Word of God then the devil will have to flee. This is how Bud and I overcome any disease that tries to invade our bodies. The verse below says if we submit to God and resist the devil with the Word of God, that the devil will have to flee. It does not say “maybe” he will flee, but that he “will” flee! Praise God!
James 4:7: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (more…)
(Note: Read the following phrases from the perspective of liberal or conservative “thoughts” and not from the perspective of a particular political party platform. “Liberal thought is good when it is applied correctly and conservative thought is good when it is applied correctly” — Betty Miller.)
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” — 2 Chronicles 7:14. This verse was true in Abraham’s day, in Bible Times and is still true today.
I have listed below some of the things the Lord taught me personally regarding my daily prayer life. I pray they will bless you and help you in ways to pray so that you can see the answers to your own prayers.
” … carry everything to God in prayer” from the beloved hymn ‘What a Friend We Have in Jesus’
“… carry everything to God in prayer” from the beloved hymn ‘What a Friend We Have in Jesus’
Schedule a regular daily prayer time and ask God to help you keep it. Set a time to pray and how long you plan to pray. You can start with a short time and then increase it as you are able.
Turn off cell phones or do not answer phones while in prayer. You are talking to God. Share your heart with God just as you would a dear friend. This will establish a strong relationship with God.
Set a good place to pray and have your Bible, pen, paper and other devotional books near as God may speak to you through them. (We have daily devotionals online here.)
Do not wait until a perfect time to pray. If you have trouble praying in the mornings, pray in the evenings to cover the next day until you can pray in the mornings too. The time of day you pray is not as important as actually praying. You can even pray at noon breaks.
Sandwich prayers during wait times. “Pray on the hoof.” You can pray in your driving time.
Pray without ceasing. Stay in a praying attitude at all times. Talk to God about everything. Things become easier to do when you discuss them with God and He shows you how to accomplish something. 1 Thessalonians 5:17
Pray the news. When you hear of bad news pray right then. Pray for the salvation and deliverance of people you see on the Internet and TV. Pray for good to overcome evil. Current News Items to pray about at a link posted in the Prayer room.
Pray publically when someone asks you to pray for them, stop right then and grab their hands and pray for them (when possible) and do not let pride keep you from praying in public places. We can pray quietly with others to help them.
Pray over your meals at home and in public giving thanks to God for your food and ask God to cleanse it as well.
Develop a habit of praying agreement and intercessory prayers with your mate, family or friends. Our prayers should agree with God’s will and His Word and then we can agree together for the needed answers. https://bibleresources.org/prayer/
If something unexpected comes up and you cannot pray during your regular prayer time, don’t skip the prayer, just say a short prayer to cover what just came up.
Make an appointment to pray with your family. Establish a “Family Altar” time. Read The Prayer Saturated Family written by Cheryl Sacks, a friend of mine, who has changed many lives and impacted this world through prayer.
Arrange a prayer meeting in your home weekly, bi-weekly or monthly.
Attend prayer meetings announced in your area. There is power in praying corporately.
Read Christian books and articles on prayer. We provide helps on how to pray in the Bible Resources.org Prayer Room at Prayer Room
Pray the scripture. Many of the Psalms, as well as other Bible verses you can personalize, as they are God’s promises to us, as Christians. Praying the Scripture
Pray the Lord’s Prayer and ask God what is on His heart that needs prayer and pray those prayers as well as praying for others. Matthew 6:9-13
Make your thought life one of prayer. When you see people on the street or elsewhere who are obviously hurting, stressed or in sin, pray for them silently.
Ask God to send you a prayer partner, as agreement in prayer is very powerful.
Add fasting to your prayers, as God leads, as it speeds up the answers to your prayers. Bible Fasting
Pray in the Holy Spirit by praying in tongues, especially when you do not know how to pray as the Spirit of God will pray through you according to the will of God. What the Bible Says About Praying in Tongues.
Pray during praise and worship times as praise will prepare your heart to touch God.
Pray for others by laying your hands on them and anointing them with oil as you pray for their needs, especially healing. Prayer Helps
Mix faith with your prayers and expect God to answer as He delights to answer our prayers.
Billy Graham impacted the world with the gospel of Christ in a tremendous way. Will God raise up another Billy Graham to impact our world once again? I am sure only heaven has the true records of how many people were changed by Billy Graham’s life, as was mine. I believe God used him like a John the Baptist, preparing people to receive Jesus before Jesus came into His ministry. Today we await the return of Christ and we need another move of the Spirit of God through a minister like Billy that will prepare people for Christ’s return.
So this brings us to the question, “Will God raise up another Billy Graham? Who will replace the influence he had on the world? Before answering this question, I think we must all understand where Billy Graham’s power and influence came from. What caused millions of people to respond to altar calls in huge stadiums over the years? The answer to this is: it was the work of the Holy Spirit working through Billy Graham. The Spirit of God moved on the hearts of people to respond to the message of the cross and the Bible. Billy Graham was simply following the command of Jesus in
Mark 16:15 “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”
Mark 16:20 “And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.”
God has always sent mighty men and women of God over the centuries to minister to people because He has always cared about the people in the world He created. He is still doing this today through the many evangelists, pastors, teachers, prophets and apostles in the earth (the five-fold ministry).
11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.
From the above scriptures we see it is God who works with His people who have responded to the call on their lives.
Billy Graham’s Life and Death
EvangelistBilly Graham died on February 21, 2018, at his home in Montreat, North Carolina of natural causes and is now home with Jesus. He was 99. Throughout his life, Billy Graham preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to some 215 million people who attended his more than 400 Crusades, simulcasts and evangelistic rallies in more than 185 countries and territories. He reached millions more through TV, video, film, the internet and 34 books. Yet, he always deflected any credit to God: “If anything has been accomplished through my life, it has been solely God’s doing, not mine, and He—not I—must get the credit.”
Billy and Ruth Graham
Born November 7, 1918, William Franklin “Billy” Graham Jr. grew up during the Depression and developed a work ethic helping his dad at his dairy farm. It would carry him through decades of ministry on six continents. Graham was a man of human frailty and had his faults as any other man, but he had great humility and integrity as his personal life never brought any shame on the name of Christ during his ministry spanning over decades, as his moral life was exemplary. No other Christian minister in our generation has had as many accolades bestowed upon him from the world and the church as this one man.
His wife, Ruth Bell Graham, was the daughter of missionaries in China. Billy always credited Ruth as his helpmate in the ministry and declared he could have not accomplished all he did without her. She indeed, will receive the same rewards as Billy in her supportive role. He had 3 daughters and 2 sons: Virginia “Gigi” Graham Leftwich, Anne Graham Lotz, Ruth Graham, Franklin Graham, and Nelson Edman “Ned” Graham with 19 grandchildren and 41 great-grandchildren. His oldest son, Franklin, will continue to head the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association as they continue to reach out to the world. The numerous accolades of Billy Graham cannot all be listed here, but he was known as America’s Pastor and the President’s Pastor. Graham was only the fourth person to lie in honor in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda before being buried by his wife’s side at the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA. (more…)
Should a Christian choose cremation as a burial plan? What does the Bible say about cremation? How should a person plan for a Christian funeral? Although the Bible does not specifically speak to the subject of cremation, we do find in the Word of God that only the heathen tribes cremated people (burned their bodies with fire after death), while the Jews always buried bodies in graves in the ground, or entombed their dead in a cave or in an sepulcher, similar to our modern day mausoleums. It was basically a stone room with a stone coffin where a body lies. The word comes from the Latin sepulcrum, which means “burial place”.
Although, the scripture does not forbid cremation; neither does it condone it. Before I go any further, let me say now, that even if you had a loved one cremated or know a Christian who was cremated; it will not affect their eternal destiny. A relationship with Christ or lack of it determines our eternal destinies.
Christian Tradition or Heathen Practices?
However, there are Christian practices and heathen practices and in our day because of a lack of knowledge, some in the church have adopted heathen practices in numerous areas, besides just the practice of cremation. We can clearly see in the Bible the tradition of the Israelites, God’s chosen people, was to always bury their dead and never to burn dead bodies, as the heathen round about them did. This is demonstrated in the Old Testament, as well as the New Testament. Jesus, Himself, was buried in a tomb. Here are scriptures that record how people were buried, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament.
Proverbs 2:1-5 Amplified Bible (AMP): “My son, if you will receive my words and treasure up my commandments within you, Making your ear attentive to skillful and godly Wisdom and inclining and directing your heart and mind to understanding [applying all your powers to the quest for it]; Yes, if you cry out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, If you seek [Wisdom] as for silver and search for skillful and godly Wisdom as for hidden treasures, Then you will understand the reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of [our omniscient] God. For the Lord gives skillful and godly Wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.”
1 John 4:17-19: “Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the Day of Judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us.”
In these blogs dealing with Bible Answers, one of the most puzzling topics to some is the difference between godly fear and tormenting fear. We must resolve what may seem like a contradiction when the Bible tells us that Jesus loves us and came to set us free from fear, while on the other hand we are told to fear God. The two scriptures above define those two kinds of fear and will give us a better understanding of what the Bible has to say about the subject. (more…)
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