Invitation to Joy

By Eva McAllen

An invitation to know the joy that comes from having an intimate relationship with Jesus. God's plan for your life - Various visions received by the author. An in depth Bible study.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Eva McAllen
• Release date: Feb 7, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463640746

Eva McAllen

I am retired and live in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. Very cold here. I have been a Christian since I was 4 years old. Over the years, like a lot of others, I wandered away from God and sought truth elsewhere. I made a lot of wrong choices along the way and did not like the person I had become. God put people in my path to bring me back to him. At that time he gave me many visions which I had to ask him to interpret for me which he did. A couple of these visions are included in this book. I signed a confession and contract with God at that time and my lfe really changed so that people could actually see the change. I became a new being. I have great joy now and the Lord asked me to share that joy through this book he urged me to write.

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By Eva McAllen

Copyright 2013 Eva McAllen

Published by Eva McAllen at Smashwords

This book is also available in print from the Author

Smashwords Edition License Notes

Thank you for downloading this ebook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favorite authorized retailer. Thank you for your suport.

Cover design by Renee Barratt, thecovercounts.com

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. A Parable of the Butterfly

Chapter 2. An Invitation to Joy

Chapter 3. God’s Plan in Short

Chapter 4. Saving Souls is a Bloody Business

Chapter 6. No Shotgun Wedding for Jesus – He Must Have a Willing Bride

Chapter 7. The Final Battle

Chapter 8. Who Was This Jesus?

Chapter 9. Feeling Helpless and Hopeless?

Chapter 10. Are You Hungry & Thirsty-Come Be Fed

Chapter 11. What Kind of Love is This?

Chapter 12. Do You Know Who I Know?

Chapter 13. The Value of the Hands

Chapter 14. If Jesus Came

Chapter 15. Are You Looking for Jesus?

Chapter 16. The Reading of the 23rd Psalm

Chapter 17. Restoration Vision

Chapter 18. Prayer for an Exchanged Life

Chapter 19. I am Most Thankful For…The Gift of Life

About the Author

Chapter 1. A Parable of the Butterfly

The caterpillar and it’s metamorphosis into a butterfly is a wondrous parable of our miraculous change as we become Christians.

The caterpillar is imprisoned in a way, as he is only able to crawl or climb trees & bushes; always in contact with the bush or tree limb. He only knows how to eat. His appetite is insatiable - he is never satisfied. Everything in his wake is destroyed. No matter how much he eats, he wants more. BUT, there comes a day when he must willingly surrender himself to the cocoon (he even has to make it himself) to imprison himself even unto death. If he refuses for any reason to do this, he will never become a butterfly and know the freedom of flying through the air. As a butterfly, he will no longer eat of the leaves of the trees or bushes, he will now drink the sweet nectar of the flowers. The old caterpillar is really dead, and he is now truly a new creature, the beautiful butterfly. The change is visible for all to see.

While in our pre-Christian life, we are chained and imprisoned by our sins. We are insatiable in our desires for more things & adventures, always searching, but not always knowing what it is we search for. We quite often leave destruction in our wake as we climb the ladder of success in our worldly life. For many of us, there comes a time in our life where we wish we were dead. We are so unhappy with the way our life is, but we don’t know how to change it, or lack the strength of will to change it. Many of us have tried many times to change only to find we are again doing all the things we do not want to do and seem helpless to change our conditions. Fortunately, our Heavenly Father, who watches, sends someone our way to show us the way to freedom. Some of us choose to listen and some do not. We are given the choice. We are told of Jesus and how he came to buy us that freedom. We are told how he has already paid the price for our sins and we now only have to believe it and accept his gift of Grace and Freedom. We are told that in order to accept his gift of freedom, we must first realize we are living a life of sin and admit it and repent of it. Then we must submit our will to Him and ask Him for forgiveness. He will not only forgive us, He will walk with us through the death unto life process, and on to freedom. He does not leave us to do it alone.

By willingly submitting our will to Jesus, we are submitting to the cocoon of His Grace (his gift to us) which wraps us in his protective love that will get us through the death process. We should then willingly put on His armour daily as protection from the evil around us. He will then transform us through His love into a wonderful new creature as free as the butterfly. We soar to new heights never before thought possible. We are free and do not feel a loss of the things that are past. It seems strange, but as we give up what we consider control (we never really do have control, we just think we do), and give our control to Jesus, rather than feeling a loss of control and under control of another, we actually feel more free than ever. We are not to go back to our sin ways and be again imprisoned, as the butterfly never goes back to eating leaves. We are to feed on the wonderful love and words of our Savior Jesus and be nourished as the butterfly feeds only on the sweet nectar of the flowers. Our old self actually dies, and a new creation lives with Christ in our hearts. This change is as dramatic as the caterpillar/butterfly and is visible to all who know us. Some of them in turn, will ask you about this change and how they too can be free.

You may wish to read some scriptures found in the New Testament of the Bible explaining the new birth and the use of the Armour for protection.

See........

Ephesians 6:10-17

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

Ephesians 2:1-7

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also