An Epic Journey through the Holy Bible with Jesus

By Karen Marie Parker

Have you ever opened the Bible to look for answers? Maybe life is just too difficult, and you lost all hope? The Word of God has your answers, but is it too hard to understand? God's plan for salvation is meant for those who seek him, but some of us don't know where to begin. An Epic Journey through the Holy Bible with Jesus, volume one, will take you through sacred scripture one day at a time. You will get to know Jesus through his word, why he came, what his father expects from us, and how we can be the best person we can be in a fallen world. When you walk with Jesus, you hear and read quotes like, "Give your life to Me, I will take care of you and all your problems, don't doubt anymore, trust only in Me, you will never be alone, walk by faith and not by sight." Sometimes it may be difficult because you can feel Jesus's presence but not touch him; you can hear him, but he makes no sound; you can't see him, yet you know he's there. It is the spirit of God. This book will fill your heart and soul with love for Jesus and an understanding of what he is talking about to you, for you, and with you. Like going on a personal quest with Christ. Become more enlightened in your faith when the light of Jesus illuminates off the pages of sacred scripture.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 22, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098028732

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An Epic Journey through the Holy Bible with Jesus

Karen Marie Parker

Copyright © 2020 by Karen Marie Parker

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Matthew 6:9–13 (KJV)

Don’t Miss Your Boat

A Pilgrim Song

The Vine and the Branches

To my wonderful parents. I just wanted to take a moment to thank you both for being the most wonderful parents in all the world! Mom and Dad, you have done an amazing job at raising a beautiful family together, a family that has blossomed with precious grandchildren and great grandchildren, more precious than rubies and diamonds. In God’s eyes you have done very well with the flock he has given you. You truly have the gift of parenthood. In case you did not know, every time your children talk, they talk about how blessed they are having you for parents, the best parents in the whole world. Parents like no other. And anyone who knows us says the same thing about the both of you because your children have learned from both of you how to bring out our best qualities and become good people in this world.

In these golden years, I know that every morning you are feeling pain and discomfort in your daily routine, but please remember in your daily prayer to thank God for all these riches he has so graciously given to you. You must feel so blessed to have raised such a wonderful family, riches beyond compare. And always remember that your children, grandchildren, and greatgrandchildren will always be truly thankful that God has blessed us with you!

May God continue to bless you and keep you in his care.

With love from all your family.

Acknowledgment

It has been three years since my conversion and the start of my transformation with the Holy Spirit and the beginning of my new life with Jesus. I would like to share with you our new journey together. I feel like I am breathing and living for the first time in my life, and every day is a new adventure. Each morning, I can’t wait to get up and grab my four Bibles and dictionaries to start my day with Jesus. Beginning with prayer, God will take you through the Sacred Scriptures at your own place of understanding. For me, Jesus and I study, research, and write from two to six hours in a day. That may seem like a lot of time to you reading the Bible, but I believe that Jesus is worth the overtime. Don’t you? It not only changed my outlook on life, but it changed my family’s lives as well. When you first walk with Jesus, you hear and read quotes like give your life to me, I will take care of you and all your problems, don’t doubt anymore, trust only in me, you will never be alone, walk by faith and not by sight. All I have to say is that it’s all true, and the Holy Spirit is definitely real! You can feel it but not touch it; you can hear it, but it makes no sound; you can’t see it, yet you know it’s there. It is the spirit of God.

My life has taken shape in praise, honor, and service to the God of our life. My journey with Jesus has been the most rewarding quest in my whole life. I would like to share with you the many pages I have typed on my understanding of the scriptures in the Bible. They started out as raw material because I did not know how to spell the meaning of words or grammar, plus they were all typed in different styles of writing, but with the help of the Holy spirit of God, Jesus Christ, and daily persistence, I gradually found a style of writing that I can call my own.

This first book, we will get to know Jesus through Scripture, why he came, what his father expects from us, and how we can be the best person we can be in a fallen world. My next book will take us down history lane with the patriarchs, prophets, kings in the Old Testament, and finish up with Jesus’s genealogy, miracles, and parables in the New Testament. The third book will include an in-depth look at Revelation, angels, biblical historical facts, and finish up with prayers in Sacred Scriptures that give praise, honor, and glory to the one and only El Elyon.

I would like to thank the many great mentors, pastors, teachers, scholars, theologians, writers, and musicians who have shared their knowledge of our Lord God, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Sacred Scriptures. I hope that my writings, inspired by the Holy Spirit, will help you and others know the truth that lies in Sacred Scripture within the pages of the Holy Bible. I pray thankfully for the joy in my heart because I know that joy is Jesus!

The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace (Numbers 6:24–26, KJV).

Introduction

My Testimony

Broken Chains

Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning.

—Mark 13:35 (KJV)

The day before October 30, 2014, I had spiraled downward to the point that my face was on the floor, hopeless and broken. I had been struggling for months with a trial coming up for my son, Cain. I have no control over the deception that plays a large role in our justice system. My family means the world to me, and the fact that I could not fix this injustice in my son’s life took my mind to a darker place. I felt sick, weak, and disarrayed partly because I had not eaten or slept in days, but also because I had no refills left on my medications, no drugs to take, and stopped drinking alcohol because it just made matters worse. I decided to call my forever faithful sister, Debbie, for help, deciphering some five hundred pages of attorney papers. She was at work and immediately began to pray. When she came over, she sheepishly handed me this movie, God’s Not Dead, and said, The Lord told me this may help you, so please watch it? Well, needless to say, I was not in the mood to watch a Christian movie, but at the end of the day, I was still feeling so crushed that I put on the movie, hoping to get my mind off the trial. That movie was awesome. I have always understood philosophy, but the movie answered many questions I had about Jesus. I began to feel uplifted from my downward spiral. I stopped thinking about the trial and focused on Jesus. (Epignosis is a Greek word for knowledge. It means recognition of who Christ is. The moment the Holy Spirit of God enters a person for edification, it will instruct morally through Jesus Christ by the grace of God.) Still not being able to sleep that night, I began to covert the most radical transformation. God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit found me in the pit of despair and began to restore my soul. All of my fears left, and all my troubles seemed to be under complete control. God decides our fate before we are born, our destiny, our life, and our eternity. Nothing in our lives happens by chance. God’s Holy Spirit came rushing through me like a surge of electricity that next morning, I could hardly breathe, and suddenly everything about my entire life was crystal clear. I felt like I could fly! I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God (Reconciliation, Isaiah 61:10, KJV).

I was completely unaware of his supernatural powers, and I had no idea what happened to me. God’s salvation, grace, and his mercy were the last thing on my mind, but at that moment, I was on God’s mind. He had plans for me, and now was the time for a turning point, a new beginning in my life, a life of passion for God. I lost my life that day. I stopped taking all of my medications, drugs, and alcohol for Jesus Christ, and I have not looked back one time. Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God (Covenant, Galatians 5:20–21, KJV).

On December 17, 2014, God surprised Debbie and I with two free tickets to the Newsboys’s concert in Williston, North Dakota. They are the awesome Christian band that played in the movie, God’s Not Dead. Their song, Escape, inspired me. I realized that Christ had saved me and broke those chains of addiction.

The Lord has guided me through an incredible journey of compassion for this new life and an understanding of my former life with the prevaricator (Satan and his deviation from the truth). I lived forty years of my life with a motto: to live life to the fullest, no hold bars, pursuing parties, drugs, alcohol, and heavy metal concerts. At the age of eighteen, I moved in with a biker gang, The Rogues, in Vista, California, where I met my future husband, Patrick. The paths that I took lead me to some of the darkest places, and I learned to hate people and the world. I was not one bit afraid of Satan because he is afraid of me. Just six weeks earlier, I went to see my favorite heavy metal band in concert. I’m not really sure why I was so driven to this life with no fear, but I was determined to conquer it. (Hell?) I was telling my brother, Randy, that I know all of Satan’s tactics and maneuvers because I lived through them for forty years. I see how he works in people, clouding their minds with deception, and now I wish to help free them from those chains. Randy then reminded me that nothing happens by chance, and that God is in control, and he put me through forty years of darkness to gain that knowledge of Satan’s tactics so I can one day help God’s people. Now that is twisted fate if ever I had known one! For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10, KJV).

My transformation was such a shock that my family was asking what happened to me. It was an incredible change for me to go from horns to halo, black to white, anger to peace, the mosh pit to worshiping Jesus, a complete turnaround (snap) in one day. All I could say at the time was that it’s a miracle, the works of God, and that the Holy Spirit is definitely real! The tremendous impact this had on my children witnessing Christ within me compelled them to sign up for 2016 RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults). It is classes for those who wish to become Catholic. They were baptized and became confirmed Catholics on Easter, April 15, 2017.

My conversion represented the infusion of divine grace and a resurrection from spiritual death. My life of darkness was one thing, but when Satan started moving in on my children, that was the turning point from darkness to light. A major overhaul was in order, and Christ had his hands full because I was a complete mess. It was an emotional roller coaster ride every time Christ led me out of a stronghold. Strongholds are reasoning against the knowledge of God via deception. My strongholds were not just carrying around a ball and chain; they were bolted together! My addictions, my wardrobe, my music, and my way of life took me a lifetime to accomplish this reputation. Christ said, Trust Me, each time he broke a chain and showed me how Satan had creeped into every area of my life and consumed me. And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will (2 Timothy 2:26, KJV).

Even though I quit taking my medications, I did have a stash left in my dresser drawer just in case I needed them. I had kept them a secret, still a crutch, still hidden from people but the Lord knew they were there, and one day, while I was praying, he was very persistent that I throw them all away. Now! Jesus said that if I don’t throw the drugs down that sewer, they will come out of me like the sewage that they are. It wasn’t until I threw those pills down into the sewer that I realized how strong that hold was in my head. All along, I was running away from bearing the pain it would cause to completely let them go. I cried like never before. It felt like I just let go of a lifelong friend forever. Then I prayed real hard and felt huge boulders lifted off my entire body. You see, Satan will stop at nothing to steal your soul from God. Spiritual warfare is a reality! After Christ washed the mud from my eyes, I could see clearly for the first time that my self-centered life caused my drug addictions, anxiety, stomach ulcers, insomnia, teeth grinding, blurred vision, ADHD, hypertension, alcoholism, hangovers, headaches, sexual immorality, hatred, anger, illiteracy, insanity and an incurable BAMF. Boy I can sure live without friends like that. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would (Galatians 5:17, KJV).

When Christ freed me from all those chains, I was able to focus on my walk with him through the entire Bible. Jesus was able to start making a new me. My mother bought me a Bible for my birthday that November in 2014, and I buried my face in it, one scripture at a time and one chapter after another, understanding and interpreting the Word of God with the help of his Holy Spirit. It was a miracle! The Bible is God’s way of communicating with us the truth, and through prayer, he hears us. The Holy Spirit taught me how to read, write, organize, and document every step of my new life’s journey. I now have seventeen three ring binders, and I’m still learning. Through my studies, I have learned that the end of our struggles is where we begin a new life with Christ, and all that remains from our past are the scars marked by grace. Conversion is the beginning of unmasking ourselves in our quest or journey toward God’s reality of everlasting life. You see, God’s goals are for the next generation: And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it unto them by line: they shall possess it forever, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein (Isaiah 34:17, KJV). Now my children and their children are able to live a chain-free life with Jesus. They too have learned that Christ motivates us in a positive way that gives life meaning, a purpose, and full of the fruits of the Spirit. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law (Galatians 5:22–23, KJV). These are the gifts of grace from God, and his truth will always set you free. I owe my life to Jesus. My chains are broken, and I’m free!

In him was life; and the life was the light of men (John 1:4, KJV).

Sacred scriptures are God-breathed, and the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ will illuminate those pages and come to life for our own ears to hear. What does your fate have in store for you? May the Holy Spirit enlighten your own journey toward God and his heavenly kingdom. In Jesus’s name, I pray. Amen.

Chapter 1

Devotionals: Free Will

God, Jesus, and Satan, everyone comes across these names and plays with the notion to believe or not. Good versus evil. It is our free will that allows us to make choices. It’s easy to dismiss what you don’t understand and just let it go at that, but not believing in either is the same as allowing everything right or wrong to be permissible. If we tolerate wrong behavior as a way of life and allow things to continue just the way, then people in life will suffer in silence. God does not command us to be good or forbid us from doing wrong; he permits us to learn our lessons from the choice that we make.

We must listen to our deepest and most inner thoughts speaking to us about being obedient, to follow orders from God. God knows that we need to tolerate discipline and training because it is the acceptance to have control and a system of rules in order to have order. Don’t allow Satan to make this confusing.

God gave us our free will which is the expression of our future intent. We have obligations to make, needs to fill. We have a willingness and an ability to live with morals,