333 Journal Pages

By Linda Wright

In memory of my husband, James A. Wright, I have written this book of 333 journal pages. For each entry, I have selected a Bible verse for you to reference or study and then some of my thoughts on the topic at hand. After a short prayer, there is room for your thoughts and ideas. I love to journal, and I pray you will join me in loving it too! Discover why this book is titled 333 Journal Pages in my introduction and Journal Page 1.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Feb 5, 2018
• ISBN: 9781641407052

Linda Wright

Linda C. Wright was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and raised in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio. After graduating from Bowling Green State University, I moved to Florida. I've been here ever since. I married Richard, got a B.A. degree in accounting from Florida Atlantic University and launched my writing career. The inspiration for my first novel, One Clown Short came from my years working as a manager for a Fortune 500 company. My essays have since appeared in several editions of Chicken Soup For the Soul.My newest memoir, A Bittersweet Goodnight is available now. It is the Bronze award winner of the 2019 Royal Palm Literary Award in the memoir category. A tragedy precedes the entrance of a stepmother. What happens next is the journey of a lifetime.

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Journal Page 1

333

From Him who is and who was and who is to come.

—Revelation 1:4

I dedicate this book to my beloved deceased husband, James A. Wright. My husband’s favorite number was 333. Whenever he glanced at a clock, it usually was at 3:33 a.m. or p.m. When he noticed a license plate, it usually contained a 333 as part of its number. Sometimes a 0 was with the three 3’s, but the three 3’s were there. A gas price on a pump would be $33.30. Sometimes the 0 would be in different places in the number, but the 333 was evident. Key Bible verses would be 3:33 or 33:3. He found 333 everywhere he looked. As a faithful follower of Christ and beloved of God, my husband believed the number 333 was important. Whenever he observed the threes, he would say, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! because the Trinity was such an important fact in his life. He believed that the realization of the number 3 standing for the Trinity was being declared three times for emphasis when he saw 333.

The number three is an important number in the Holy Bible. It occurs 247 times and occurs in many groups of three. There were three faithful patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Three disciples went up the mountain of transfiguration: John, Peter, and James. Three angels are mentioned in the Bible: Michael, Gabriel, and Lucifer. You will love your God by your three parts: body, soul, and mind. Jesus prayed three times in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus lay in a tomb for three days. On the third day, He arose. He said, It is finished! at 3:00 p.m. There was darkness for three hours while Jesus was on the cross. Three is the number of the resurrection. God is in three Persons, as well as He who is, was, and will be. There are more places where the number three is important in God’s story.

In the memory of my husband, I have titled this book 333 Journal Pages. The number 3 is also an important number to me and my family. We now also see 333 in unexpected places.

Dear Father, Thank You for blessing me with such a wonderful husband whom You loved so that he could love me unconditionally. May this book honor him and You. I praise the Lord and thank You for the gift of James A. Wright. Amen.

Your thoughts

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Journal Page 2

The Lord’s Prayer

This, then, is how you should pray.

—Matthew 6:9

The disciples asked Our Lord how to pray, and He gave them an example of a simple, heartfelt prayer. I was challenged to paraphrase the Lord’s Prayer in my own simple, heartfelt words. I pray my prayer is from a humble, fervent heart.

Our Father

My Father, Abba Father, Daddy Father, Abba Father, to whom I belong.

Who art in heaven

You are above in Your dwelling place. You are above in Your garden (the King’s garden) in Your holy place. You are in Your throne room.

Hallowed be Your name

Your name is holy, all-powerful Creator; awesome, precious God; Maker of all mankind. Your name is love.

Thy kingdom come

Because You are love, You came down to earth once and rose again in victory. You will come down again.

Your will be done

It is all about You. Bend my will to Your will to glorify You. Make me a servant, for I pray to trust and obey.

On earth as it is in heaven

Your presence fills the heavens. When You come again, every knee will bow, and Your presence will be known on the earth.

Give us this day our daily bread

Your gifts are new every morning. You know what I need. You supply all my needs through the glorious riches of Christ Jesus. You are my provider, and I put my trust in You. You are the giver of all good gifts. May Your gifts flow through me to others. Jesus is the bread of the world. Thank You that I can eat of Him daily.

Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors

We are forgiven, and our sins are put away as far as the east is from the west, and You will remember them no more. I pray to be quick to forgive whenever I feel hurt by anyone. I pray to extend Your grace to all.

And lead us not into temptation

Holy Spirit, please lead me and keep my steps on the narrow path. May I cast down any wrong thoughts that would lead me astray. Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Please keep me on the path of righteousness right where You want me to be.

But deliver us from evil

You are with me and promise never to leave me nor forsake me. You are holding my right hand. You are my protector, my mighty fortress I can run to for shelter. I am in the palm of Your hand. Your words in scripture are more powerful than the evil one.

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory

My God reigns, rules, is the ruler, is the powerful, loving victor. It is all about You. You get all the credit. Your kingdom, power, and glory is beyond my comprehension. Your love is beyond my understanding. You set the heavens and earth into motion with your words. All glory belongs to you.

Forever

Forever is also a concept beyond my comprehension, but I pray to be in the bright future You have planned for me and to be with You forever and ever and ever.

Amen

So be it.

Thank You, Abba Father. Alleluia!

Your thoughts

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Journal Page 3

The Ugly and the Beautiful

For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime;

weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.

—Psalm 30:5

Six months ago, my four-year-old grandson accidentally stomped on my big toe. The nail turned black-and-blue, and blood showed through it. My toenail was truly ugly and dirty looking. An Epsom-salt soak took away the soreness. I applied WO oil and Vick’s VapoRub occasionally to keep the area germ-free. For six months, it continued to be very ugly, but today that nail fell off. What joy! I never dreamed I would see beauty underneath such an ugly covering. I am so happy that my toenail bed and new toenail look healthy and clean.

A thief hung on a cross next to the cross Jesus hung on. He saw our beautiful Savior under the ugly, dirty, bloodstained, tortured, naked body hanging next to his own. The thief asked for forgiveness and received mercy from the beautiful, forgiving God who was beside him. He saw the ugly but beheld the beautiful Savior. Jesus said to him that he, the thief, would be with Jesus in paradise that very day.

The twelve disciples and his followers saw the scourged, ugly body of Christ during the Lord’s passion and torment. The eleven disciples and many more also saw the new beautiful whole body of Jesus after His resurrection. That ugly, broken body was made beautiful by His Father.

God saw all the sins—past, present, and future—of the whole world hanging on the cross. He watched His Son die in the shame that was ours. Jesus owned it and bore it for our sake. Jesus became the crucified Lamb to take away the sins of the world. He bore our sins, who knew no sin. He was ugly in God’s eyes because of our iniquities. He died, but in three days, God raised His Son with a new beautiful resurrected body. He sat Him at His right hand. Christ is placed next to the Father’s throne. He is in all His glory. As Twila Paris sang, How beautiful is the body of Christ. Jesus can make all things new. We are alive because He is alive. We can be made new each morning. We can rejoice in the newness. The old has passed away. Joy comes in the morning.

Resurrection Father, thank You for the beauty hiding under the ugly. Thank You for the beauty in the body of Christ. Thank You for new beginnings. How beautiful is the body of Christ. I am so happy that my beautiful Lord reigns. Amen.

Your thoughts

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Journal Page 4

Deliverer

For sin shall not be your master,

because you are not under law, but under grace.

—Romans 6:14

Jesus gave us a prayer to pray to His, our, Father. He told us to pray that our Father deliver us from evil. Evil was in the beginning when the snake tempted Eve at the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. And evil is still trying to tempt us today. Men need a deliverer and helper. God wants us to know that we need Him. We need a Savior, and God supplies One. God is our deliverer. The Father sent His only Son to deliver His people.

In the beginning, evil is set against God’s children. Whenever man does not acknowledge his need for God, God judges His people. Adam and Eve sinned eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, for they were commanded not to eat from that tree. To have the knowledge of good and evil would make man godlike. God cursed the snake, woman, and man because of their disobedience. The snake was cursed more than all the other livestock. The woman’s curse was, she would have increased pain in childbearing and to be subject to her husband. Adam’s curse was that he would work the land with painful toil by the sweat of his brow, and dust would return to dust. Evil led man to sin, which caused man to live under the curse. Evil brought death.

God delivered His people who were crying out to Him from Egypt. Moses led God’s people out of Egypt, and they traveled under God’s grace until they reached Mount Sinai. From Egypt to Mount Sinai, God’s people knew they needed God and cried out to Him for help. God got angry with His people when they responded to their God and said, We will do everything the Lord has said. They were declaring that they could do good in their own strength and could do good works themselves and did not need God’s help. God demands to be needed and for us to do works in His strength. Because of their sin, they suffered curses. For example, they wandered for forty years in the wilderness when the journey should have taken days, not years.

God gave the Ten Commandments through His servant Moses. God’s law is perfect, and when man even broke one of the laws, the curses came on him. The law was given to show man his sinfulness. Man was cursed with sickness, disease, and all kinds of destruction when even one law was broken, for breaking one breaks all of them. First Corinthians 15:56–57 says, The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. By the law, no one can receive God’s blessings, for no man is sinless. God’s blessings come to one who can keep all the laws. Only One could keep all the laws, One without sin, One who has the blessings. Moses represented the law, so Moses could not bring God’s people into the blessings, the Promised Land. Moses died before his people crossed the River Jordan. God showed the people His power and their need for Him. He pushed back the water of the river, and the people passed over to their promised land, blessed ground, holy ground.

The time of Moses was over, and the coming of Jesus in His glory is coming. Jesus came and fulfilled the law and conquered sin and death. Jesus dealt with the law in His death and resurrection. The Gospel of grace replaced the law, for the Bible says you cannot have a mixture of the two but to live under God’s grace and not under the law. It is written, From the fullness of His grace we have received one blessing after another. And, For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God, who we know has given us the victory through His Son.

Because He so loves us, God’s plan of our delivery continues after the story of Moses as He gave us His only Son to take away our sins. God took every sin from all of mankind and put it on His Son. Jesus died and conquered sin because God planned our restoration with the resurrection of His Son. His Son who knew no sin became every sin that was or will ever be committed. Jesus is our Deliverer, Savior. We in Christ receive the blessings.

In my life, I have been kept safe and delivered from many disasters. I know God is my Deliverer, and I thank Him. I have been healed from sicknesses and am rarely sick by the grace of God. He watches over me when I drive my car. I am sure that I have been delivered from many accidents by His watchfulness. I have pulled out into traffic without looking with no consequences. I thank God I have not been hit. Even when I am asleep or not aware, I am sure God delivers me from evil. Jesus already won the battle, so He has delivered me from the fear of death. Goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever, says Psalm 23.

Thank You, Father, for my blessings. I am so blessed. Dear Father, I pray to You for help and deliverance from all that could fall on me. Deliver me from evil, for I am Your child. But even if evil should raise its head, Thou art with me. Thank You, my Deliverer. Amen.

Your thoughts

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Journal Page 5

Truth Bearer

At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent.

—Daniel 6:4

Daniel was a young Hebrew man whom the king of Babylon decided to train as one of his attendants. Daniel was a devout young man of Judah who loved the Lord. Daniel was determined to please God. He would stay faithful to the Lord and would not compromise his beliefs. He would not turn from God and God’s laws. Daniel stayed faithful to God and won favor with the king as he made godly choices.

In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams that disturbed him. The wise men of the kingdom could not interpret the king’s dreams. Daniel was told the secret of the dreams in a vision. Daniel blessed the God of heaven and went before the king to tell him what God had revealed to him. The king paid homage to Daniel as a great prophet and honored Daniel’s God. The king made Daniel great and placed him in a position to rule over Babylon. Daniel continued to interpret dreams and signs for many years and for many kings in the kingdom of Babylon. King Darius recognized an excellent spirit within Daniel and thought to set him over the whole realm.

The other leaders in the government sought to discredit Daniel in the king’s eyes. Daniel’s accusers could find no fault in Daniel, so they concocted a plan to get rid of him. King Darius was convinced to establish a royal decree that could not be broken: that anyone who prayed to or made a request to any God other than the king himself for thirty days should be thrown into the den of lions. Daniel knew of the signed decree and knew he was risking his life when he went into his house, opened his windows, and prayed, giving thanks to his God on his knees. Daniel stayed faithful to God even when threatened by the lions’ den. Daniel determined in his own mind he would not allow the world to stop him from praying to the one true God.

Daniel’s enemies told King Darius that Daniel made petition to God three times a day even though his petition forbade this. King Darius was grieved but had no choice but to proceed with punishing Daniel. The king said to Daniel, May your God, whom you are serving continually, deliver you! Daniel loved the Lord, and God was pleased with Daniel’s fearless stand. The next morning, King Darius went to the lions’ den where Daniel had spent the night. The king said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is your God able to deliver you from the lions? Daniel answered that his God had indeed sent angels to close shut the lions’ mouths, for he was innocent of any wrongdoing. Daniel was drawn up from the lions’ den, and King Darius made a new decree. He declared that the God of Daniel was the living God and that He must be worshiped, for Daniel’s God is a Savior and Deliverer.

Daniel took a fearless stand as a truth bearer because he believed that the laws of God must be followed even unto death. Daniel did not compromise his faith and was found innocent in God’s and man’s eyes. Daniel bore the truth of the living God and was rewarded for his faithfulness. Daniel caused a whole nation to believe in the one true God by his bearing the truth to a nation where he was exiled. May we also bear the truth of our Lord even unto death as Daniel demonstrated with his life. We give praise to the living God, who delivered Daniel and whose kingdom endures forever.

Dear Father, May I stand firmly on my faith and be a truth bearer for You. Because You loved me first, I can declare my love for You. Thank You for allowing me to share the truth and be a truth bearer. Amen.

Your thoughts

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Journal Page 6

Living

Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live.

—Ezekiel 18:31–32

We serve a living God, who manifests His life in many ways: God breathed His Holy Spirit breath into Adam, and Adam lived. Israel, God’s people, were delivered not by chance but by a living God. God the Father raised Jesus from the tomb, and Jesus is alive. The Holy Spirit lives in every believer. The word of God is alive. The Triune God is, was, and always will be alive. As God’s children, life is God’s will for us. Jesus instructs us to choose life or death. Although Jesus died for us, it was so we would have an abundant life! Through His death, Jesus proved his love; there is no greater love than giving your life for another. Thank You, God and Jesus, for loving us so very much!

What does it mean to live abundantly? It means, far from condemning us, God wants us to enjoy our lives. So living, what’s it all about? We thank God every morning that we are alive another day. We live unto the Lord, for the Lord, and to be used by the Lord for His glory. Our lives themselves are a precious gift; the life of a new child in a family is a gift beyond compare. How can we honor our lives? By giving them back to the Lord. No matter our situation, God can restore our lives and use our lives to restore others and to transform this world we are in but not of.

But this life is not just for this world. To serve a living God means we can rest in the knowledge that we will live with Him forever and ever. He lives with us in this life and the next. Eternal life is a concept hard for us to fathom. We know this mortal coil is frail, and therefore how precious life is. And we know our life span is short compared to eternity. Though we know as believers that we will live eternally loving our God, I pray that we are truly living while we are here on earth. Satan wants to shorten our life spans and deaden our spirit so we will not impact others with the good news of the Gospel. If we choose to believe Satan’s lies or to follow him, we are choosing death over life. Choose life. The Holy Spirit guides us and directs us on the path toward our living God. Living is a journey with the destination being our eternal home.

No condemnation now I dread:

Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;

alive in Him, my living Head.

—Charles Wesley, And Can It Be

Dear Living God, show me the way you want me to be living. I am thankful for today’s breath and that I am alive. And I look forward to being alive with Jesus in Your heavenly kingdom. May my life on earth glorify Your holy name. Thank You for this life. I am living for You. I read Your holy living word and want to learn all that You want me to know. As for me and my house, we will live for, learn of, and trust in our living God. Amen.

With You is the fountain of Life.

—Psalm 36

Your thoughts

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Journal Page 7

A Sound You Cannot Escape

Search me, O God, and know my heart,

test me and know my anxious thoughts.

—Psalm 139:23

An old saying goes, Wherever you go, there you are! Although at times you may be alone, you always have one companion—yourself. You can’t escape the sound of your thoughts or your own voice. Therefore, you might as well think and say things that are helpful rather than harmful. Although at times it is difficult, you do have control over what you think. You can cast down wrong thoughts and choose to think about the good. You can choose truth instead of lies.

Take some time to listen to your thoughts. Are your thoughts as you would have them be? Negative thoughts can have a powerful influence in your life. Although the devil can put thoughts in your head, you can choose to cast them out with the power of God’s words of truth. When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, He said, It is written, and then quoted Scripture. It can make a huge difference when we know what Scripture to quote over any situation that comes into our lives. The Bible calls the words of God our sword. If the devil plants a thought in our head in an attempt to defeat us, we can hear our own voice declare our victory. Angels and people around us hear our voice and can join with us and help lead us to that victory. We can use our voice and words to remind us who we are and what we are.

Our words are sounds we cannot escape, and what we hear ourselves saying is very powerful because we usually believe what we hear ourselves say. Never talk badly about yourself or put yourself down. Listen to what you say about yourself. If you tell yourself that you are not good enough, you will believe it. Tell yourself instead that you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, the victor instead of the victim, and that you are the beloved child of God. Say truths that build you up. You believe what you say about yourself more than what others say about you. Do you say things like, I will never get well, or do you say, I am healed by the stripes of Jesus? Do you say, I can’t pay my bills, or, God will supply all my needs? I say daily, I am prosperous and have plenty left over to give to others. I am blessed and pray to be a blessing to others. I enjoy good health as my soul prospers. All is well with my soul. Today is the day the Lord hath made. I will rejoice and be glad in it! The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Abba Father, I belong to you. My God loves me unconditionally. As for me and my house, we will worship, lean on, trust in, and serve our Lord.

God’s Word spoken out of my mouth regularly produces a powerful and victorious life! I like to sing and hear my favorite hymns being spoken by my mouth as well as meditations in my head. Those are sounds I do not want to escape. Make up your own list of declarations and repeat them daily so the voice you hear will be not sounds you want to escape from but words you are glad to hear!

Dear Lord, may we remember to speak Your words to ourselves. May we not talk negatively about ourselves and put ourselves down. May our words glorify You as Your joyful, positive children. We hear our voices talking to You. Help us to hear Your voice talking to us in answer. Amen.

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want . . . Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life . . . Amen.

—Psalm 23

Your thoughts

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Journal Page 8

Baptism by the Flood

For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth.

—Genesis 7:17

Baptism is a symbolic act. It symbolizes a death, a burial, and a resurrection to new life. Water used in a baptism is a symbolic vehicle. It symbolizes cleansing and washing away sin. Submersion in water means death and burial. The lifting out of the water symbolizes cleansing, refreshing, washing clean, and a new life and a new beginning. The water of baptism is a symbol for the Holy Spirit in His grace, giving renewal. Water is a gift from God and has a primary role in baptism.

Before the Cross

In the story of Noah’s ark, there is a baptismal story. Noah obeyed God, and he and his family were saved from God’s anger when God decided to destroy His creation with a flood. The water was death to a sinful, corrupt world. The floodwater caused death and buried all the living creatures who were not in Noah’s ark as the waters covered the earth. God was cleansing the world for a new beginning. God had washed away the sin of the world, and Noah and his family were saved to start new life on the dry ground when the waters receded. The baptism by water was completed. There was a baptism, but sin was not eliminated. Man would sin again even after the earth was baptized and cleaned. Sin was not conquered. God promised never to destroy the earth again by water and gave us the rainbow as a reminder of His covenant. God would deal with sin without using a destroying flood.

In preparing the way of the Lord, John the Baptist baptized people and told them to repent. He called people to turn from their sinful ways and wait expectantly for the Lord to come. Baptism cleansed away their sins, but then they needed to turn from their wicked ways and seek the one who was coming. John was crying in the wilderness to sinful man. They were baptized by the flood of John’s cry of emergency. Again, the act of baptism symbolized death as the people were submerged in the water and given new life as they were raised up. They repented of their sins but lived to sin again. They are still fallen creatures and sin even after they repented of their sins in the flood of John’s enthusiasm. God will deal with sin.

After the Cross

Baptism reminds us of Jesus’s story. It symbolizes Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection. God dealt with sin and conquered sin by giving His own Son our sins on the cross. Sin is now put away from us. The penalty for sin has been paid. God dealt with sin, and He won. Now, when we are baptized, we are buried with Christ and then raised again for a new life. The water is the symbol of our death and the beauty of our resurrection when we are lifted out of the water. We may have a flood of happy feelings when we are baptized or when we see someone else being baptized. A life with Jesus starts with being baptized into His family as we remember His life-giving story of death and then life forevermore after His resurrection. God dealt with sin, and we are forgiven. Our sins—past, present, and future—are paid for. Our baptism is a symbol of our belonging to God and what He has done for us.

Thank You, Father, for the sacrament of baptism and its reminders of our Lord and Savior’s life and sacrifice. Thank You that we can join Your family through the floodwaters of baptism. Amen.

Your thoughts

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Journal Page 9

A Living Sacrifice

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy,

to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.

—Romans 12:1

A sacrifice is something that we give up that has a cost attached to it. Something is not a sacrifice if it doesn’t cost us anything, or if we are not giving up something to achieve it. Jesus sacrificed His life for us. He sacrificed His glory and place in heaven to come down to earth and live with us. He sacrificed His earthly life by being obedient to the point of death. The Lamb’s blood, Jesus’s life, was more than a costly price for our sins. He sacrificed all so we could have all. We died in Christ when He died, and we are alive in Christ, for He is alive. We had the ultimate exchange given to us by Jesus’s sacrifice. He took away our sins, filthy rags, and gave us His white robe.

In the book of Romans, the Bible calls us to be living sacrifices and tells us that doing so is a reasonable service for us to show God that we love Him and worship Him. He wants us to fellowship with Him and the ones He loves. Dedicating everything about ourselves to God as a living sacrifice is fellowship with God. We can give Him our all: our minds, emotions, bodies, and spirits. We can allow God to use all of us. We can surrender all and give ourselves to our Creator. It is not all about us anyway. It is all about God and His glory. We must make the right decision and decide to sacrifice and give up our selfishness. We must be God-centered and not self-centered. It will cost us more than our time, more than our money, more than our talents to be living sacrifices. We will need to give our all as our Savior did to offer our unselfishness to God and His people.

According to Jesus, the two greatest commandments are to love our God with all our hearts, minds, and souls and to love our neighbors as ourselves (as God loves them). When we live sacrificially, that is what we are called to do: to love God and all His children. God wants us to show that love in our actions, not just in our words, not just to say we love Him and others. Loving is a verb. We offer ourselves to our God and to His people. Helping others, caring for others, relieving pain and suffering, and fellowshipping with others are sacrifices we gladly give if we truly love God.

We have to make up our minds and decide to be a living sacrifice and be willing to pay the price for doing so. We will need to give up our time to pray, be alone with God, to fellowship with Him to get to know Him. Fellowship building takes time. We are a living sacrifice when we decide to serve others. We sacrifice—give up selfishness—when we tithe so that there is food for others in the house of the Lord. We sacrifice when we give not only our money but also our time and talents to help our neighbor. We sacrifice our all, and God freely gives us His all. We honor God and glorify His holy name by letting His words, deeds, thoughts, love flow through us to others. In exchange for a selfish life, He gives us all that we need: His joy, His peace—the abundant life. What we receive far exceeds the cost of our sacrifices.

Giving is a sign of love. God is love. God is good. God is a good giver. We receive and joyfully give because it was first given to us. We are the channel God can use to give to others if we will be a living sacrifice, which is our reasonable service and which is pleasing to God.

Thank You, loving Father, for all You have sacrificed for me. May I be a living sacrifice to honor You. Amen.

Love is the beauty of the soul.

—Saint Augustine

Your thoughts

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Journal Page 10

Blind Bartimaeus

Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, Son of David, have mercy on me!

—Mark 10:48

Bartimaeus shouted! He was a blind beggar, but he saw and understood much about the Lord. He knew to shout out, Have mercy on me, so Jesus would hear him. Bartimaeus knew if Jesus heard him, Jesus would stop! He understood whom he was shouting out to, Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of David. He knew he could ask for mercy, God’s unmerited kindness. Bartimaeus knew whom to speak to for his healing. In response, Jesus asked Bartimaeus what he wanted, and the blind man asked to receive sight! Because he believed in and trusted Jesus, Jesus healed him. Jesus said that Bartimaeus’s faith in Him had healed him. After receiving his sight, the first thing Bartimaeus saw was Jesus! His need had been met, and Bartimaeus chose to follow and accompany Jesus on His way. What a story of boldness, trust, mercy, and loving-kindness! Bartimaeus may have been blind physically but was not blind spiritually!

There are many kinds of blindness Jesus healed. The Messiah in Isaiah 42:6–7 was called for a righteous purpose and in righteousness. To open the eyes of the blind. He opened spiritual eyes as well as physical eyes. I love to sing hymns that remind me of this fact. Open My Eyes That I May See, a Methodist hymn, starts, Open my eyes that I might see glimpses of truth thou hast for me . . . open my eyes; illumine me, spirit divine! Another hymn starts, Open the eyes of my heart Lord . . . So I may see you . . . So I may see you. A gospel hymn states, I was blind but now I see. . . These are only three examples of many hymns that were written on this subject.

The disciples saw Jesus physically but were unable to see or understand many of His actions and words. He went into Jerusalem riding on a young donkey. A king at that time would have entered a city riding on a great horse.

Jesus spoke to the multitudes in parables and stories, and many of the listeners did not see the hidden meanings of Jesus’s wisdom. Many who spoke to Jesus directly discovered their true identities. Some people then followed him gladly, and some then went away sad, like the rich man who would not sell all he had to follow Him.

To follow God’s commandment to love others, we have to see others. We need to open our minds and hearts to their needs. If we see the needs of others, there is much more we can do to fill those needs and truly love them. Jesus wants us to see Him in all mankind. In Matthew 25:37–44, it says, Then the just and upright will answer Him. Lord, when did we see You hungry and gave you food? . . . and when did we see you a stranger? . . . And when did we see You sick? . . . And the King will reply to them. Truly I tell you, in so far as you did it for one of the least . . . of these My brethren, you did it for Me. And in Proverbs 19:17, it says, He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord.

Those who think that they understand the whole Bible and see all its meanings are fools. God has many mysteries hidden in His living Word. We now see through a mirror or glass darkly. We ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us the meaning of God’s Word and what God wants us to know when He wants us to know it. Everywhere in the Bible, we find Jesus. We continue to learn of Him every day. Our pastors, teachers, and spiritual leaders study and reveal what they learn in the scriptures to us in sermons and writings. We study the Word daily ourselves and gain intimate knowledge of our God. The Scriptures and the Word are vital for seeing people of all ages. Bartimaeus saw Jesus both physically and spiritually and knew of Jesus before he had eyes to see. He gained his physical sight and chose to follow Him. May God open our eyes, and may we follow Jesus all our days!

Dear Father God, have mercy on us and grant us sight to see Jesus. Amen.

And Jesus said to him. Go your way; Your faith has healed you. And at once he received his sight and accompanied Jesus on the road.

—Mark 10:52

Your thoughts

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Journal Page 11

Adam I and Adam II

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all will be made alive.

—1 Corinthians 15:22

The first Adam had it all, and he gave it all away. The first Adam was living under God’s grace until Adam gave it away by his disobedience to God’s command. Adam’s disobedience meant to live under God’s curses, and physical death rather than God’s grace. But God had a plan from the beginning. Adam was made because of God’s love, for God’s love, and to return God’s love. It was not God’s plan for man to know God’s curses. He wants mankind to realize and know for sure that man needs God’s gift of grace. The first Adam’s removal from the Garden of Eden did not remove God’s love for him. God so loved His children that He had a plan to restore man and to retrieve what Adam had given away.

The second Adam, Lord Jesus, came to show mankind that we could not restore ourselves to God without help, help that came through Jesus himself. This is the testimony of God’s love for the world. He gave His only begotten Son, the second Adam, the Redeemer, for us. Man was under the law but could not keep the law. No one except the second Adam was without sin. He came with God’s grace and power and offered grace to all mankind. He is the Restorer. He took all authority back from the devil. He fought temptation and the devil with the words of His Father. The first Adam disobeyed despite the threat of death. Jesus obeyed God even unto His excruciating and shameful death on the cross. Jesus offers us the freedom to live under God’s grace because of our redeemer.

The first Adam caused the curse of death to enter the world. The first Adam died. The second Adam brought life into the world, and He is alive. Because He lives, we live under God’s mercy, unmerited favor, and grace. This is indeed good news!

Dear Lord, thank You, Father, for Your plan of two Adams. We are your beloved children, and thank You for the gift of Your beloved Son. You are good, and You are love!

Well then, as one man trespass (one man’s false step and falling away led) to condemnation for all men, so one Man’s act of righteousness (leads) to acquittal and right standing with God and life for all men.

—Romans 5:18

Your thoughts

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Journal Page 12

Choices and Decisions

But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve.

—Joshua 24:15

Life is full of decisions and choices. Some seem easy and obvious. Some seem extremely difficult. Some are insignificant, and some are life changing. Some can be changed, and some, once they are made, are written in stone. Isn’t it fascinating that God had choices and decisions written into his initial plan for mankind? He freely gave us free will to make choices and even to suffer the consequences of our poor decisions. Although the right answer might seem clear to us, we do not always choose the obvious. It seems obvious that we should vote in a country that gives us the freedom to do so. But it is amazing to me how many people do not exercise their right to vote. It seems obvious to choose right over wrong, but many times, people will not choose the right and will actively do the wrong even when they know better.

It seems easy to always tell the truth, but people lie. It is less work to forgive than to hold a grudge against anyone, but many people live with unforgiveness in their hearts. It is obvious to take care of your body and get enough sleep, but how many people do? Should you go to church on Sunday morning or go shopping? Should you smoke? Should you exercise or sit on the couch? Should you eat healthy food or junk food? Questions and situations like these seem like they have easy and obvious answers. But many choices are much harder. Sometimes when you vote, it seems like you are deciding between the lesser of two evils. The decision to leave a current job to seek another career can be a difficult decision. Who you should marry and who you should trust does not always have an easy answer. Choosing to follow God’s plan for your life may be hard.

Many of our choices are insignificant. What you will wear may be a daily decision but not really significant. What color car you buy, what color to paint your room, or whether you want red hair or brown are not important decisions in the grand scheme of things. We easily can change our minds on most of the decisions we make. However, some decisions and choices cannot be changed. Suicide is up among our young people. Do our children know that, that decision cannot be unmade if they succeed? Some things, when they are done, are done. If you hurt someone, they are hurt. You can be forgiven, but the hurtful words or actions cannot be unsaid or undone.

God is love, and so loves us that He wants to know that we truly love Him. He did not even command that we love Him, but gave us the choice whether or not to trust and obey Him. We can make the decision to love Him with all our hearts, minds, and souls, and freely return the love He has freely given us. We can choose to believe God’s Word or the lies of Satan. We can choose to believe Jesus is the Son of God or turn our back on our God. God’s gifts are all free, but we must decide to receive His precious gifts. All good gifts are from heaven above, but it is our choice whether to believe that or not.

Jesus gives us the choice of following Him and receiving eternal life or choosing sin and death. We can choose to follow the ways of this world or the master’s. We can believe and choose to be conquered by our circumstances or choose to keep our eyes on Jesus. We can make a decision to have faith or to live in fear. No weapon formed against us can succeed if we make the decision to believe! There are so many choices and decisions to be made in life—I pray we choose wisely. The choices you have made during your life have placed you right where you are right now. May the Spirit of God guide you into the best choices for you and your life. The Holy Spirit within us can guide us and direct us to the best decisions. Whether the decision is easy or hard, insignificant or life-changing, you have the free will to make the right choice for yourself. May God grant you the wisdom to do so.

Dear Father, thank You for the gift of free choices, free will, and the privilege to make my own decisions. As for me and my house, we will choose to serve the Lord. Thank You, Father God, for the free choices and decisions I can make. Thank You for loving me so much you did not want to make me into a robot. Thank You for loving me as an individual with the freedom to choose to serve or reject You. I choose to love my God with all my heart, soul, and mind. I choose to serve the Lord today! Amen.

That I have set before you life and death, the blessings and the curses; therefore choose life.

—Deuteronomy 30:19

Your thoughts

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Journal Page 13

Circle

Our Father who is in Heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.

—Matthew 6:9–13

A circle. What a perfect shape. No beginning and no end, round, and complete. What a marvelous concept. There are so many wonderful circles or cycles that are in us and around us to observe. We find them in our bodies. The circulatory system of blood flowing to and from the heart is a prime example. Nature provides many examples. The water cycle, the rotation of the earth, day and night, and the seasons are observable circles. God reminds us of the cycle of death and life in nature, including human nature. We can visit a dying person in the hospital and be present when someone is born. There are many examples of circles with our God. He is the never-ending beginning and the end, Alpha and Omega, God Almighty.

Another circle is the trust-and-obey cycle of God. The more we obey God, the more we trust God; and the more we trust God, the more we obey. The give-and-receive principle is a circle. We give, and we receive. We receive so we can give. A complete circle of love is when we let God’s love flow through us to others and that love is returned to God, who loved us first. Because He first loved us, we love Him. Jesus Himself instructed us to love one another as He loves us (John 15:12). He taught us how to love one another.

Loving one another will let others know God’s love. God’s love is always a giving-and-receiving circle. God’s favor is new every morning. We grow closer to God as God grows closer to us. Maybe one of the most important circles is the daily renewal of our minds. We will sin, but if we renew our minds and turn toward our God in repentance, our sins are forgiven and forgotten. Even forgiveness is a circle. God forgives us as we forgive others. As we forgive others and ask for God’s forgiveness, we are forgiven.

Thank You, Lord, for the circles of life, and Your never-ending unmerited favor and grace. There is no beginning and no ending to Your loving-kindness and mercy. Your circles are beautiful in their simplicity, majesty, and perfection. As eternity is represented by two never-ending circles. May we have our eyes on You, who have no beginning and no end.

Your thoughts

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Journal Page 14

Free to Be

Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.

—2 Thessalonians 3:16

We are free to be you and me. I accept you as you are and allow you to be free to be you. I am free to accept others and give them the freedom to be themselves. I am free. Belief has told me I am free. Jesus died to set me free. I am free from condemnation. I do not condemn you. I am set free from sin. Your sins are forgiven. I am set free to be me; you are set free to be you. The truth sets us free, as stated in John 8:32: You know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free. We are free to love God, our neighbors, and ourselves. We are set free to live an abundant life under God’s grace. Jesus died to give us life and to give us life more abundantly. I am free from judging myself or others. There are no comparisons needed. I do not measure me by myself or by others. I am free to use my God-given gifts and talents for my God-given purpose. We are free to be blessed and to be a blessing: to give and receive.

Jesus has set us free from all bondage. Our God wants to free us and have us enjoy our freedom. I am free to serve. God tells us to choose life and to live freely. I am carefree because I give all my cares to the Lord, who cares for us. Healing is in His hands. He cares about all my burdens and surely cures all my diseases. We are free from fear, worry, and anxiety when we remember who gave us our freedom. Our freedom came at a high cost, paid for by our Savior. I freely accept that precious gift and live to honor such a freedom-giving God. Thank You, God, that we are free indeed!

Dear Father, thank You that I am free to be me. Thank You that I am wonderfully made in Your image. Thank You that I am whom I am. I am happy to be me. I am honored to be a child of the Most High God. I pray to glorify Your name by being myself. Amen.

Your thoughts

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Journal Page 15

Eviction Notice

The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.

—Hebrews 13:6

I believe that all things are possible with God’s help, and that God will bring to completion all things He sets before us to do. But when I think about the task I have undertaken of writing 333 journal entries, I begin to doubt that I can finish such a daunting project. I know in my head that I cannot finish this project without God’s help, but my feelings tell me that it takes too long to write each entry for me to ever finish this task. I started this project with the desire to see it to completion, but my mind entertains thoughts that I if am taking so long, why should I even continue? I have to fight thoughts about how long this project may take. I know that when we take on projects, God wants us to finish them.

Who starts a building without counting the cost? When I doubt that I can accomplish this dream, I remember the fact that if God gave me this desire, He will fulfill the desire of my heart. I am more than halfway finished gathering ideas to write about, but doubt enters my mind because of the still daunting task that is before me. I have to push doubt away and continue writing no matter how slowly I progress. To push doubt away, I repeatedly remind myself, I will not give up!

This morning, I received some encouragement. I was reading the introduction to a new devotional I had received as a gift. The author of the devotional said that it had taken him twenty-two years to write his book. Twenty-two years, and he was finally celebrating its completion! He never gave up! I believe God led me to those words in order to encourage me—I will not give up either! Maybe I am not as slow as I think I am. I cried out to the Lord for help, and He gave me encouragement. I serve doubt an eviction notice and erase doubt from my mind.

May God’s will be my will. May God help me continue with this project, for I love to meditate on His Word. It does not matter how slow I am at writing. This book and its completion is a dream and a desire of my heart, and God has promised to fulfill the desires of our hearts. God did not give me a spirit of worry and doubt, but He did give me the authority to evict wrong thoughts from my mind and the desire to fill my mind with His Word. If I think on the Lord and His goodness, I will not have room in my mind to hold thoughts of doubt which contradict the truth that I can do all things with God’s help. When this project is finished, I will celebrate the fact that I did not give up and that God helped me to fulfill my dream.

Never give up. What wonderful things we can accomplish if we keep on keeping on! If God gives us a dream He is honored when we see our dreams to completion no matter how long the process may take.

Dear Father, how wonderful that you want to give me the desires of my heart. Thank you, giving Father. Amen

Your thoughts

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Journal Page 16

HALT

The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop . . . he said: I will tear down my barns and build large ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods . . . But God said to him, You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.

—Luke 12:16–21

Halt, stop, warning! When you have an important decision to make, first check and see what emotional state you are in at the time. When your thinking is shortsighted, you can make irrevocable decisions with disastrous results. Halt. Thinking only of the immediate can get you into trouble. Emotions can rule you and blind you when you are making a critical decision. Good judgment can be clouded if your emotions are stressed or out of control, making you unable to see the consequences of your decisions. We can make bad decisions in times of spiritual or physical weakness. Satan knows when we are weak and will tempt us most during those times.

Charles Stanley has suggested we remember the acronym: HALT. H (hungry): don’t allow yourself to get too hungry. A (angry): don’t allow yourself to get too angry. L (lonely): don’t allow your thoughts make you think you are too lonely. And T (tired): don’t allow yourself to get too tired. When you are too stressed, anxious, hungry, worried, fearful, lonely, or tired, it can be a disastrous time to make any decision, let alone an important decision.

Do any of the biblical characters demonstrate bad decisions made when under stress? Was Abraham too anxious for God to fulfill His promise when he had a son with Hagar? Was Peter too stressed when He denied knowing Jesus three times? Was Esau too hungry when he chose to sell his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of soup? Was Moses too angry when he hit the rock and lost his chance to enter the Promised Land? Was King Saul too angry and jealous when he tried to kill the next king David? Was King David too hungry, too lustful, for Bathsheba when he plotted to kill her husband and sin against God? Was Judas too angry or prideful when he betrayed Jesus? Were the nine lepers who Jesus healed too tired or ungrateful to return to Jesus and thank Him for their cleansing? Did the prodigal son let his emotions rule his decision to leave his father with his inheritance, which he ultimately lost? Was the prodigal son’s older brother too angry to come celebrate with his father when his brother returned? Was Samson too tired when he told Delilah the secret of his strength?

In Luke, there is a parable about a rich man who was selfish and made decisions about his self-centered future. He made decisions while thinking about his own hunger and greed. God called him foolish. We can make bad decisions also when we do not pay attention to our hunger, anger, loneliness, and tiredness. Our best decisions are made when our emotions are under control. Would we do something foolish for a piece of chocolate? We can lash out at the wrong person, lose a friend, break something that means a lot to us, or hurt ourselves when we are too angry. Do Christians seek out pornography out of loneliness? When we are overtired and decide to skip Bible study and time with God, we may make ourselves vulnerable to being drawn away from God. A tired and stressed worker might choose to work overtime and miss valuable time with his family, time he can never get back.

When you make a decision, you should have peace about it; but if you are stressed, you do not feel peace. Keeping our emotions in control may be a hard job, but it is easier if we are not too hungry, angry, lonely, or tired. Put off important decisions until you are sure your emotions are not ruling you, and the devil is not tempting you. Check and see if the Holy Spirit within you is at peace. You make decisions all the time, so you can be checking on your emotions all the time and making sure they are in check. You rule over you!

May all your decisions be in line with your destiny! Keep peace and be in peace with every decision you make. Some decisions don’t have a right or wrong answer. In that case, just make a choice. Know that even if you do not make the best decision, God can use all things for your good.

Dear Father, thank You for the gift of the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Help us to rule over our emotions. Let us seek Your peace in our decision-making. We can recognize when we are too hungry, too angry, too lonely or tired. That is the not the best time for us to think, debate, or make a wise decision. Thank You, Lord, that You care for us and care about our problems. May our decisions not result in being called foolish by our God. May we be wise and think of others and keep our eyes on our Lord.