...Plain Upon Tablets

From Joel Osteen: God never gives a vision without making provision .

Lord God, I will remember that the battle is not mine; it belongs to you. I will have faith in all your ways and what you will do in my life, and as troubles arise, I will look to you for guidance, give you the troubles, and continue to move forward in the path you set before me.

Lord God, I will not put you in a box. I trust your ways and know that they are not my ways. From Joel Osteen's "Finished with Fear" Collection: If the only way you're going to be happy is if it happens your way, you're setting yourself up for disappointment .

"Death and life are in the power of the tongue" (Prov. 18:21). If this is so, then it would seem we'd want to say all things life-affirming, right? Yet, we often do more complaining and lamenting than praising and speaking of positive things. People often tell me to be careful with what I say because "You'll speak things into existence." Well, I want to speak things into existence; I want to speak all the wonderful things that God has done for me and all the things he will  do for me. We should want to do this, right? NEED to do this if our words have power. If we talk about all the great things the Lord has done for us, then more great things will occur. Peter and John, in Acts 4, refused to stop saying all the wonderful things that the Lord had done for them and was arrested for it. But that didn't deter them; they continued speaking of the Lord, his wonderful blessings and goodness.  18 So they called them and commanded them n

I know what it's like to be in the fire, to be in those harrowing situations where you just know that nothing will ever be right again, and for a long time, I continued to believe that nothing would ever be right. But the Lord meets us in the fire. He's always with us, so why wouldn't he be in the fire, too? Nothing's too hot for him. Some of our most fiery moments come when we hold fast to our faith and our beliefs and find ourselves condemned for it. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego are great examples of how the Lord not only comforts but also rewards those who stay steadfast to their faith. When they refused to worship a gold image that Nebuchadnezzar created, they were put in a fire seven times hotter than any fires created to burn those who refused to worship. But they did not burn. No. "Look!" he [Nebuchadnezzar] answered, "I see four men, too, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the fourth is like the Son of God

When a group of lepers came upon Jesus, they asked him to have mercy on them. Instead of fixing them right on the spot, he wanted them to do something to show their faith. He told them to go to a priest and they would be healed. As they turned and began their trek to a priest, the healing process began. By the time they reached a priest, they were completely healed.

Lord God, I choose to keep my eyes on YOU and not my circumstances! The paralytic man from Mark 2 could have accepted his perceived fate and stayed in his bed all the days of his life, but instead, he did not dwell on his circumstances; he stayed focus on getting himself to the Lord, and "When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven you'" (Mark 2:5) . . . "He said to the paralytic, 'I say to you arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.' Immediately, he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, 'We never saw anything like this!'" (Mark 2:10-12).

One of my favorite lines from the bible comes from James 2:14-26, NKJV : "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." We need to have faith, the belief, the trust, the confidence, that God has us and is and will provide for us, but we also need to demonstrate that faith. It's wonderful to pray, but God wants to SEE us in action, too. If you've been struggling to lose weight and have been praying to God for the strength to do so, what are you doing to show your faith in the issue? You might cut your portions for one meal a day for starters, eventually cutting portions in all meals. You might start exercising ten minutes, three times a week for a week or two; then move to 15 minutes, three times a week; eventually moving up to 30 minutes for more than three times a week. The point is by doing so, you are saying, I have faith in you and because I do, I am doing my part in this agreement between us. In Mark 2:5, a paralyzed ma

About Annie Brown Annie Brown is the mother of four adult children, five grandchildren, and one great grandchild. She is a licensed minister and social worker. As a social worker, Annie works the terminally ill, providing emotional support at the most critical time in an individual's life. It is Annie's desire that Christians work through their pervasive issues before the end of life, so that the transition between death and eternity can be smooth, and not cluttered with unresolved conflicts. You can learning more about Annie through Outskirts Press Website , Twitter page , and Facebook page ; you can also e-mail her if you'd like to share your thoughts on her book! About Christians with Pervasive Issues [Purchase Christians with Pervasive Issues  at Amazon and Outskirts Press ] Even as a faithful Christian, there may be times when you feel that there is no hope of escaping issues and themes in your life that ensnare and trip you up time and time aga