Prayers of Righteous Friends

The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. (James 5:16, NKJV)

Faithful, committed, praying friends will cause you to look at earthly circumstance and say, "Its gotta be my friend's prayers and my God upholding me with His righteous right hand, otherwise someone would have to scrape me off the floor right now."

Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed.  If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble.  Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken. (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, NLT)

If you haven't done so yet, please receive Jesus. He will direct you to a bible based church if you ask Him and He will build a team of friends around you who will hold you up in prayer during times of need.

Please don't let another day go by without walking with Jesus as the Lord of your life. There is no peace like His perfect peace. There is no time better than now to pray this prayer with me out loud. 

Father, Your Word says if I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth, I will be saved. I receive Jesus right now, I will never be the same, I don't want to be the same. I want everything You have in store for me. Please forgive me of my sin. Thank You for calling me out of darkness into Your marvelous Light! With everything I am and everything within me, I believe Jesus is the Son of God. I believe He died for my sins. And on the third day, I believe You raised Him from the dead. I ask in the name of Jesus for You to direct my steps to a good bible based church and begin building that team of friends who will effectively and fervently pray for me, availing much. Father, thank You for Your Son Jesus and thank You for equipping me for every good work You have called me to do. I receive it all by grace through faith right now in the name of Jesus, thank You.

If you need information about receiving Jesus and being a born again believer, please feel free to contact us by making a comment below, or emailing us at keytovblog@gmail.com, or sending us a message on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/whatsoeverthingsareofgoodreport. 

I Just Felt Like Running

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. (Hebrews 12:1, NLT)

Due to it's language and content, this is in no way an endorsement for the movie but there is a movie entitled, Forrest Gump. At one point in the movie, after experiencing many trials, the main character started running. When asked why he was running, he said, "I just felt like running." This past week, I can say, I understand why he "just felt like running".

Thankfully, about a month ago, I started training for running. I was set to run a 5k last Saturday but wasn't able to go because we had to unexpectedly make a trip back to my hometown on the mainland. Although I've been physically active with things like scuba, stand up paddle boarding, and biking, I chose to train for running because running has always been a challenge for me. It was time I rise to the challenge. 

I researched and found good training that would be successful for me and I stayed faithful to it. It has not been easy, but it has been completely worth it. The training has been immeasurably helpful this last week. 

Another "training" that has been immeasurably helpful this last week is my bible training. I've always been thankful for the pastors and teachers God has placed before me but I've been especially thankful this past week. God has used them to "train" me to "run" through a very difficult week. The training they have offered me has allowed me to run with endurance.

Father, thank you for placing people in the life of faith in my path who have used Your Word and trained me to run this race with endurance. Thank You that in really hard times, I can count on that training to keep me running. Thank You for reminding me, although life is not always easy, it is always completely worth it. I pray a 100 fold return blessing on each and every one of their lives in the name of Jesus, bless them immeasurably!

Lighting

Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, "I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won't have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life. (John 8:12, NLT)

Lighting. It's critical to many things, one of which, putting on makeup.

Putting on makeup in a dimly lit room will yield completely different results than putting on make up in a perfectly lit room.

Putting on make-up in a dimly lit room yields:

Missing foundation/eye shadow, etc. In a spot, or two...or three.
Too much blush here and there.
Eyeliner not exactly where it's supposed to be.

Putting on makeup outside on our lanai where the sun shines yields totally different results because I can see more clearly and apply what needs to go where.

The same is true in every day life. When we operate in a life that is dimly lit (void of The Light, Jesus) spots in our lives are missed, we get too much of something or the other, and our lives are just not exactly where they are supposed to be.

When we spend time with Jesus and allow the Son to shine on us, our daily life yields much greater results!

• love
• joy
• peace
• forbearance
• kindness
• goodness
• faithfulness
• gentleness
• self-control

(Galatians 5:22 & 23)

What's your "lighting" like today?

Heavenly Father, thank You for Jesus, our Light! We follow Him in every circumstance and thank You for The Light that leads to life in excessive abundance!


(John 10:10)

Time to Shut Off

Understand [this], my beloved brethren. Let every man be quick to hear [a ready listener], slow to speak, slow to take offense and slow to get angry. (James 1:19, AMP)

Yesterday, Gracie and I cleaned our refrigerator. That child is a cleaning, organizing machine!

During our process, the refrigerator light abruptly shut off. Gracie said, "Oh no, the light just burned out. We will have to get a new one." I said, "Let's just shut the refrigerator door. Maybe the light got too hot and hopefully shut itself off like a protective mechanism. If so, once it cools, it will turn on again."  

Sure enough, not long thereafter, the light was performing up to par and shining bright once again. 

I thought, "What a GREAT idea!"

I used my refrigerator light as teaching moment. I told her when we are faced with the temptation to get too hot by anger, offense, discord, division, or whatever else may come our way, we are going to:

Shut off (Psalm 4:4)

Cool off (Psalm 119:11)

Recalculate  (Proverbs 3:1) 

Shine bright (Matthew 5:16)

Tell us, what reminds you to shut off until you cool off and recalculate so that you can shine bright again?




Side note: For a fun tip on recalculating, use this link!

http://keytovblog.blogspot.com/2012/09/recalculating.html