"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him."
(1 Corinthians 2:9)
Dear Friends ~
It truly is beyond every capability that we mortals possess, to imagine what Almighty God has in store for us, and since we know that God is Love, only goodness will be bestowed by Divine Providence… all the material problems of life are man-made and the evil wrongs we endure come from the vile possessed, not God. So to dream or wish for something inconceivable has to come with God’s help, and it is promised in those lines above with the keywords being… “for those who love Him.” God does not dole out willy-nilly His blessings to any inhabitant of this world, but only to His children… children who love and respect Him and want, need, and ask for His help. From high above in His heavenly kingdom, God may very well
see many individuals that need His help and I am sure He would love to intercede in the many horrors He sees, but He is restrained to interfere where unrecognized and unwanted… He gave dominion of this world to us, and so He only reacts to the needs of His loved ones.
Unbelievers see God as some sort of dispassionate potentate questioning why He won’t interfere where needed if He really cared for us. Such ignorant reasoning faults Him for being unresponsive to the dire material needs of the masses… but that poor logic fails to comprehend that since He is not openly declared and respected as our Sovereign, He will rightly so, not fulfill that office without the recognition and loyalty due Him. But to those who cry out in faith to The Father, He hears and reacts to every plea, and when He knows you care for Him, when you really respect and love Him, He will do so much more than what you ask and often before you ask, and often greater than you can ever imagine!
At the beginning of a new year it is customary to make resolutions… to try and change bad habits… to reverse our negatives into positive life-styles attributes, and particularly after an over-indulgent Christmas season we absolutely promise to go on a diet, control spending and chose a more healthy way of living amongst many other things. I would like to propose that while you are still on the loving high of the holy season, determine in your mind, heart and being that you will do everything possible in this New Year, to know and love God more faithfully, with more ardor, and particularly resolve that He will be much more involved and included in your daily activity. Start and end each day with prayer (which is just another term for conversation with God)… give Him at least five minutes as a start each morning to meditate on something with Him, increase that time as you can and do it often during the day. All the menial tasks we do certainly affords the occasion to do two things at once by talking with Him as we go about the mindless obligations of life. For those needs that we have daily for His virtues, ask Him quickly and quietly to yourself, to immediately send some of His patience to you for help with the obnoxious one standing before you; ask Him to help you concentrate on the task at hand, or to give you the words to help another instead of ignoring them… etc. etc. An evening review of the day with Him will help you evaluate what you did on your own, with Him or by Him, and the more you learn to recognize His presence and activity in your life, the greater your love for Him will grow, and then… watch out… your senses will be flabbergasted to see what only His Love can do.
No, it will not be a coincidence or a lucky break, but Divine Providence acting on your behalf, and you will know because it happened so miraculously… by the Hand of God and beyond human control… just for you, His loved one!
Make enough copies of the above image to place one on the frig and on all bath and bedroom mirrors so that everyone in the house can be reminded to count on Almighty God and His undivided attention. Make it a point to daily remember that Almighty God is involved in every single moment of our lives; the good, the bad, the trivial and especially the complicated. Nothing is beyond His scope of power or cognizance, and whatever we need, He is there for us. So as each new dawn rises, remember God is already on duty, ready, willing and able to do the impossible for His dear ones. Trust Him more and more to guide and influence your every thought, word and deed; to help your parenting skills; to resolve business matters with equity; to guide professionals in your best interests and care, etc. etc. And when your trust in God is right, you will have that peace that knows with certainty every aspect of your life is in His loving grasp.
LORD, HELP ME
TO LIVE THIS DAY,
QUIETLY,
EASILY.
TO LEAN UPON
THY GREAT
STRENGTH,
TRUSTFULLY,
RESTFULLY.
SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
WHY KNOW GOD?
Unbelievers fall into three categories: atheists who proclaim, usually quite vehemently with their closed minds, that there is no God; agnostics who think erroneously that an intimate and personal relationship with God is impossible; and the ignorant and lazy non-thinkers who wont give God a moments thought because contemplating the unknown or ponderous questions of life, doesn’t interest their simple minds one iota… what a sorry lot these faithless souls destined for hell eternal. But Oh for Christians, those Holy Spirit filled souls, heavenly existence can begin right here on earth for knowing God.
With memories of Christmas still vivid in my mind as I write these words, I can’t help but recall how on Christmas morn I always think of all the joyous children waking up to presents under the tree and the family gatherings of great merriment all celebrating the great feast of Christ’s birth, The Incarnation, where God united divinity with 
humanity. And I think how wonderful it must be for God looking down from heaven seeing all the honor and glory offered up to His Son. But I also wonder just how many of these family gatherings are truly celebrating Christ or are their get-togethers just fake and false displays instilled by the commercial secular world promoting gift exchange that is so far from the real and true meaning of Christmas… unbelievers are getting together with presents and festive family meals, honoring nothing… absolutely nothing! They are honoring nothing but their love for one another, certainly not God’s love for the world that He gave as a gift His only Son as Savior and Redeemer… they are hypocrites celebrating a holy day they don’t believe in, just because everybody does it… it’s the thing to do on December 25th… atheists, agnostics, and non-thinkers who just go with the flow, never comprehending how empty and meaningless their life.
One of the traditional rituals of this holy season is taking time to watch the best, feel-good, mushy movie of all times, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” As I watched it myself for the umpteenth time
last month, I couldn’t help but think that it really is a religious movie, not just an inspirational, don’t take life for granted statement, but an actual representation of just how Almighty God works through the natural scenarios of life. The movie opens with celestial beings discussing the outpouring of prayers coming up from Bedford Falls about a fella named George Bailey, and just like the New Testament dictate that proclaims, “ask and you will receive,” an angel is sent in answer to those prayers to rescue George who is on the brink of suicide. We know George Bailey is truly innocent of any crime and that he is most definitely a victim of deliberate evil, personified by Mr. Potter, the unscrupulous town banker. And just like all we mortals, George frantically tries every means possible to rectify injustice to no avail and 
as a final act of desperation, he finally turns to God begging for help. Clarence Odbody, Angel Second Class, is sent to help George and he does so by immediately distracting George from an attempted suicide to the actual rescuing of Clarence instead!
In real life, Almighty God does send “angels” in the disguise of a family member, friends, co-workers, pastors, social workers, and even strangers, to aid us in a time of crisis. God fills their souls with compassion, concern and whatever else is needed to meet our needs and points them in our direction. In movie life, history is reversed as easy as a flip of the switch to reveal a different past where Clarence shows what happened when George’s and the
Bailey Family goodness was eradicated… thriving Bedford Falls no longer exists and the abject community of Pottersville evolved. How easy the simple portrayal of what happens to a community when citizens no longer think and act past self and neighborly considerations become null and void… take a look at a lot of our current day cities where the ugliness of evil has taken over… who would want to live there? Are the George Bailey’s of the world who place others before themselves in loving kindness disappearing? Are the people of these current cities remembering to send up prayers to Almighty God for assistance, or do they just leave it to the city officials to handle thinking erroneously that God won’t help? Christian values make for The Wonderful Life, not the selfish egotistical indulgences from the valueless, self-centered atheists, agnostics and non-thinkers.
When you “know” God, that means you have had prayer answered or Divine Intervention has been made manifest in your life… you have experienced God personally in some way that absolutely/positively leaves no doubt but to His wonderful existence… it means God has loved you! Don’t just “believe” in God… get to know and experience Him with constant tête-à-têtes as you would any friend… to know Him is to love Him, the only Creator of the Good Life.
