The Touch of the Masters Hand – The Old Violin
September 26, 2015 by Alpha 7 Ministries
Filed under life
‘Twas battered and scarred,
And the auctioneer thought it
hardly worth his while
To waste his time on the old violin,
but he held it up with a smile.
“What am I bid, good people”, he cried,
“Who starts the bidding for me?”
“One dollar, one dollar, Do I hear two?”
“Two dollars, who makes it three?”
“Three dollars once, three dollars twice, going for three,”
But, No,
From the room far back a gray bearded man
Came forward and picked up the bow,
Then wiping the dust from the old violin
And tightening up the strings,
He played a melody, pure and sweet
As sweet as the angel sings.
The music ceased and the auctioneer
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said “What now am I bid for this old violin?”
As he held it aloft with its’ bow.
“One thousand, one thousand, Do I hear two?”
“Two thousand, Who makes it three?”
“Three thousand once, three thousand twice,
Going and gone”, said he.
The audience cheered,
But some of them cried,
“We just don’t understand.”
“What changed its’ worth?”
Swift came the reply.
“The Touch of the Masters Hand.”
“And many a man with life out of tune
All battered and bruised with hardship
Is auctioned cheap to a thoughtless crowd
Much like that old violin
A mess of pottage, a glass of wine,
A game and he travels on.
He is going once, he is going twice,
He is going and almost gone.
But the Master comes,
And the foolish crowd never can quite understand,
The worth of a soul and the change that is wrought
By the Touch of the Masters’ Hand.
– by Myra Brooks Welch
God wants His Grace to be with us Part 3
September 21, 2015 by Elder/Minister DeBorrah K. Ogans
Filed under Christian Living
God wants His Grace to be with us
Part 3
The Bible is the infallible Word of God. The Bible records the beginning, what is happening in between as well as what will happen whenever life on earth ends as we know it. No one but God actually knows when the end will come. However we are to live each day as though our Lord were going to return! “It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed, on that day no one who is on the roof of his house, with his goods inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. Remember Lot’s wife!” Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left…” Luke 17 We must be spiritually and morally ready whenever our Lord suddenly returns.
The Bible has stood the test of time and contains a wealth of necessary Spiritual Food for our souls. This is why it is so very important to spend time in the Word of God so you can better understand the true meaning of life and the significant importance of His Grace. Jesus is the Light of the world. “Jesus is the way the Truth & the Life!” John 14. God wants us to daily walk in the Light and stay on the narrow path that leads to Him.
God does not promise that life will always be easy. But He does promise that, “He will never leave or forsake us.” Regardless of what is happening or not happening in your life God is always a prayer away. All throughout your day “Pray unceasingly” this is how you stay connected to the Lord.
Listen closely and take heed to what the Spirit is saying to us in His Word; “What shall we then say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He that didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, will he not also give us, with him, all things freely? Who shall bring an accusation against the elect of God? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? It is Christ who died, but, more than that, is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? It is written, ‘For your sake we are killed all the day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’ But in all these things we more than overcome through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to be, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:31-39
You must first believe that GOD’S WORD is true in order to be able to understand and embrace its marvelous contents. GOD’S WORD is indeed marvelous and it is alive! It is necessary Spiritual Food for our souls. There is a feast awaiting that will enlighten your soul, regenerate your heart, mind and physical body! It will awaken your spirit and renew and refuel a desire in you to want to rise to higher spiritual heights!
There is nothing more important nor anything or anyone greater than God! “God is Love,” To truly know God is to know love. Remember He is; “The Great I AM!” He is the Alpha & Omega! He is the beginning and the end! Always remember, absolutely nothing can separate you from God unless you let it. It is important to know that you and I will always & forever need God through Eternity! In Him you can discover your purpose and His plan for your life. Everything that you will ever need in life and beyond this life you can discover in the Lord! God does not force you to choose His Will & His Way He allows us the freedom to choose. He allowed His only begotten Son Jesus Christ to die for the sins of the world. When we choose to accept Jesus Christ as our Savior & Lord His Holy Spirit comes into our hearts and abides within us. His Holy Spirit is available 24/7 to lead and guide us us to all truth. God has given us His breath of life that keeps us alive! He invites us as believers to develop an ongoing deep personal life with Him. The Holy Spirit, is His Comforter who resides within us and revives our soul. We are not saved by our works. It is by Grace we are SAVED! His Holy Spirit desires direct and protect us and lead us in the path of righteousness for His Namesake. It is our choice to walk in the Light and embrace the TRUTH of HIS WORD!
Remember that God wants His Grace to be with us! “Peace to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen!” Ephesians 6
Without the grace of God we would all deserve His wrath. It is by His Grace that He allows us to choose Salvation and His gift of Eternal Life. How interesting that the Bible starts in paradise and it ends in paradise. God’s greatest hope for us that believe is that at the appointed time after we have completed this course of life, we will live with Him through Eternity in Heaven. Heaven is indescribable. The Word uses a beautiful plethora of precious gems of this world that adorns Heaven walls. Pearls to emboss its (12) twelve gates and a translucent array of pure gold to pave its streets. How utterly amazing! It is far beyond what our little finite minds can really imagine. There is also no need for the sun or the moon because the Holy City is illuminated by the GLORY of our LORD. We will see the “New Jerusalem” coming down to earth, which has no temple because the Lord Almighty & the Lamb are the temple. What beauty awaits all of us who have accepted Jesus Christ into our hearts as Savior & Lord will be able to behold!
Here is what we learn about God’s grace in Ephesians; “Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the Heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will ~ to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment ~ to bring all things in Heaven and on earth together under One Head, even Christ.”
Ephesians 1 Praise God! & Halllelllujah Amen!
Although we do not know the day or the hour that our Lord will return we are to prepare by spending time in His Word, embracing it within our hearts and implementing it within our daily lives. Then at the appointed time we can look forward to beholding the Glory of our Lord! Praise God & Thank You Lord that we are saved by His marvelous grace! No matter whatever happens here on earth GOD’S promises remain and are ALL TRUE! If you turn to the last book of the Bible which is Revelation, turn to chapter (22) twenty two, scroll down to the very end you will find these words; “The Grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen!” Revelation 22:21 We as believers should daily Thank God for His amazing grace! Lord Bless & Keep You! & Everyday forever more! “TO GOD BE THE GLORY!”
Goodreads Book Giveaway – “The Enchanting Legends of Shiloh Mansion”
September 19, 2015 by Elder/Minister DeBorrah K. Ogans
Filed under Family, For The Youth
Are you looking for a good Christian YA Fiction book – one that has supernatural and high tech themes but not filled with vampires, witches and similar themes that are so prevalent in a lot of teen novels these days? This may be just the book you’re looking for. Enter for a chance to win 1 of 5 author signed copies. This Giveaway has ended.
Goodreads Book Giveaway
The Enchanting Legends Of Shiloh Mansion
by DeBorrah K. Ogans
Giveaway ends September 30, 2015.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
God wants His Grace to be with us Part 2
September 15, 2015 by Elder/Minister DeBorrah K. Ogans
Filed under Behavioral & Emotional Health, Christian Living
God wants His Grace to be with us
Part 2
Grace as an acronym which means; “God’s Riches at Christ Expense.” From the Word we learn that everything was spoken into existence through Jesus Christ. From the very beginning He was at one with God in Spirit! “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God from the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the Light of men. The Light shines in darkness, but the darkness has not understood.” John 1
Darkness is where evil resides it cloaks itself in many ways. The devil is a fallen angel who disrespected God. He rebelled against God as the Most High God and was cast into outer darkness along with his imps who are fallen angels as well. He is now one with darkness and is that often unseen evil influence that lurks about and attempts to tempt us all, (both believers & non believers) away from the ways of God. Listen what the Word teaches us; “And there was a war in Heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in Heaven. The great dragon was hurled down – that ancient serpent called the devil, or satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled down to the earth, and his angels with him. Then I heard a loud voice from Heaven say; “Now have come the SALVATION and the POWER and the KINGDOM of our GOD, and the authority of HIS CHRIST. For the accusers of the brothers, who accuses them before our GOD day and night, has been hurled down.” HALLLELLLUJAH AMEN!!!
God is able to keep us from evil. We must pray for spiritual discernment. God can keep any natural or unnatural spiritual or carnal thing from separating us from Him. Nothing can separate us from the Love of God unless we allow it. Everywhere we are GOD is there. His Word teaches us in Acts 17 this; “It is in HIM we move and live and have our being” His Word also teaches us; “But “the Lord is faithful, who shall establish you, and keep you from evil.” 2 Thessalonians 3:3
God made something from nothing when He made the world.
In the Word we learn that the darkness was upon the earth yet it was unknown to Adam & Eve. It was the devil in the form of a serpent who represented darkness that convinced Eve to disobey God and eat the fruit from the tree of Good & evil. In turn she influenced Adam to eat the fruit as well. This then made them both subject to the darkness. Because of this original sin we all have inherited the proclivity to sin. Sin is what separates us from God. It is by God’s Grace we are able to overcome sin. This is why we all need Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. We can call upon Him 24/7. It is through His Holy Spirit we are able to overcome sin and walk in the Light! Adam and Eve were heirs together of the grace of life given by God. In any and every situation, God wants His grace to be with us.
God wants His Grace to be with us
September 11, 2015 by Elder/Minister DeBorrah K. Ogans
Filed under Christian Living, Religion, Society & Culture
God wants His Grace to be with us
God is an omnipotent, gracious, kind & loving God. It is through His grace and compassion that He created this world for us to live in that we inhabit. Grace is God’s unmerited favor, it is His elegant extravagant divine kindness extended toward us. God always loves us because He is love and God wants His grace to be with us! Truly God is the Most High God above Him is no other! He is the Great “I AM!”
The Hebrew word for grace is hased. It is derived from the word hesad which means to be good or kind. The Greek word for grace is charis it is derived from the word char which means wellbeing pleasant or delightful. God’s grace has been bestowed upon us through Jesus Christ. “From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; Grace & Truth came through Jesus Christ.” John 1 The Word teaches us that we are saved by the Grace of God. “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith — and this is not of yourselves, it is a gift from God – not by works, so that no one can boast, less anyone should boast.” Ephesians 2.
If you ever wonder how life on earth began take some time and study the Book of Genesis. Genesis means beginning or origin. It contains an authentic record of creation. It is by God’s graciousness that He created this world for us to live in. He created mankind for His Glory. “In the beginning God created the Heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” Genesis 1
It is clear that God existed before anything else. God is omnipresent He is everywhere at the same time, He is infinitely immeasurable. Our infinitesimal minds cannot comprehend the totality of God who is limitless. He created the Heavens and the earth through His Word Jesus Christ who had not yet manifested within a body of sinless flesh, yet He was with the Father from the beginning in Spirit. This is an amazing truth that we believe through the Faith He has instilled within us who embrace His infallible Word! There is absolutely nothing that has ever happened or will happen in Heaven or earth that God is not totally aware of. He is omniscient He knows everything that has happened, is happening and will happen. It is God’s desire that we draw closer to Him daily!
Everything that God made was good! God wants us to experience the goodness of His grace. “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God‘s Grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And made known the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment — to bring all things in Heaven and on earth together under One Head, even Christ!” Ephesians 1
God created and provided everything for Adam & Eve that was needed or necessary for them to live a rich full abundant carefree spiritual, emotional and physical life in His presence. He created Adam in His own image, who was the first man. He created them as one. “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” Genesis 1 God made Adam from the dust of the ground. He then placed Adam into a deep sleep, and took one of his rib bones. From the rib bone that was taken from Adam God miraculously created him a companion wife to be by his side! They both were as one, God named them Adam. Marriage was created by God. God’s grace was upon them. It was not until after they had disobeyed and sinned that Adam named his wife Eve. Adam & Eve was the first couple and they lived in harmony with the Lord until they disobeyed. From Peter we learn that the Lord extends His grace to us in marriage. It is important that God is or becomes the center of your marriage. “Husbands, likewise, dwell with them in understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.” 1Peter 3
God’s Grace was with Adam & Eve from the very beginning.
