Watch Where You Are Going

 

Disclaimer: Obviously I am not an actual angel. However, I feel like God speaks to my heart and I would love to share it with you. Please enjoy.

 Do you ever think about how important it is to watch where you are going? What are your eyes focusing on? What movies are you watching? What books are you reading? Who are the people you are looking to as your examples to model your life after?

You might think those things aren’t really that important. After all, you can take the good and leave the bad, but do you?

When my brother, Rick, was a little boy my dad walked into the room where my brother was watching television one day. The show he was watching showed two thugs beating up an old man. My father was very upset to see that my brother was laughing at it. From then on my father watched more closely what was on the TV. He had realized that my little brother, who was about 5 years old, was being desensitized to the violence he was seeing. As soon as my father watched more closely what Rick was seeing, Rick went back to the same caring young boy he had always been.

So, you might think you won’t be affected by what you see. After all, you are a grown-up, not a little child. Really? Then why do you think companies spend multi-millions of dollars showing you commercials? They know that when you see something enough times, you start believing it, or liking it.

If King David had looked away when he saw Bathsheba bathing on the roof, he would have been okay. Instead, he kept looking and ended up having an affair with her, and even sent her husband to the front lines of a war so he would be killed, and he could marry her. He paid dearly for it.

When we keep our eyes on Jesus we will walk toward Him. We cannot look one way and walk another without stumbling or even falling. There are always rocks and holes in the road that will cause us to trip if we aren’t paying attention.

Sometime try to walk forward while looking backward. You can walk forward while looking to the side, which is risky enough. However, try to look backward while walking forward. You cannot do it. To look backward you have to turn around. What is behind us is no longer important.  

Always remember that God is ahead of you. When you look back you are turning away from God. That is never a good thing. Keep your eyes forward and the road to God is a lot easier.

Some people will tell you that all roads lead to God. Actually, that is true. No matter what road you take in this life, you will end up before God. The question is, what will He say to you?

If you have taken the road He has laid out before you according to His word, the Bible, He will say, “Well done good and faithful servant. Enter into your reward.”

If you have taken your own road, trying to bypass Jesus, then you will hear Him say, “Depart from Me. I never knew you.”

So yes, all roads lead to God, but only one road, Jesus, leads to heaven.

Always be careful to watch where you are going, or you will start going where you are watching.

Think about it.

If you enjoy my blog but are not currently receiving my email notifications, you can send your first and last name, and your email address to austinlass1948@gmail.com and I will notify you each time I post something new. I promise I will never give your information out to anyone or use it for anything other than my notifications to you. Please share my blog with your friends and family to help me spread the words from my heart with others. Also, if you have any family or friends who you believe might enjoy my blog posts and live in another country, I would especially love to have you share it with them. I am trying to reach more countries around the world. Your help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Janice Austin Bates

Fathers

 

Disclaimer: Obviously I am not an actual angel. However, I feel like God speaks to my heart and I would love to share it with you. Please enjoy.

 

 

My sister, brother and I were lucky to have been born into a family who loved God and taught us about Him. We have had eight pastors in our family, parents, several aunts and uncles, brother-in-law, nephew, cousins, etcetera, so Christianity has always been a strong presence in our lives.

In my teen years several things happened that really hurt me. I became very angry and decided I didn’t want to be a Christian anymore. For ten years I refused to be a Christian. It was the prayers of my family that brought me back. (never give up praying for the ones you love)

Every night my father would stay up all night, sitting at the kitchen table or in the recliner, reading the Bible and praying. He would fall asleep for half an hour or so, then wake up and read and pray again. This would go on all night, every night.

When we found out he was terminally ill I wrote a poem about him called Papa’s Light. I will be sharing that with you today.

Although I had become a Christian again I was very weak spiritually. I would go to church for a while, then I would start again. This cycle went on for years. I always believed my father would pray me into heaven.

About one month after my father died I was sitting at my kitchen table thinking about him. I felt God speak to me. He said, “Janice, the biggest barrier between you and hell is now gone. You can no longer ride on your father’s spiritual coat tail. It is time for you to do what you have heard about all you life but have never really. You need to make the decision for Christ.”

That thought hit me very hard and right then I told God I was making that decision. I promised I would never walk away again, and I never have. As soon as I made that commitment I immediately felt a change in me. It was God’s strength in me I was feeling.

Then I asked God, “what about all the people Dad would have talked to about you, but now he never can?’ Once again I felt God speak. He said, “that is your job now, Janice.”

Right then I knew my father had passed the mantel to me, and I have been talking to people about God ever since.

That is the biggest reason I am doing this blog.

Think about it.

 

Below you will find my poem, Papa’s Light. At the end of it I am placing a link to possibly the most beautiful video I have ever seen. It is called Father’s Loveletter. I hope you will enjoy them both.

Papa’s Light

 

When we were little infants held safe on Papa’s arm

We’d sleep the whole night through, without a fear of harm.

 

But, if we did wake up in the middle of the night,

We’d hear a gentle murmur and see a soft lamp light.

 

Somewhere within the house, down low on bended knee,

If you would stop and listen, you’d hear a father’s plea.

 

All throughout my childhood the midnight oil burned low.

It glowed into our bedroom, and it annoyed us so.

 

And still the light kept shining, as he’d stay up to pray.

He would plead, “Protect them, Lord, and help them not to stray.”

 

As I went through my teen years and I’d go out at night,

When I’d sneak home, first thing I’d see would be that blasted light.

 

I wished he’d go to bed at night, and sleep like most kid’s dad.

How little did I know just what a precious gem I had.

 

And still he kept the beacon lit when I had moved away.

Every night, down on his knees, he’d pray and pray and pray.

 

He spoke about his mother, and the praying she would do.

She spent her life down on her knees and prayed  her family through.

 

People wondered why he gazed for hours, at the stars.

They looked, but all that they would see was Jupiter and Mars.

 

Sometimes he’d see one lovely star that shimmered in the west,

And smile as he watched it’s light shine brighter than the rest.

 

The smile on his manly face, and the twinkle in his eye,

Told everyone that when he looked into the starlit sky

 

His wiser eyes saw something else when he would look up there.

But all we saw was planets, the moon, stars, clouds and air.

 

His eyes are closed now, he has gone to heaven with the Lord.

He will no longer need his lamp, so we’ll unplug the cord.

 

But every night throughout our lives we’ll watch the starlit sky.

There’ll be a smile upon our face, and a twinkle in our eye.

 

We’ll know what he was gazing at when he looked up at night.

And how he felt his mother’s prayers, as stars shone clear and bright.

 

One star will shine much brighter than the rest, from dusk till dawn.

We’ll watch and smile, and softly say, “Look, Papa’s light is on.”

 

                                                                   Janice Austin Bates

                                                                   Dedicated to our “Papa”

Father’s Loveletter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHBQQHSbavY

 

 

Please help me spread the word. If you enjoy my blog but are not currently receiving my email notifications, you can send your first and last name, and your email address to austinlass1948@gmail.com and I will notify you each time I post something new. I promise I will never give your information out to anyone or use it for anything other than my notifications to you. Please share my blog with your friends and family to help me spread the words from my heart with others. Also, if you have any family or friends who you believe might enjoy my blog posts and live in another country, I would especially love to have you share it with them. I am trying to reach more countries around the world. Your help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Janice Austin Bates

Our Multiplying God

 Disclaimer: Obviously I am not an actual angel. However, I feel like God speaks to my heart and I would love to share it with you. Please enjoy.

I feel like I need to tell you all about something I experienced. I have heard many people talk about God showing them a vision about something, but I had never had anything like that happen to me. I have had thoughts that I was certain came from God. At those times I have felt very clearly like God was speaking to me, but I had never seen anything I knew was from God.

About two years ago I was going to a prayer meeting every Tuesday evening with a few other ladies.

One evening one of our ladies whose name is Diana was needing prayer for some health reasons. When we started praying, I was claiming the promise from the Bible where it says, “by His stripes we are healed.” Suddenly it was like I could see Jesus laying on the ground completely covered with horrible stripes from having been beaten. There were hundreds of stripes, and they were bleeding profusely. As I was viewing this scene I started looking more closely and realized that one of the stripes looked different. I started leaning closer to see it better. As I got closer and closer I began to realize the reason this stripe looked different was because there was writing on it. I couldn’t read what it said because the letters were very small. Finally, I was close enough that I could read it. To my surprise, it said “Diana”. I felt like God spoke to me and said, “There is a healing stripe for everyone who ever lived, and this one belongs to Diana.”

When I told the others what I had seen, they all gasped and we burst into tears.

A few weeks later, we were at the prayer meeting again and Diana still needed more prayer. As I was praying that time I began to ask God to hold her in His hand. As I prayed suddenly I could see the hand of God cupped and Diana was laying in it. As I lifted my eyes, I realized there were thousands of cupped hands extending as far as I could see in every direction. There was one person laying in each hand. Again, I felt God speak to me and He told me that when He holds us in the hollow of His hand, He does not pile us all up together in His hand, but rather He holds out His hand individually for each of us. It is not a group thing, but is very personal for each one.

The other day I thought about these two visions from God. I was thinking about the fact that there were hundreds of stripes on Jesus, but He told me there was a stripe for everyone who has ever lived. That would mean billions of stripes. I also thought about an individual hand for everyone, even though Jesus only had two hands. It reminded me of when Jesus fed over five thousand people, even though there were only five loaves and two fishes. I was thinking that is what God does. He multiplies things. Then I felt like God spoke to me again and said, “Multiplying is not just what I do, it is who I am. I not only multiply things like loaves and fishes, but I multiply Myself to have as many stripes or hands as are needed to cover anyone and everyone.”

That thought almost overwhelmed me, that multiplying is not just what God does, but it is who He is.

Think about it.

If you enjoy my blog but are not currently receiving my email notifications, you can send your email address to austinlass1948@gmail.com and I will notify you each time I post something new. Please share my blog with your friends and family to help me spread the words from my heart with others. Also, if you have any family or friends who you believe might enjoy my blog posts, and  live in another country, I would especially love to have you share it with them. I am trying to reach more countries around the world. Your help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Janice

Food For Thought

 Disclaimer: Obviously I am not an actual angel. However, I feel like God speaks to my heart and I would love to share it with you. Please enjoy.

During the church service this morning my nephew Chris, who is the pastor of our church, pointed out something I had never thought about before.

When God created the earth He made a beautiful garden, the Garden of Eden. In the center of the garden. He placed two trees. They were the tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

God then created His greatest of all creations, Adam and Eve. He put them in the garden to live forever surrounded by all that beauty. God told them they could eat what they wanted except they were not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Hating them because they were created in the image of God, Satan set out to destroy Adam and Eve. He convinced Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit. She, in turn, offered the fruit to Adam, who also ate it. Consequently, sin entered into mankind by way of eating food offered to them by Satan.

We did not personally eat from the forbidden tree, but sin is now in all humans as the result of Adam and Eve eating that food.

Because we as human beings have no way of ridding ourselves of sin, God made a way for us. He didn’t have to do that, but being who He is, His love for us made it impossible for Him to not help us and make a way out. So, Jesus came to earth to give Himself as the perfect sacrifice and die for our sin.

One of the last things Jesus did before He went to the cross to redeem us from our sin was to enjoy His last supper with His disciples. During that supper He broke bread and drank wine with them. If you read John 6:48 – 58 you will see that Jesus told them the bread is His body, and the wine is His blood. He said whoever eats this bread and drinks this wine will live forever with Him. This symbolizes His body being broken and His blood being shed on the cross as the perfect sacrifice for our sin. Jesus tells us there is nothing we can do that is good enough to get us to heaven.  Anyone who accepts His sacrifice as the only way to be forgiven for our sin will be forgiven and have eternal life with Him.

Isn’t it interesting that Satan offered mankind the forbidden fruit to bring sin into our souls and condemn our souls forever. Yet many years later Jesus offered us bread and wine to symbolize His body and blood being sacrificed for us to redeem our souls from that very sin.

Although we did not physically eat the forbidden fruit or the bread and wine, we have suffered and benefitted from them both. Food was used to bring sin into the world and then food again was used to save us from that sin.

Isn’t is amazing that anything Satan does for our bad, God creates something beautiful and even more powerful to fix the damage Satan caused.

Think about it.

If you enjoy my blog but are not currently receiving my email notifications, you can send your email address to austinlass1948@gmail.com and I will notify you each time I post something new. Please share my blog with your friends and family to help me spread the words from my heart with others. Thank you.