Notes On Life

By Dr. Jeanne Sheffield Estrada It’s autumn and you can feel the crispness in the air, so If you’re taking a walk i’s the perfect time to be alone with God to do some PRAYER WALKING!   Prayer walking is a type of intercessory prayer that extends beyond your own concerns, focusing directly on the needs of others and opening yourself to see them with God’s eyes and heart.   Prayer walks opens up your spirit to ask God to give you a heart for your neighborhood, your city, our president and country. It gives you a concrete means of doing something for the well-being of everyone while you ask the Holy Spirit to pray through you as your mind covers so many people, concerns and observe the world around you.   A great example of the power of prayer walking was when the Israelites marched and prayed seven days around the city of Jericho as well as Jesus’ trek through the desert for forty days in preparation for beginning His ministry.  Before you head out for a...

 A comedian brilliantly summed up the time-wasting worthlessness of click-bait on-line trivia saying: Imagine a mugger dragged you into a dark alley and said 'Gimme All Your Money!' but seeing how scared you were then said, 'Well, I’ll tell you what…see’n how scared you was, if you can tell me da top three movies Danny Devito has been in and I’ll let you go!' I don’t know about you, but I’ve fallen down that rabbit hole WAY too many times myself! So as silly as that sounds, this actually is a very subtle Spiritual Battle that all of us often and easily fall into. Now, while there is nothing wrong with viewing funny videos, interesting facts and other engaging content, as today’s verse warns, the more time spent in trivial things distances us further from spending time with God and reading His Word. This is a tough balance in today’s on-line 24-hour world where News Feeds, Instant Messaging and Social Media are constantly vying for our attention. As generally good and us...

 (Hope by itself is just  an Empty Bottle) There is a big difference between a 'Wish' and HOPE. One of these has power and substance, but the other is an empty shell — and here’s why. A WISH is a desire of the heart that has defined the shape of what you want but will always just be an empty outline of that which you seek. Wishing does not make anything come to pass except an emptiness inside that mirrors the emptiness of the outline you have drawn in your heart and mind. On the other hand, HOPE also creates the image of the thing desired but ** Will come to pass when filled with the application of FAITH! ** This is what the Bible means when it says that “Without FAITH it is impossible to please God.” God only responds to prayers and supplications offered up in FAITH, and when the 'Prayer Of Faith' is applied to 'That Which Is Hoped For' and offered up by asking according to God’s will (1 John 5:14) then the Bible promises us that “You shall HAVE what you SAY.” ...

 In the 1973 movie “Magnum Force” Clint Eastwood, after seeing his adversary meet his own demise, 'Dirty Harry' uttered the famous line, “Man’s Got To Know His Limitations.” While a popular movie quote, this says a lot about the hubris that some may unknowingly realize how they live their life — and the great fall that such unbridled pride can and will bring. For example, Pontius Pilot stood authoritatively before Jesus. Frustrated at Jesus’ non-responses he said, “Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?” to which Jesus pointedly responded, ”Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above.” While Pilot was even warned by a dream of his wife not to sentence Jesus, he did so anyway - and like Lieutenant Briggs in that movie - due to their pride both he and Pilot met their demise. At times, we all act like Pilot. In our hubris we self-assuredly think that we can Do or SAY or BE anything we want, yet th...

 I once heard that it is possible to make the explosive TNT (Nitroglycerin) if you mix just the right amount of manure (nitrogen) and butter (glycerin.) Now I’m not sure if that that is possible but assuming this was true, it would indeed make a powerful combination. This idea of mixing two key ingredients together to form a powerful element is at the heart of today’s scripture lesson, and like this fabled union of nitrogen and glycerin, the act of mixing the WORD and FAITH when applied is Real Spiritual Dynamite! Hebrews 4:2 also says that when the Good News (i.e. The Gospel) is spoken to even those that that have the FAITH to BELIEVE, it’s message is indeed DYNAMIC! In the original language the word “power” in the following verse literally is our English word for 'DYNAMITE!' “The gospel (WORD) of Christ…is the POWER of God to salvation for everyone who believes (FAITH)” - Romans 1:16 Friend if you are just casually listening or reading the Word of God and not mixing it with F...

In a recent interview, William Shatner, the famous 'Star Trek' actor now 95 years old made some startling comments about his life and dying. When asked to name a passion that has heightened with age — especially after his two encounters with life-ending cancer — he said, “Staying Alive“ and went on to say (and) “Not dying − that’s always a good thing.” He reflectively continued; “I’m always anxious about that. I’ve thought about dying a lot.” But Shatner’s most poignant thought is one that is perhaps shared by the majority of people when he honestly stated: “I’m so not ready to die. It petrifies me. I go alone. I go to a place I don’t know. It might be painful. It might be the end.” As today’ scripture says, we all have the “Sentence Of Death” and while death is inevitable where we 'Go' is not UNKNOWN. The Bible is very clear that there are two possibilities after death and you are the one that chooses which place that will be. Scripture promises to all who believe, tru...

 Mt. Shasta is one of California’s tallest, and being young (and inexperienced) foolishly agreed to scale it with some mountain-climbing friends. About 1,000 feet from the top we stopped to rest with a choice of two divergent paths leading to the summit. My experienced buddies choose the shorter but more difficult approach to the top but I was too tired to keep up and made a very foolish decision by going it alone along the other longer, easier path that hooked around the back of the plateau to a giant red rock below the summit. Behind 'red rock' was a razor thin path hugging along a high vertical rock wall. At the end of that path the wall was low enough to get up to the plateau below the summit, however the path ran precariously along the top of a steep icy slope that descended over one thousand yards to the abyss below. One slip meant an unstoppable slide to certain death. I proceeded cautiously, stepping carefully along previous cleat tracks but just as I almost reached the...

 For centuries great minds have asked this question, and there are many ways people continue to look at it. Plato said it was the “Ultimate search for Knowledge,” fellow Greek philosopher Aristotle thought that it was ”Fulfilling our Potential“ while Confucius sought to “Live a life of Harmony.” Others like Friedrich Nietzsche prescribed it as “Understanding the meaning of Suffering” and American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson thought it “Traveling along the road of life, no matter how Bad.” All these - and many others from around the world - may indeed have a certain degree of merit, but they all very interestingly follow one theme. It is a focus on SELF. As today’s final words from the wisdom book of Ecclesiastes concludes, ultimately we have been given that life — every breath, every heartbeat, every step along that road — by God. Our life while enhanced by knowledge, peace, and determination is ultimately attributed to and suspended by the one who created us, and not we ourselves. It...

  John Harper was a Scottish preacher aboard the ill-fated Titanic. As the ship continued slipping down to its inevitable doom he loudly ran across the decks urging only woman and children into the lifeboats. Then in determined desperation ran from person to person pleading with people to give their lives into the hand of Christ in order to save as many souls that the lifeboats could not. One man outright refused the offer — to which Harper took off his life jacket, gave it to the man and said, “Here. You need this more than I do.” Plunging into the dark icy north Atlantic Harper reportedly saw the man at a distance while continually calling out on all to be saved, again repeating his plea to as many that could hear him. While Harper and 1,496 souls perished that fateful night, as the story goes the man that Harper had given his life preserver to was not only saved in this life, but accepted Christ and was saved in the life to come. While the veracity of this account has been chall...

 A tribal native from the deepest part of the Amazon jungle was brought into the big city and was amazed at what he saw. There were giant 'huts' greater than the tallest trees, light without fire, and air conditioning to squelch oppressive heat. However when he returned to his village the thing he was most excited about was seeing a WHEELBARROW. Here was something he could really use to effectively do to leverage what he needed to do that he could not do using just his own strength. When we share our faith while working in and through Christ it is like that wheelbarrow! The word 'effective' in today’s verse in Greek (ἐνεργὴς) is the root of our English word ENERGY! Just as the wheelbarrow helped the native to effectively do his work, Christ in us is the 'Energy Power Source' that always leverages us to effectively accomplish all that we can do to furthering the Kingdom of God. Friend, when you use the 'wheelbarrow' of the Power Of God in all that you do ...