Where Can I Listen To The Bible Online

October 18, 2017 Gracie

Listen To The Bible Online

Oh, the times they are a-changin’.

Many people would rather read or listen to the Bible online, than carrying the book itself.

Look around you during church and chances are many people are looking at their phones. Hopefully, it’s because they’re reading from a Bible app and not checking Facebook!

I get it.

We are living in a rapidly changing, mobile-driven world. Using a phone or iPad is fine if that’s what you need or want to do. The end goal is immersing ourselves in God’s truth.

Options For Studying God’s Word

When I hurt my back recently, I had trouble carrying a lot of things in my arms while heading into church.

As a result, I’ve temporarily switched to looking at the online Bible that I downloaded on my phone. Honestly, it’s more convenient.

I prefer the book though. A bible book I wouldn’t trade my book Bible for anything. It has my notes, several handouts, and encouraging words in the margin.

I miss carrying my Bible in my arms.
listen to the Bible online

Read Or Listen To The Bible Online

If you prefer an online version, please allow me to offer you a couple of suggestions, in no particular order:

The YouVersion Bible app

You can download the free YouVersion Bible directly from your phone or their website.

The Bible is God’s message to the world. With YouVersion, you can download their app in over 900 languages! Look here, right towards the bottom of the page, where it says “YouVersion is Global.”

You can also listen to the Bible online through their app by clicking here. Choose the Bible passages you want to read and the translation (NASB, ESV, etc.), and you can listen to your heart’s content. from Bible Gateway One of my favorite resources, the Bible Gateway website, also offers a written and audio version.

Click into the website here and pick the Bible book and the translation you’re searching.

For the audio version, look for the “audio” icon towards the top right.

These are just a few examples, and I hope they’re helpful when you’re looking for an alternative to a book Bible.

Be Encouraged

One crucial way to delight yourself in the Lord is to read what it says in His Word.

I know you know that, but please don’t lose heart as the world turns increasingly dark.

Christians, be encouraged!

We have the truth on our side.

In Second Peter, the Apostle issued a lot of warnings about false teachers in his day. We have no less of a problem with heretical teachings cropping up like weeds in the 21st century.

Discernment is key.

Christianity is not a myth, and the Bible is not a bunch of meaningless stories.

^*16For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. – 2 Peter 1:16. (ESV.)

“Eyewitnesses of His majesty.”

Praise the Lord!

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Our Exceptional God

God’s Not Finished With Me Yet

October 12, 2017 Gracie

God’s Not Finished With Me Yet

In our house, we’re big fans of all the cooking competitions on television.

Have you ever watched the show, “Chopped?”

It’s a fun show. 🙂

The competitors receive a secret basket of ingredients and, once they’re revealed, the challengers have a limited amount of time to cook something creative and delicious.

My husband and I like to figure out what we would cook if we were competing.

Some of the basket ingredients on the show are a little odd. If you’ve ever seen any episodes, you know what I mean.

How cool is it that these talented chefs can take a bunch of mismatched, and sometimes ugly, ingredients and create something fantastic?

Let’s see, what can you make with a *geoduck?

By the way, it’s pronounced “goo-ee” duck.

If you’ve ever seen a geoduck, it sure ain’t pretty.

Dear Grammar police – I said “ain’t” on purpose. Love you.

God’s Not Finished With Me Yet

How humbling is it that God, the Creator of all, formed every one of us in the womb?

God's not finished with me yet

From the Psalm of David:

**I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.– Psalm 139:14 (ESV).

The focus of this psalm is not to produce feelings of grandeur about ourselves; instead, it should summon both reverence and awe of our Heavenly Father.

We are His creation indeed, but He loves us too much to want us to stay that way (sinners in need of grace) for eternity.

Simply put, God’s not through with me yet.

You either!

God Is Working On Me

We must have confidence in God, even when life hurts.

The right thing to do in prayer is to trust His will, no matter what. That’s what reverence and awe are all about.

Unlike the philosophy of humanism and the lies that it teaches, Christianity is about faith and reverence for the One who gave us life.

We are His “works in progress.” Will we accept His role as Master or reject it like those who embraced evil and sentenced His Son to the cross?

I choose to accept what God has in store. I may not like it when something doesn’t go my way. In fact, I may be devastated about an outcome, but God knows the reasons why and that settles it.

God Will Finish What He Started

God knows what He is doing.

We say that, but do we truly believe it?

God is perfect and makes no mistakes, even when a situation is beyond our human comprehension.

I am grateful for His wisdom and not my own.

Christian vocalist/musician and Dove Award winner, Tauren Wells, has a great song about this. I was already a fan of his song, “Hills and Valleys.”

Here’s “God’s Not Done With You.” I hope you enjoy and God bless.

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*“Geoduck” by Lydia Chow is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Our Exceptional God

Delighting In God

October 3, 2017 Gracie

Delighting In God When It Hurts

Delighting in God when the world appears to be falling apart seems almost impossible.

People who are unsaved might say something like this:

We’re supposed to what?

I can never praise God as long as there is evil in the world.

As the remarks demonstrate, these folks are deeply hurt, and we need to pray for them. I understand their anguish as they desperately search for answers.

So, how can we delight in anything when people are murdered, like what happened during the mass shootings in Las Vegas recently?

Las Vegas tragedy 2017

Gaining Perspective

As Christians, we know that we are all sinners in the sight of God. We also know in our hearts that evil people do evil things.

The breaking news is devastating. It isn’t easy to wrap our finite minds around evil in its brutal form.

We see it, we hear about it on the news, and our tears are flowing.

Political parties, the media, even late-night talk show hosts want to pass blame – it’s gotta be the guns themselves, they say, or they blame who is in the White House.

I’m not buying into that, and I hope you don’t either.

Ultimately, this is a sin problem.

What does the Bible say?

⁸If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. – 1 John 1:8-10. NASB.

Our life vest in every storm is the saving grace offered by Jesus Christ. Jesus, as the only Way, is the light at the end of a very dark tunnel. In that, we can rejoice.

In the meantime, we have to contend with sin and its ramifications. Unfortunately, some misguided people don’t even want to talk about it.

Ignoring Sin

Some Christians, sometimes churches, won’t talk about sin anymore because they’re afraid nonbelievers might get offended.

But, what they don’t seem to get is that not talking about sin and forgiveness takes away from the beauty of God’s gift of grace.

Please watch this short video highlighting one of the many problems with the Emergent Church.

Hurricanes and Fires

What about the recent storms?

How can we delight in anything when people from south Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico are still suffering after the devastating hurricanes?

We also can’t forget about those awful fires that quickly spread in the western United States.

Wildfires in the West

Why, God, why?

It’s natural to cry out to God in our distress.

We hurt for these victims.

Some people will look at tragedies and foolishly claim that God doesn’t care.

But, He does care.

We can’t even imagine the entire depth of how much He cares for us.

God has nothing to prove, including His love.

The Bible tells us the ending. As Christians, we can delight in the future return of our Lord and Savior and an end to our suffering. He is our only hope.

Seek Truth in Scripture

There are difficult times up ahead, much like what we’ve already seen the world. Scripture tells us that it will get worse.

Sugar-coating what happens in the end times helps no one.

There’s an urgent need for the preaching of the gospel.

People need the Lord.

Have you heard the Casting Crowns song called, “Just Be Held”?

I wanted to post it here.

Our prayers for peace may seem unanswered, but there is only One who offers true peace. Our peace comes only from Jesus Christ.

The world is not falling apart. It is “falling into place.”

Delighting In God When We Hurt

rose for the fallen

Most Heavenly Father, we love You.

Thank You for Your infinite grace.

We pray for the victims of these horrible tragedies.

We also lift up their friends and families and ask for Your peace

and comfort for them during this sad time.

Thank You, Father, for handling these spiritual battles

that we can’t fight on our own.

We don’t completely understand the reason for every trial,

but we know that You do.

The enemy wants to confuse us

and stir us up to reject Your promise of salvation

through Your Son, Jesus Christ.

Help us, Lord, to continue to trust You

when the world seems like it’s falling apart.

Amen.

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Our Exceptional God

Do You Need To Laugh?

September 26, 2017 Gracie

Do You Need A Break From It Too?

I don’t know about you, but I need to laugh.

There’s a lot of joy kill going on.

And, if you’re not careful, it can ruin your day pretty darn quick.

Can’t we even watch football anymore just because we enjoy the game?

Maybe it’s time to take a break from Facebook for awhile.

Anyone else needs a break from all the madness?

Here’s what Solomon, the son of David, said about a joyful heart in the Book of Proverbs.

*A joyful heart is good medicine,
But a broken spirit dries up the bones. – Proverbs 17:22, NASB.

God Created Laughter

Understandably, it’s hard to feel joy when stress levels are running high. A continuing crushed spirit can wreak havoc on your body.

There’s so much more to be grateful for than there is to bring us down.

Sometimes We Need To Laugh

In the spirit of trying to lighten things up a bit, I thought a few cute videos might take your minds off the News for awhile.

I’ve mentioned Christian comedian Tim Hawkins before in another blog post. If you haven’t heard of him before, he is downright hilarious.

I love his take on married life.

Did you ever see the movie, “A Few Good Men,” with Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson? It’s an oldie (1992), but a classic for some of its memorable movie lines.

Remember this one: “You can’t handle the truth!”

If a couple of funny Tim Hawkins videos didn’t give you at least a chuckle, aren’t you glad God didn’t make you an Alpaca?

And I thought I had bad hair in the morning.

Do you need to laugh

Thank You, God, for laughter and the joy that it brings.

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Our Exceptional God

Legends In Their Own Minds

September 18, 2017 Gracie

The Legends In Their Own Minds Are At It Again

I’m talking about the Hollywood celebrities who feel the need to bash our President at their multiple awards shows, on their “glorify me” twitter accounts, during talk show interviews, on their Facebook fan pages, and websites.

Legends in their minds

Seriously?

Reportedly, the Emmy Awards became yet another opportunity for some high-profile celebs to trash our President.

Did we expect anything less?

My husband and I didn’t watch the show. We knew what it was going to be like and happily watched something else.

Of course, not all celebs act this way, but the ones who are acting like brats sure can take over an awards show.

One of my favorite inventions ever?

The TV remote.

By the way, how many awards shows exist to honor celebrities? I’d try to guess, but the number seems to go higher every five minutes.

Wink, wink.

Feeling Powerful

The absurdity is ongoing.

In fact, one actress is very concerned that Mother Nature is ticked off that people in our country voted for President Trump.

Those devastating hurricanes that hit the southern United States recently, according to this actress, are Mother Nature’s revenge.

Again, seriously?

You can’t make this stuff up.

Many of the voters who voted for President Trump are Bible-believing Christians.

So apparently we Christians can, along with “Mother Nature”, help stir up the weather by voting for the candidate Hollywood doesn’t like.

Hmmmm. That’s good to know because I would like a nice weekend.

Controlling the weather

I will now attempt to control the temperatures for the rest of September to a pleasant 70 degrees. (smiling).

Good grief, people!!

I find it ironic that the celebs saying these things act so devastated by the election results and yet, don’t even give a second thought to the deadly embrace of their party line towards Planned Parenthood.

It’s a shame that Christians get shut down every time the abortion issue is raised. It’s happened to me.

I’ll remain pro-life, no matter what name I’m called.

Keep on keeping on. 🙂

Prayers Needed

Can we agree how lost these actors and actresses are, and in need of prayer for their very salvation?

If you’re not praying for the future of our country yet, now’s a good time to start.

We don’t know what the immediate future holds in store. Everything is in God’s timing.

In the meantime, we can be ready, pray, and we can arm ourselves with God’s Word.

And, our TV remote.

Keep our eyes on the prize, trust God, and delight ourselves in Him.

The following verses are from Psalm 37. Not cherry picking here. We can learn from David how we can respond when life seems upside down.

We can pray and submit to the Lord and rest in the assurance that when He comes back, He will judge righteously.

In other words, pray, don’t stress.

The battle is the Lord’s.

^*3Trust in the Lord, and do good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
⁴Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

– Psalm 37:3-4, English Standard version (ESV).

God bless

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Our Exceptional God

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