The graphic designer for Purposeful Day has sent the first storyboard for his/her version of my book. I commented on each illustration. I am assuming that we will be adding the text to the right of each page. I am not sure to the answer at this time. However, I did ask that question in my comments to the pdf document.
I look forward to hearing back from Allison, my editor and project manager, soon. She has been so good to me–so patient and so kind. That has meant so much to me as this is my first company published book. I was so nervous to start this process of editing and dealing with editors, but so far, I am so very blessed.
God’s anointing is ALL over this project, just as it was when He inspired me to write it that day in class at Wilcox County on my iPad Mini as my students wrote their own journal that day. I have made so many mistakes in my human condition all these years, yet He has never failed to bless me or to use my talents. I cannot even describe the FAVOR of the Lord that I have experienced in the last twelve months, nor describe the out pouring of the Holy Spirit.
My ultimate prayer for Purposeful Day is that each child and family members who reads it can SEE and FEEL God’s love and purpose emanate from each page. God bless and touch each family who purchases this book from Trilogy publishing after June 2021. I plead the BLOOD OF JESUS over each one of the lives who read it: BRING each one into the Kingdom and into the purpose of our Father.
Why do you think Jesus asked him that question? What do you think he meant by it?
Work Session (Focus Healing for the Invalid)
The Healing at the Pool
5 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. [4] [b] 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”
11 But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”
12 So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”
13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.
Closing
Our LAME RACE!!
Finally, we will sing Jesus Loves Me to close out our Bible Study! 🙂
1 So clean house! Make a clean sweep of malice and pretense, envy and hurtful talk. 2 Now, like infants at the breast, drink deep of God’s pure kindness. Then you’ll grow up mature and whole in God. 3 You’ve had a taste of God. 4 Welcome to the living Stone, the source of life. The workmen took one look and threw it out; God set it in the place of honor. 5 Present yourselves as building stones for the construction of a sanctuary vibrant with life, in which you’ll serve as holy priests offering Christ-approved lives up to God. 6 The Scriptures provide precedent: Look! I’m setting a stone in Zion, a cornerstone in the place of honor. Whoever trusts in this stone as a foundation will never have cause to regret it. 7 To you who trust him, he’s a Stone to be proud of, but to those who refuse to trust him, The stone the workmen threw out is now the chief foundation stone. 8 For the untrusting it’s . . . a stone to trip over, a boulder blocking the way. They trip and fall because they refuse to obey, just as predicted. 9 But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you – 10 from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted. 1 Peter 2:1-10 The Message Bible
Shared hunger and shared prayers will lead to the glory of God and fullness of His presence.
Church experience should be a place we DON’T hide our hunger
Cultural behavior is not behavior of the kingdom
Southern decorum should die when in the presence of our brothers and sisters
Love sickness is the atmosphere of the kingdom of Heaven
Even God labors in pain to commune with us
He groans in pain to receive our love and our communication as the CHURCH
Nations will mature in God’s presence when we give up our false control and false proper behavior
Our church should not be subdued because we will only mature in our desperate search of the glory as a BODY
God invites us to be desperate for HIS GLORY because we think we are David when we are actually David’s wife
David’s wife’s false maturity led to her to barrenness
The Body of Christ is not called to BARRENNESS. We should give ourselves over to the lovesickness for God and for Jesus! Resetting our church culture—Watch the video below. I love Emma Stark!
Many times, I have believed that 2021 is the year of DELIVERANCE. Last year, I feel that it was the year of God’s FAVOR. This year I believe it’s the year of Elohim’s teshuah.
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Judges 15:18 HEB: עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את translation great deliverance by the hand
In December 2020, I answered the call of my God and my Savior. My commitment and my covenant with my Lord led to the DELIVERANCE of my family. All my children are saved. All my children have been delivered. All my children are serving Him in their own lives. Jehovah granted deliverance and salvation to my household because I made a decision to FOLLOW Him to be obedient. I answered His call.
How many times has He called me? How many times did I not answer? My pride always stood in my way because God opposes the PROUD. In 2015, the Lord HUMBLED me and ended my prideful ways. With that change in my heart and my mind, I was able to answer His call.
But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Now that it has six months since I have answered Jesus as he called my name, I see Him CLEARLY as He delivers others. Last night, I watched as one of my youth group members experienced miraculous, amazing moments when God showed up and did what He does: sent His POWER and His GLORY to His her.
1 Chronicles 29:11“Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all.”
My 17 year old daughter who the Lord delivered in December has befriended a young woman in ninth grade at her school. Both these young ladies have similar stories: they suffer from mental illness. Neither of the girls has found effective treatment with the medications that they take. As a parent of daughters who have been afflicted with depression and anxiety as young teens, I know the heartbreak of watching my babies suffer. I have seen how bleak and hopeless they are. Without God and His help in conjunction with treatment, my daughters were unable to find peace, comfort, or happiness. So I found myself feeling empathy and compassion for Sophia’s new friend, yet I am cautious.
I never want to make things worse or hurt the ones that I interact with, so I have prayed for Jenna (named changed for her protection), knowing that God knows all her issues and can easily deal with them all. I wanted to support Jenna and give her time to acclimate to our family and to our church. To my enthusiastic surprise, Jenna has stuck it out with us as a family and church family. I have continued to see the Father deliver, protect, and save this young woman. I cannot wait to see what else The Lord has in store for this young lady. She became a NEW BELIEVER on 5/26/21. Praise the Lord and pass the deliverance!! Thank you, Lord.
This verse was my verse of the day for Sunday, May 30, 2021. I think it adequately describes the desire of the Father’s heart for the outcome for our church, our youth group, our state, and our nation. This verse reminds me of the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus finished giving the Beatitudes, He introduced the Salt and the Light passage:
Salt and Light
13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5-7New International Version
Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount
Jesus refers to His followers as a “city on the hill” shining it’s light–that cannot be hidden. In addition, Ronald Reagan referred to the U.S. as the shining “city on the hill” inside several of his speeches. Several have prophesied that the U.S. is the hope to the nations as well as the defender of Israel. Our country, our state, and our children still belong to ELOHIM!! Through the blood of Yesuah, we have been covered and consecrated in a New Covenant with our Creator. Yet, our New Covenant will not forget the Ark of the Covenant, and the Body of Christ is one with Israel, Elohim’s firstborn!
Church! Don’t forget Israel, the firstborn of Elohim–remember the INHERITANCE. Moses reminded Pharaoh to release Elohim’s firstborn (Israel), and Pharaoh lost his firstborn because he refused God’s command.
I hear Elohim say that RESTORATION and REVIVAL will come to His children on the Earth through the Body of Christ: thus, the salvation of the people of Israel SHALL come–NOW. Israel is FOREVER God’s firstborn–loved, protected, restored, and saved. We, the Body of Christ, and the United States, followers of Christ, DO NOT FORGET these facts. Don’t allow the Father to Passover us without seeing the Blood of the Lamb.
This past Wednesday night to the outsider it may have looked like an ordinary evening inside our Youth room. Some of us were resting on the couches while others of us were sitting at the tables reading and learning about coming to know our Jesus with the ZEAL of little children. We were missing a few of our regulars due to work and other school year end activities.
However, what we really had was a gathering of CHAMPIONS!! We are small in number, yet mighty in Spirit and in GRACE. Inside that room, there sat a young person who had just returned from meeting with a counselor to deal with the trauma of sexual abuse in his or her life. Another one of our little family members has struggled with suicidal thoughts and anxiety for years.
I looked to my right to find a youth member with fear and with questions about why cancer has struck yet another one of his or her family members. In front of me, I notice a group member who has rebuilt his or her life after her biological father died and her biological mother abandoned him or her. One of our classmate’s father has chosen anyone or anything other than his own child for twenty years. My students have struggled personally or have family members who have struggled with abuse, disease, mental health issues, addictions, poverty, grief, and indecision. The amount of courage it must take to even get up and face such hardships as a youth or young adult is unfathomable. Is it courage or FAITH?
I believe the Father gives us our measure of Faith that gives us the courage to continue to learn and to grow in Him. That very night, I saw the Father restoring us through the love and the gift of His Son, Jesus. We came to Him with our concerns, our needs, and our questions, seeking and looking for His answers.
As I talked with and prayed for one my Youth members, our pastor prayed and ministered to two others. In those moments, Elohim moved in our midst, saving, delivering, and restoring.
Our pastor prayed with a newcomer who accepted Christ as her Savior, and another student and I prayed for answers and healing about her family’s health issues. We spoke about Job, and God allowing him to be tested. I mentioned how Elohim RESTORED Job and DOUBLED his reward. God asked Job to pray for his three friends who had misrepresented God during Job’s trials. God asked Job to accept their sacrifices and to offer forgiveness to his friends. After Job was obedient to Elohim’s requests, Job received his reward.
The Holy Spirit visited us in our little Upper Room. Ironically, our room is in the upstairs portion of our church; in that Upper Room, we met Jesus, and we experienced restoration. Through the BLOOD, we realized our restoration: Jesus’s blood brought us to our Father who poured out the Holy Spirit upon us. Our journey as believers and members of the Body of Christ has just begun. We will continue to seek Him and to learn and to grow. My prayer is that the reality of HEAVEN will be HERE on earth as well as inside our hearts. Praise His Name in thanksgiving and in appreciation for all He is doing in the lives of our young people.
Amen and AMEN!
Acts 1:12-8:3New American Standard Bible
The Upper Room
12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the [a]mountain called [b]Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a [c]Sabbath day’s journey away. 13 When they had entered the city, they went up to the upstairs room where they were staying, that is, Peter, John, [d]James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, [e]James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the[f]son of [g]James. 14 All these were continually devoting themselves with one [h]mind to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.
15 [i]At this time Peter stood up among the brothers and sisters (a group of about 120 [j]people was there together), and said, 16 “[k]Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. 17 For he was counted among us and received his share in this ministry.” 18 (Now this man acquired a field with the price of his wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out. 19 And it became known to all the residents of Jerusalem; as a result that field was called Hakeldama in their own language, that is, Field of Blood.) 20 “For it is written in the book of Psalms:
‘May his residence be made desolate, And may there be none living in it’;
21 Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out [m]among us— 22 beginning [n]with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.” 23 So they put forward two men, Joseph called Barsabbas (who was also called Justus), and Matthias. 24 And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all people, show which one of these two You have chosen 25 to [o]occupy this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” 26 And they [p]drew lots for them, and the lot fell [q]to Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.
The Day of Pentecost
2 When the day of Pentecost [r]had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly a noise like a violent rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 And tongues that looked like fire appeared to them, [s]distributing themselves, and a tongue[t]rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with different [u]tongues, as the Spirit was giving them the ability to speak out.
5 Now there were Jews residing in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together and they were bewildered, because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own [v]language. 7 They were amazed and astonished, saying, “[w]Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we each hear them in our own [x]language [y]to which we were born? 9 Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and [z]Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya around Cyrene, and [aa]visitors from Rome, both Jews and [ab]proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own[ac]tongues of the mighty deeds of God.” 12 And they all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others were jeering and saying, “They are full of [ad]sweet wine!”
Peter’s Sermon
14 But Peter, taking his stand with the other eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, [ae]know this, and pay attention to my words. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you assume, since it is only the [af]third hour of the day; 16 but this is what has been spoken through the prophet Joel:
17 ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says, ‘That I will pour out My Spirit on all [ag]mankind; And your sons and your daughters will prophesy, And your young men will see visions, And your old men will [ah]have dreams; 18 And even on My male and female [ai]servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days, And they will prophesy. 19 And I will [aj]display wonders in the sky above And signs on the earth below, Blood, fire, and [ak]vapor of smoke. 20 The sun will be turned into darkness And the moon into blood, Before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes. 21 And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
22 “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a Man [al]attested to you by God with [am]miracles and wonders and [an]signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— 23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of [ao]godless men and put Him to death. 24 [ap]But God raised Him from the dead, putting an end to the [aq]agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held [ar]in its power. 25 For David says of Him,
‘I saw the Lord continually before me, Because He is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken. 26 Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue was overjoyed; Moreover my flesh also will live in hope; 27 For You will not abandon my soul to Hades, Nor will You [as]allow Your [at]Holy One to [au]undergo decay. 28 You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of gladness with Your presence.’
29 “[av]Brothers, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is [aw]with us to this day. 30 So because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one[ax]of his descendants on his throne, 31 he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the [ay]Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh [az]suffer decay. 32 It is this Jesus whom God raised up, [ba]a fact to which we are all witnesses. 33 Therefore, [bb]since He has been exalted [bc]at the right hand of God, and has received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, He has poured out this which you both see and hear. 34 For it was not David who ascended into [bd]heaven, but he himself says:
‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, 35 Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”’
36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and [be]Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.”
37 Now when they heard this, they were [bf]pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “[bg]Brothers, what are we to do?” 38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far away, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” 40 And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on urging them, saying, “[bh]Be saved from this perverse generation!” 41 So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand [bi]souls. 42 They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to [bj]prayer.
43 [bk]Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and [bl]signs were taking place through the apostles. 44 And all the believers [bm]were together and had all things in common; 45 and they would sell their property and possessions and share them with all, to the extent that anyone had need. 46 Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread [bn]from house to house, they were taking their [bo]meals together with gladness and [bp]sincerity of heart, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to [bq]their number day by day those who were being saved.
Show Jesus’ conversation with Abigail ( 36-39 ) about Mary Magdalene.
Answer this Question: How is “Jesus Loves the Little Children” relevant to our own lives?
Work Session
Compare our relationship with the Lord to a relationship with a GOOD parent.
Closing
Matthew also likely benefited from a childhood with godly training and education; his historic Hebrew name, Levi, indicates as much. But that didn’t stop him from choosing to serve Rome. Like other Jews who willingly worked for the enemy, Matthew got rich by betraying his fellow citizens. His family would’ve been damaged by his open display of disloyalty. By pursuing wealthy, Matthew gave up any sense of being cherished for who he was. Contrary to the meaning of his name “gift of God,” Matthew chose instead to be paid for what he could do. (page 61 and page 62)
What qualities to children have that we should seek to emulate?
Curvaceous Chick's Coop 