Great Vision

By choosing to accept the grace God has given to us through His Son, we are able to receive tremendous advantage to achieve great things in this life both now and forever more. I enjoy writing inspirational poems and my hope is that this one will set the tone for a blessed weekend.

Mark Shields's avatarStep Ahead

Following God’s will is the key
To a brighter future for you and me.
Before every decision,
We have great vision
Knowing God is in control
Leading us to a healthy soul.
Our quality of live is improved
When our heart is moved
To know His Son
And a new life is begun.
So let us step ahead under His control
And trust that He will help us to our goal.
To do amazing things
And fly like on eagle’s wings.
On our friendship we depend
And our strengths we will expend.
Being happy with who we are
And dreaming to go far.
As fellow believers,
We will make a family of achievers
And God will make each one
So that AWESOME will be done.

Poem By Mark Shields – © 10-08-2015
Inspired by Study of Genesis 30
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The Blessing of the Holy Spirit

Times are not always easy and that’s when prayer is useful to find out how to step ahead. As written about in the post The Vision of the Mission, Christ death on the cross has become the sacrifice to take the place of the sacrifice written about in Exodus 12 when the Lord passes over each house that had sacrificed a lamb.

Christ’s physical body is no longer on earth but His Spirit counsels at all times to help us. This video is about this blessing we have in the Holy Spirit: Blessings – Laura Story.


But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you: but if I go away, I will send Him to you. – John 16:7 

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The Vision of the Mission

Passover was approaching and the chief priests and teachers of the law were looking for a way to get rid of Jesus. They thought He was gaining too much power since the people were turning to Jesus’ way in large numbers. As mentioned in Luke 22:1:-20, Satan plays a part in the betrayal of Jesus by entering as an evil spirit into Judas who went to the chief priests and officers of the temple guard to discuss with them how he might betray Jesus (v. 4). He accepted thirty pieces of silver from them in exchange for identifying Jesus as the one they could capture.

Jesus took precautions when a place was chosen for the Passover supper. He knew the place and the person who owned the guest room so He told Peter and John to look for a man who was carrying a water jar. This would stand out since for the most part only women carried water jars. These precautions were taken because of the significance of the Lord’s Passover Supper.

The Passover lamb had to be sacrificed at this important annual event in which Jews from all over the Roman Empire converged on the city of Jerusalem. The Passover meal institutes what the church calls “Communion” or “The Lord’s Supper”. The bread and wine represents Christ’s broken body and his blood that was shed on the cross of Calvary. When we partake in communion, we are identifying ourselves with Jesus’ body and blood. Jesus became the sacrifice talked about in Exodus 12 when the Lord passes over each house that had sacrificed a lamb.

The Romans paid one of Jesus’ trusted followers named Judas to betray Him. Just like Judas who went against Jesus, people will at times go against us for short term gain. Think of times in your life when others have gone against you. Maybe, they wanted to get a promotion and decided to cut corners to make themselves look good with the boss’s rather than getting the job done the right way like you did. We may feel betrayed by others but the good thing about our Lord is that He will never betray us.

At the Last Super, Jesus begins to paint the picture of how the mission will be accomplished. Through His death on the cross, a new helper known as the Counselor will give advantages to those who believe. Through prayer, we have the greatest power because we are speaking to the ONE who already has the answer.

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Lord, we are grateful for the Holy Spirit guiding us in our daily decisions. At times, there is a bit of Judas in all of us. Our agenda is not always Your agenda and we get off the path. This day with You, we would like to make sure we put Your guidance into practice and follow Your path. Amen!

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The Word is More Precious than Gold

Like the post, “Be on Guard and Focus on Christ” highlights, it is important to pay attention to the lessons of nature and what is going on around us. But most of all, we should store the Word in our heart because it is more precious than gold. The Word never passes away like things on earth. Let us not get trapped in the negatives of this world but guard our hearts with the Word. 

I remember one time seeing a rainbow as I drove to work. It was an amazing rainbow and seeing this put my attention on how amazing God is. If we focus on Him throughout our day, we are able to make it through anything. Do this each day and at the end of the rainbow of life, there is a pot of gold. Those who give up what’s in the world and follow Christ receive eternal riches in the kingdom of God.

He will bring us back to Him just like this video points out: Here is Our King – David Crowder Band.


Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge Him. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth. – Hosea 6:3 

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Be on Guard and Focus on Christ

Jesus was telling those who were listening in Luke 21:20-38 that Jerusalem would be destroyed as punishment for the death of the prophets since the beginning of the world; vengeance for not recognizing God’s coming and to fulfill prophecy. He said that there would be great distress, wars, wrath, and imprisonment as Jerusalem would be trampled by Gentiles. Things of nature like the sun, moon and stars would also give signs of the end of time (v. 25).

Not only should we be on guard about the signs but most of all be ready by putting our attention on Christ. Our faith in the Son of man will help us to overcome fear or apprehension. We will be able to tell what the future holds just like when the fig tree sprouts leaves and we know summer is coming. If we stand firm, take in the warning signs, and continue to pray, our hearts will be warmed by the confidence of victory through Jesus.

Until He comes or calls, let us internalize His guiding principles. Lord, we ask that we use our devotional time to internalize your guiding principles so that we are always ready for Your return. We are thankful for this chance to go to the Internet and read posts from those we can learn from and continue to grow. The posts we read keep us alert and help us to focus on You in every activity throughout our day. Amen!

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