"Remind Me" by Jacqueline Heider

I'd like to take the opportunity to tell you about a new Bible Study by Jacqueline Heider, Women’s Ministry Director, Resource & Prayer Specialist at Warren Baptist Church in Augusta, GA. Having known Jacqueline nearly ten years, I am delighted to share her insights into God's word. The study will be available April 12, but I will pass along a way to pre-order soon! Remind Me helps us to study the attributes of God and remember them in the middle of daily living. See an excerpt from Jacqueline's introduction to the study:

"Just as Moses spent time with God on Mount Sinai and declared, “[Lord,] Please show me your glory.” so we can experience God more intimately, gaining a glimpse of His glory. As we spend time in His presence and focus on His attributes, we see a more vivid picture of who God is, and in doing so, our journey becomes one of hope, joy, and peace... 

Whether we are praising God for who He is, confessing our need to be more like Him, thanking Him for extending His grace to us through His marvelous character, or asking God to graciously pour out His character upon us, knowing and understanding the depth of God and His Son, Jesus, is a life-long journey that is rich in promise and provision."

This study looks at twenty of the attributes of God, each leading us to understand Him more, to gain new perspectives of His power, provision, and peace. In studying God's attributes, Remind Me will increase "the confidence we have" in God, and it will teach us how "praying His attributes provides us with the ultimate weapon for battling our strongholds and obtaining victory in our conquests!" 

Jacqueline asks, "Do you allow Jesus to be the starter, finisher, and perfecter of all things related to your life or do you try to do things on your own? How would your life be more peaceful if you implemented a change in this area?" 

Knowing God is more than head knowledge, it requires implementing this holy knowledge in our lives. To live like Christ is more than memorizing Scripture verses, attending Bible studies, and participating in mission projects. Of course, all these are important aspects of Christian growth, but truly trusting the character of God in all things is what will carry you through life. God's nature is unchanging and certain, and this must be our anchor in a world of changing uncertainty. Part of a prayer Jacqueline writes speaks to our soul's most basic daily need: "I ask You to refresh my soul and cause me to run to You with everything so I can experience the peace that comes only from Your presence." To God be the Glory! ~dho

 

EASTER Sunday 2016 - Living Bread!

Living Bread ~ Jesus said to them, “I am the Bread of Life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.” John 6:35

During this season of reflections and renewal, join me in exploring the Bread of Life. When we encounter Jesus Christ, this Living Bread feeds, satisfies, and transforms us. Come on this journey and remember this Bread “is broken for you”. ~ Donna Oswalt

For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. 

Hebrews 9:24 NKJV

Christ is risen! For Christianity, celebrating Easter recognizes a new beginning, a new way of believing, a new way of living. Christ, the New Covenant, offers everlasting life through grace! Resurrection Sunday celebrates a new and final blood sacrifice, a perfect sacrifice. What before was represented as sacred bread on an altar table in the Temple is now Living Bread in the presence of God. Christ reigns in heaven and offers each of us eternal citizenship in heaven. And though we are many, we all eat from one loaf of bread, showing that we are one body. (1 Corinthians 10:17) Together, in community, we come to the table, the Lord’s Table, and share the bread and cup to remember Christ’s sacrifice, to declare our faith in Christ, to celebrate our everlasting hope, to proclaim: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again!

Christ Is Risen ~ Matt Maher  (click here for video)

Christ is risen! Hallelujah! Lord, let my praises rise to the heights of heaven and resound into the depths of hell! My faith shouts victory over death! Forever let my prayers be full of praise for amazing grace. Bless my journey ‘up to Jerusalem’, helping me constantly seek Your will and find spiritual satisfaction in the Bread of Heaven; “Lord, always give us this bread”. AMEN! ~ dho 

Focus Point: “Christ is risen from the dead; we are one with Him again! O church! Come stand in the light of God is not dead. He’s alive! He’s alive!”  ~ Matt Maher

Thank you for the opportunity to share the Bread of Life with you during this Easter Season. For more devotionals throughout the year, see my blog: BreathingRoomForMySoul.com 

~ Donna Oswalt

All rights reserved; copyright 2016 by Donna Oswalt/Co-Founder of Mangrove Ministries/Christian blogger and author; Breathing Room For My Soul (blog)~ Follow on Twitter @soulchat

For more information about this ministry visit ~

MangroveMinistries.org

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Holy Saturday - Lent 2016

Living Bread ~ Jesus said to them, “I am the Bread of Life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.” John 6:35

During this season of reflections and renewal, join me in exploring the Bread of Life. When we encounter Jesus Christ, this Living Bread feeds, satisfies, and transforms us. Come on this journey and remember this Bread “is broken for you”. ~ Donna Oswalt

Joseph [of Arimathea] bought a long sheet of linen cloth. Then he took Jesus’ body down from the cross, wrapped it in the cloth, and laid it in a tomb that had been carved out of the rock. Then he rolled a stone in front of the entrance.    Mark 15:46 NLT

History of this day brings to mind a variety of thoughts, reactions, and rituals. Scholars say that by the Second Century, Christians begin a ‘total fast’ for 40 hours before Easter; Holy Saturday becomes a complete day of fasting. As celebrating the Lenten season becomes more of a practice among Christians in the fourth and fifth centuries, fasting continues to play a role. For many centuries since, some Christians have regarded both Holy Saturday and Resurrection Sunday as days of ‘no fasting’. Many Eastern Orthodox churches ‘lighten their fasts” somewhat during these two days. Historically, this is a day without celebrations, a day of silence, prayerful meditation, and rest. Holy Saturday is the official last day of Lent.

What is Holy Saturday? While all four gospels record the events leading up to the beginning of Holy Saturday (sundown on Friday), little is known about the next twenty-four hours. For the disciples and Jewish followers of Jesus, this is the Sabbath (and Passover), and the religious habits for this day would not change. However, fearing for their lives, the disciples are in hiding. This must have been a long day of reflection and wondering. Only twenty-four hours before, they were eating together, singing hymns, praying with Jesus. Then everything changes! Jesus is arrested and condemned, crucified and buried. Stunned and confused, with Jesus lying in a tomb, they wait in solitude with doubt and fear.

God of Mercy ~ Breathe a new word into my weary soul. Sometimes the journey makes no sense, offers no solution. I whisper I am afraid; I don’t understand! In these dark times, I feel my soul worn and frayed by the uncertainty without an end in sight. Especially now, “Lord, always give us this bread” seems to be the only prayer that nourishes my hunger for peace. – dho

Focus Point: …everything changes!

All rights reserved; copyright 2016 by Donna Oswalt/Co-Founder of Mangrove Ministries/Christian blogger and author; Breathing Room For My Soul (blog)~ Follow on Twitter @soulchat

For more information about this ministry visit ~

MangroveMinistries.org

LIKE Mangrove Ministries on Facebook

Good Friday 2016 - Baptized by Holy Fire

Living Bread ~ Jesus said to them, “I am the Bread of Life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.” John 6:35

During this season of reflections and renewal, join me in exploring the Bread of Life. When we encounter Jesus Christ, this Living Bread feeds, satisfies, and transforms us. Come on this journey and remember this Bread “is broken for you”. ~ Donna Oswalt

[Jesus said to His disciples] “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you what He promised…in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Acts 1:4-5 NLT

After the resurrection, Jesus remains for forty days, appearing to the apostles and teaching the disciples. With a certainty of Jesus’ resurrection, their knowledge increases and a deeper understanding about the new promised power of the Holy Spirit evolves. At the end of these days, on the Mount of Olives at Bethany, Jesus ascends to heaven right in front of the remaining eleven disciples. Commissioned with making disciples of all nations, they now wait for the Holy Spirit.

Over the next days, the disciples continually meet and pray together with the other believers, “about 120”. They choose another disciple, Matthias, to replace Judas Iscariot, the betrayer. On the day of Pentecost, seven weeks (50 days) after the resurrection of Jesus, with all the believers together in one place, God sends a mighty, rushing wind comes and then “flames of fire” appear and settle on each believer. All are filled with the Holy Spirit, fulfilling prophesy (Joel 2:28-32). The church of the New Covenant begins with God’s mission to reach all people in all nations.

Spirit of the Living God ~ When I boast of achievement and accept applause or cover my face in failure and weep, You re-define me, re-align my perspective. You open my eyes to truth, to my need for redemption, to Christ who is the Bread of Life. You are Counselor and Comforter. You are the breath my soul craves! Kindle my soul with Holy Fire. “Lord, always give us this bread”. ~dho

Focus Point: The church of the New Covenant begins with God’s mission to reach all people in all nations.

All rights reserved; copyright 2016 by Donna Oswalt/Co-Founder of Mangrove Ministries/Christian blogger and author; Breathing Room For My Soul (blog)~ Follow on Twitter @soulchat

For more information about this ministry visit ~

MangroveMinistries.org

LIKE Mangrove Ministries on Facebook

Maundy Thursday 2016 - Bread and Wine

Living Bread ~ Jesus said to them, “I am the Bread of Life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.” John 6:35

During this season of reflections and renewal, join me in exploring the Bread of Life. When we encounter Jesus Christ, this Living Bread feeds, satisfies, and transforms us. Come on this journey and remember this Bread “is broken for you”. ~ Donna Oswalt

For every time you east this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until He comes again. 1 Corinthians 11:26 NLT

In a letter to the Corinthians, Paul addresses the people regarding the meaning of the Lord’s Supper. Frequently in the first century church, a fellowship meal often precedes the celebration of bread and wine. Paul reiterates the purpose of coming to the table together using Jesus’ words from the Gospels: This is My body, which is given for you and This cup is the new covenant between God and you, sealed by the shedding of My blood. He reminds these believers that they are one body united in Christ. To honor Christ this way demonstrates unity within the body by remembering the new covenant given by Jesus through His death and resurrection and in proclaiming the promise that Christ will return again. Jesus echoes, “Do this in remembrance of Me.”

This Holy Thursday Christians across the world will gather to remember the night Jesus hosts this memorial meal, will listen again to ancient but familiar words, will consider the cost of everlasting hope. On the night before His death and after a fellowship meal with the disciples, Jesus breaks the bread and pours the wine, says to remember His death and sacrifice for the sins of the world. Because of Jesus, our places of brokenness and suffering always find hope. Oswald Chambers frequently gives the call to believers of the body of Christ, “Be the broken bread and poured out wine.” Let us, the body of Christ united by grace, be the tangible bread and wine to others by sharing the love of Christ and His infinite hope. Jesus echoes, “Do this in remembrance of Me.”

Lord ~ You are my Hope in all directions, in every circumstance; You go before me, surround me, send Your angels to protect me. Without Your brokenness there would be no wholeness; without Your sacrifice there would be no hope. You bind my broken dreams and failures, take my empty places and loneliness and bring me into Your presence. This communion renews my soul and refocuses my heart. While praying, “Lord, always give us this bread”, I am embraced by Perfect Peace. Help me be bread and wine of Jesus to others. ~ dho

Focus Point: Because of Jesus, our places of brokenness and suffering always find hope.

All rights reserved; copyright 2016 by Donna Oswalt/Co-Founder of Mangrove Ministries/Christian blogger and author; Breathing Room For My Soul (blog)~ Follow on Twitter @soulchat

For more information about this ministry visit ~

MangroveMinistries.org

LIKE Mangrove Ministries on Facebook

Joy and Wonder - Lent 2016

Living Bread ~ Jesus said to them, “I am the Bread of Life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.” John 6:35

During this season of reflections and renewal, join me in exploring the Bread of Life. When we encounter Jesus Christ, this Living Bread feeds, satisfies, and transforms us. Come on this journey and remember this Bread “is broken for you”. ~ Donna Oswalt

“Why are you frightened?” [Jesus] asked. “Why do you doubt who I am?”  

Luke 24:38 NLT

As the two from Emmaus begin to tell their story of the risen Jesus appearing to them while walking on the road and how they recognize Him when He breaks the bread, suddenly Jesus appears. Everyone becomes terrified and thinks maybe this is a ghost. Jesus reassures them, tells them not to be frightened, asks them why they still doubt. In a gesture to relieve some anxiety and offer proof, Jesus says for them to look at His hands and feet. Then He asks them for something to eat? This supernatural Jesus seems beyond their comprehension.

Centuries later, without the visible and tangible body of Jesus, we are reassured by a living Jesus, invited to believe in a resurrected Jesus, asked to affirm the Lord is risen indeed. Ancient prophecies fulfilled over 2,000 years ago challenge us to believe in the Suffering Servant whose wounds on hands and feet bear our sins, to believe in the Lamb of God whose sacrifice offers us redemption, to believe in Perfect Love who calls us by name. Amazing? Yes! Beyond comprehension? Yes! The veil has been torn and the Bread of the Presence waits. Jesus is calling…do not be afraid…Trust in Me!

Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord, the mystery of faith exceeds me, the mystery of such infinite love amazes me, the mystery of the cross overwhelms me. My sins are engraved on Your hands and feet. I kneel before such holiness and find the Mercy Seat transformed from a place of offering into a Grace offering for me. Wordless wonder fills me as I silently listen. With need that is beyond my own understanding, I whisper, “Lord, always give us this bread”. –dho

Focus Point: Jesus is calling…do not be afraid…Trust in Me!

All rights reserved; copyright 2016 by Donna Oswalt/Co-Founder of Mangrove Ministries/Christian blogger and author; Breathing Room For My Soul (blog)~ Follow on Twitter @soulchat

For more information about this ministry visit ~

MangroveMinistries.org

LIKE Mangrove Ministries on Facebook