| God’s gift of faith is like a flame, and when the embers of the fire have cooled you must fan them again and keep them ablaze. 2 Timothy 1:7 Voice |
The reason that I ended up on this "search" to 80s Church in the 1st place, was because John Heffron is the author of my favorite 2025 devotional book that I read daily & share the prayer & verse at YV; & since I'm at day 175 or beyond when I post this, I thought I should find out who this author is; since I was not familiar with him, & he's a popular comedian.
Surprisingly, although the title of his book does not include any of my 2025 One Words;
almost every single devotional prayer has one of the One Words:
TRUST
And this motivates me daily to be
"Keeping the Faith"
so I ended up reading by subscribing
AND
these "TAKEAWAYS to Live By" in this devo
are so perfect for me!😉
This is the same setup as in his book:
Scripture, devotion, prayer, takeaway
And like I said, I really like!
So I'm glad that I did subscribe because
The 80s Church reminds me of another book I enjoyed reading when
I had Kindle Unlimited that did something similar with oldie songs & devotions;
{although so far, that has not been my personal experience with retiring}
[50 Devotions with many Oldie Songs as Titles]
"Faith That Endures!" John Heffron & Michelle Heffron -December 27, 2024"... Today, let’s turn the dial to Billy Joel’s hit “Keeping the Faith” and discover how it connects with Hebrews 11:1-6. "Keeping the Faith" song is by Billy Joel"This song is all about holding onto what’s good and true, even as life changes around us. Let’s reflect on what it means to keep our faith alive and vibrant in our everyday walk with God." ... 🌟 Takeaways to Live By: 🌟
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Yet I'm sure that my struggles are not the same as your struggles or doubts, I just have so many questions and cannot cope with all the world events, especially in our own nation, mostly because I never ever thought I would see this happen. So here's where I begin to vent a little. It's beyond a Constitutional crisis! Our nation and our Constitution is in such a crisis of lawlessness; out of control, authorized by this current administration & now through this 980 page Bill being pushed through the Senate & Congress again is literally going to take from the poor & give to the rich; increase our debt to trillions while taking away healthcare, and so much more that our FAITH, like never before, will be tested & pushed to the brink. We cannot ignore this or be blind to it. We no longer have three functioning branches in our government.
The devastation will exceed our limits & not only faith will be a struggle, lives will be continually challenged, sources will be scarce & even people will loose their very lives by this. All it would have taken is a "No" vote from our politicians, and us. This is corruption at the highest. This should not be allowed. Power and greed are taking over. We can't be spectators because it will affect all of us drastically. We must be the "firewall" and ready to defend & stand up for what's right. There's an urgency in this faith issue, and we've been lied to, deceived and betrayed. People are suffering and many more will suffer in our nation & the world. The book of Revelation reveals so much but it does not cover this. I'm not lukewarm, I'm on fire.
There just is too much cruelty & evil oozing out everywhere and as I see it, much of it was not just political but in the Church also. This move of Christian Nationalism and all that is happening with this "Big (totally not) Beautiful (but BS) Bill" and the unnecessary changes that will impact drastically so many lives & from what I've seen much of Project 2025 is carefully woven throughout this bill & so much evil & more destruction of greed, power & selfish supremacy to give the wealthy more and take from the poor & middle class so much from their daily cost of living to healthcare to human rights. And on & on ... that my faith (maybe not in Church & my beliefs) but in our humanity has been shaken beyond what I thought possible. This is my struggle & constant prayers to God, who is still on His throne, & He is in control, more powerful & only His authority reigns supreme; but He has not stopped this, which means He is allowing it for His Kingdom & Glory but then I read this from The Wounded Healer; or perhaps He's waiting for us, people of faith to rise up.
I'm trying to keep my eyes on Jesus, however too much of what has & is happening, similar to the Crusades, is done with the sword in one hand & the Bible in the other ... and hell has been unleashed in our country & spiraling evil throughout the world (even death in far too many places). My heart aches yet I cannot turn a blind eye away from the Truths in Jesus' teaching and the biggest one for me right now is Jesus, as the anchor for my soul. But how do I keep the faith?
Originally before 2025 began I had gotten a devotional because one of the One Words that came to me, that I was sure was it - my 2025 One Word should be ANCHOR (not Hope, because I had done that once) and not even ABIDE or TRUST because at that time I just needed reinforcement that Jesus would/could/should be the very "ANCHOR for My SOUL". But I left that beautiful image & devotional book on my shelf, and anchored myself to TRUST and ABIDE. Yet somehow, they all seem to intertwine with FAITH, this faith being shaken & I'm holding on to the core values that Jesus gave us, starting with His Compassion, His Love, His Grace and so many other wonderful attributes that the Church is forgetting as the main message.
I'm so very thankful that with the selection of a new Pope (in the Roman Catholic Church), Pope Leo XIV, we are seeing someone who will stand up to some of this. And Pope Leo XIV has. I can only hope. This past week, I have seen some messages coming forth from the Vatican city and so I believe that this American/Peruvian Pope will continue to speak to the souls of this nation & our world. Meanwhile ... I'll keep my FAITH...at least try & do what I can.
“Trusting Creator is the solid ground our hope rests on. It means we can be sure of the things we do not yet see.” (Hebrews) To the People of the Tribes of Wrestles with Creator 11:1 FNVNT (First Nations Version New Testament)
Or in more familiar versions of Hebrews 11:1:
“Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.” NLT
“Now faith brings our hopes into reality and becomes the foundation needed to acquire the things we long for. It is all the evidence required to prove what is still unseen.” TPT
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” NIV
"Faith is the assurance of things you have hoped for, the absolute conviction that there are realities you’ve never seen." VOICE
"...TOGETHER
Let's put our
FAITH
into action
and become the change
our world so urgently needs."
~Jim Wallis, Executive Director
🙏
"Jesus, You see past my words.
You know where my heart has resisted You,
and where I've said the right things but stayed still.
Today, I don't want to perform
FAITH
but I want to live it." ...
from Pastor Jody McKewen
[there's more to the prayer & also his message]
{I shared him back here}
<>
I even went back to watch
Audacious Faith
and then discovered an older series
playlist from 3 years ago
{currently many online churches pastors seem to be on vacation}
except I did start out with my local churches online
<>
WOW and now today, The Wounded Healer (Pastor Paul Dazet) substack shares "FAITH that doesn't Flaunt, the Hidden Wisdom of God" [1 Corinthians 2] which reminds me of another 80s Church on a Bon Jovi song ("You Give Love a Bad Name") "Guarding Your Heart and Faith"
