Niki’s Thoughts

  “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” Matthew‬ ‭7‬:‭11‬ ‭ “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." James‬ ‭1‬:‭17‬ In an ideal scenario, our earthly fathers would reflect God's character - His love, grace, mercy, and steadfastness - to us in such a way that our initial understanding of how God loves us comes through the examples of our earthly fathers. Sadly, we live in a sin-filled world where not everyone grows up in an ideal scenario. Maybe you come from a broken home, where you learned at a young age that your father did not always keep his promises. Perhaps your father left you, intentionally or unintentionally, leaving you to feel utterly alone or completely abandoned. Some of you might have had fathers who harmed    you, neglected you...

 "Coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him. When He came to the place, He said to them, "Pray that you may not enter into temptation." And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done." Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. When He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow. Then He said to them, "Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation." Luke 22:39-46 I was reading Day 6 of a devotional plan with a friend today. The plan said that Jesus felt fear. I got very fired up about that not seeming to be an accurate portrayal of our Savior - y...

  “Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”” Matthew‬ ‭13‬:‭24‬-‭30‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ I cried when I read this. I cried because I thought the field is quite obviously the church. I saw the Christ followers as the whea...

“These are ‘spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wondering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.” Jude 1:12-13 Greetings to you, my dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ! Please accept my deepest apologies for the absence of my weekly “thoughts,” over the past months. I greatly appreciate your patience, loyalty, and forgiveness. In January, God called me to dive into the Book of Jude in the Bible. He placed it on my heart to put together a Bible Study / Devotion on this powerful, tiny Book of the Bible. As I am working through the beginning of my research for that upcoming video, I had this spin off ‘thought’ bubble up. I don’t know if you should call this a ‘teaser’ of the upcoming devotion / study or if it’s a standalone lesson, b...