He was known all over the world for his amazing stunts. Jean Francois Gravelet who became popularly known as Charles Blondin was a French acrobat and a tightrope walker. He is famously known as the man who walked across the Niagara Falls on a rope. On July 15,1859 Charles Blondin pushed a wheelbarrow across the Niagara Falls on a rope whilst blindfolded. When he safely got to the other side, the crowd who were watching went wild with cheers. Then Blondin asked them if they believed he could walk back across the Falls again with the wheelbarrow but this time with a human being in it. All the people said "yes, we believe you can do it". Blondin then asked for a volunteer, but the crowd went silent . It is one thing to believe in something and a totally different thing to TAKE ACTION based on your beliefs. Many people have dreams but because of fear of the unknown, they don't take action. Whether you intend to become an entrepreneur or not , every vision or dream requires stepping out into the unknown. It requires faith to be successful. The Bible says "faith without corresponding ACTION is dead"(James 2:26). Many people dream , only those who take action succeed. You may have failed before but don't let that define you. Step out again. Success is for the courageous. Have a lovely day .

Every Great Journey Begins with a Vision.

At Mount Valor University, we're building a Christ-centered future rooted in faith, wisdom, integrity, excellence, and service. Join us in shaping the next generation of Christian leaders.

Learn more: www.mountvaloruniversity.org

Become a Founding Partner: mountvaloruniversity.org/partner-in-the-founding-of-mount-valor-university

Make A Founding Gift: www.convergepay.com/hosted-payments/?ssl_txn_auth_token=Y7hKV8fGSRClkCLL0qGDwwAAAZ1y5hIX#!/payment-method

#MountValorUniversity #ChristianEducation #FaithBasedEducation #GreatVision #ChristCentered #FutureLeaders #KingdomImpact #ServeWithPurpose #BiblicalEducation

Good morning to everyone. Grace and Peace be with you.

How is everyone doing today? It is early and eventful in my house. Eventful for old, sleepy people, that is. I made coffee, fixed my husband’s meds, recorded his evening, walked the dog and spent some quality time in the alternative office.

Last night I was able to get the middle part of the yard mowed before I lost daylight and today I will finish. Now, normally, my yard is done in one sitting. However, this week, that has not been the case. With borrowing a mower, I had to wait to get it back and because I borrowed it, I did my obligation to his other property first. I could have waited and done mine all in one stint, but I was having fun. Haha.

So, I have a question for you. How do you decompress? Do you go for a walk/run? Do you dive into a good story? Is it television and snacks? Is there a hobby that you enjoy that helps reset your thoughts? How do you deal with the day’s events as they unfold and/or when you are thinking about them at the end of the day?

For me, obviously, writing is one avenue that I take. Another is mowing—another is music. Of course, there are my phone games … little addictive boogers.

Have you considered prayer as a route of decompression?

A quick research of how many times it is recorded that Jesus prayed is over 25 times. A finer search shows that He withdrew at least seven times to pray. Meaning that he went away alone to pray.

Now, if the Son of God, who came to earth as a human to demonstrate what He wanted us to do, left his pals, his family, his associates to pray and ‘decompress’ with God … don’t you think it might just work for us?

Over the years, in order to make prayer sound OVER important, it has been made out that you need to have a large vocabulary of fancy words and beautiful songs of words that float through the air like a cloud. However, if you read about Jesus’ account in Gethsemane … that was not flowery words … that was “Hey Dad, is there another way we can take care of this plan of Yours? If there is, can we do that instead? Hey, but if there isn’t … I understand.” Jesus was on his face, sweating and pouring out his soul to the Father, pleading for a different solution to this problem. He had become very close to His disciples and the weight of what was going to happen fell on him like a ton of bricks. He felt the burden of His assignment in full force. If the Son of man cried out to God on multiple occasions, would it not seem relevant that we would too?

The enemy would have us believe that if we cannot ‘fix’ or ‘accomplish’ something on our own, that we are weak and worthless. On the contrary, knowing that we have an avenue to strength and power, and then exercising that invitation to sit with Him, settles us and empowers us to persevere. I have confessed many times on here that my prayer life has not been the best. It is improving, however, and I can physically feel His presence as I calm from the day’s events or as I enter the day’s events. Coming from someone who routinely falls down, prayer has given me such strength to continue to take one step at a time each day.

As today unfolds, as the events begin to swallow you whole, as the world tries to dictate your mood, remember that there is One who is always there and willing to listen. Go to Him. Pour out your soul to Him. Cry to Him. Plead with Him. And know that if the answer is not what YOU wanted, that there must be a higher cause. Jesus was not released from his commitment to die on the cross; he accepted it and used it as the way to unlock the doors of death and defeat Satan. What powerful use of your turmoil lies beyond your vision that will help someone in the long run? Release your anguish to the Father and embrace your chosen status, knowing that you were picked to set the tone for someone else in a similar situation.

Be blessed.

**My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me. Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will. – Matthew 26:38-39

Did you know?
In 1868, a Japanese samurai named Takuma Sawabe confronted the Christian missionary Nicholas with one purpose: to kill him for preaching Christ. But Nicholas did not respond with fear. He calmly asked Sawabe to listen to the Gospel first and then make his decision. Sawabe listened—and something remarkable happened. The man who had come prepared to kill a Christian missionary became convinced by the message of Jesus Christ. In April 1868, he was baptized and took the name Paul.

Paul Sawabe didn’t simply change his mind about Christianity. His entire life changed direction. He went on to become Japan’s first native Christian priest and risked his life preaching Christ to his own people. Nicholas translated Christian writings into Japanese and helped establish a Christian mission in Japan, where Christianity had once been forbidden. Thousands of Japanese eventually embraced the Christian faith as the Gospel spread throughout the country.

This is what makes Sawabe’s story so remarkable. He did not begin as a seeker looking for Christianity. He came as an enemy intending to kill one of its missionaries. Yet after hearing the Gospel, he became a follower of Christ and devoted his life to proclaiming the very faith he had once opposed. The samurai who once wanted to kill a Christian missionary became a priest of Christ.

The Advent Truth.
There is a difference between struggling with sin and settling into sin.

A struggle means there is a WAR. You fall, you hate that you fell, you confess it, you get back up, and by the grace of Christ you keep fighting. “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again” (Proverbs 24:16).

But we need to stop calling deliberate, planned, cherished disobedience a “struggle” simply because the word makes us feel better about it.

Jesus did not die merely to forgive us while leaving us enslaved to the very sins that nailed Him to the cross. The angel said, “Thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).

Grace does not make sin safe.

Paul asked the question plainly: “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid” (Romans 6:1-2).

Biblical repentance is more than feeling guilty afterward. It is a change of mind that produces a change of direction. Yes, Christians can stumble. Yes, Christians can have deeply rooted sins that take earnest warfare, prayer, discipline, and dependence upon Christ to overcome. But there is an enormous difference between falling in battle and making peace with the enemy.

God knows the difference.

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7).

And here is the good news: you do not have to remain a slave.

Jesus says, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).

Don't lower God's standard because you've fallen short of it. Run to Christ. Confess it. Forsake it. Get back up. Surrender again.

We don't need a gospel that teaches us how to become comfortable in bondage.

We need the Gospel that sets captives free.

A Nugget of Truth.
THE LAW OF GOD WILL BE THE STANDARD OF JUDGMENT

Christ did not teach His followers to run from the Scriptures. He repeatedly appealed to the Word of God.

Jesus said, “Have ye not read in the scriptures?” (Matthew 21:42). He also declared, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

Paul did the same. He said, “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law” (Romans 3:31). He also taught that “the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Romans 7:12).

The apostles did not teach believers that God’s Law had become meaningless. John wrote, “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments” (1 John 2:3). He further declared, “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12).

So why does much of Christianity today suddenly declare that God’s Law is no longer binding?

Could it be because people want Christ without His commandments? Grace without obedience? Faith without transformation?

We must be careful. We cannot reject a commandment simply because we do not want to obey it.

And when the world stands before God in judgment, human opinions will not be the standard.

The Bible says, “So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty” (James 2:12).

Ecclesiastes 12:13–14 gives the solemn conclusion:

“Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment.”

Judgment is coming. The question is not, “What does my church say?”

The question is: What has God said?

The Law does not save us. Christ saves us. But the grace that saves us does not teach us to despise the Law of the God who saved us.

When God judges, His Word—not our traditions, preferences, or excuses—will have the final authority.

Do not run from God’s Law because you are uncomfortable with one of its commandments. Search the Scriptures. Test everything by the Word of God.

Christ is our Savior. His Word is our standard. And judgment is certain.

Amazing Love

Daily Devotional
Be eyes to the blind; Feet to the lame.

I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame. Job 29:15

Watch carefully, prayerfully, conscientiously, lest the mind become so engrossed with many important business transactions that true godliness is overlooked and love is quenched from the soul, notwithstanding the great and pitiful need of your being God’s helping hand to the blind and to all others who are unfortunate. The most friendless demand the most attention. Use your time and strength in learning to be “fervent in spirit,” to deal justly, and to love mercy, “serving the Lord.” Remember that Christ says, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.”

God requires His people to be far more pitiful and considerate of the unfortunate than they are.... God requires that the same consideration which should be given to the widow and fatherless be given to the blind and to those suffering under the affliction of other physical infirmities. Disinterested benevolence is very rare in this age of the world.... It is strange that professed Christian men should disregard the plain, positive teachings of the Word of God and feel no compunction of conscience. God places upon them the responsibility of caring for the unfortunate, the blind, the lame, the widow, and the fatherless; but many make no effort to regard it.

There is a great work to be done in our world, and as we approach the close of earth’s history, it does not lessen in the least degree; but when the perfect love of God is in the heart, wonderful things will be done. [244]

Join my Prayer page and become a prayer warrior for Mary, imprisoned in Iran because of her Christian Faith.
Click on the link to join.
https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1CHau16eFG/

SELF-PITY IS ALSO A STRONGHOLD

There is a world people can build inside themselves. A world called self-pity.

Self-pity says: "Nobody understands me." "Nobody sees what I have suffered." "Nobody appreciates me." "Look at everything that has happened to me."

Now, there are real difficulties in life. People go through painful experiences. People have been hurt, but there is a difference between acknowledging pain and building your identity around pain.

Self-pity keeps bringing you back to yourself.

Everything becomes about your disappointment. Everything becomes about what people did to you. Everything becomes about what you did not receive. And slowly, you become trapped in a world where you are always the victim.

Look at Elijah. After Jezebel threatened him, he ran away and sat under a tree. When God asked him what he was doing there, Elijah answered by focusing on himself.

He said he had been very jealous for The Lord,.... but he was the only one left (1 Kings 19:10)

But Elijah was not seeing the situation correctly. God still had people, and He was still working.

The problem was not that Elijah had experienced difficulty. The problem was that his pain had become his entire perspective.

Self-pity can make you forget God's bigger picture. It can make you abandon your assignment.

You must burn down that world — not because your pain is fake, but because your pain cannot become your master.

You are not only what happened to you. You are not only what people did to you. You are a child of God with a purpose.

Do not allow self-pity to become a place you live. God has more for you than constantly looking at yourself and your wounds. Remember this Scripture and let The Word spoken there be your comfort:

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith The LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

Shalom!