I lift up my soul to glorify my Lord. I praise him constantly. He is with me every step I take. When I am at my lowest point as I am right now missing my husband , I know I can talk to the Lord and he blesses me. Today is my 78th birthday, and my husband used to give me the most beautiful cards. I feel like my Lord is with me and I am abounding in His love.
Donny I know that you strongly believe in prayer that's why I always ask for your prayer 🙏🙏 Yes I pray all the time 🙏🙏 it is my knee it hurts so bad and I pray that he would just ease the pain cause i have to work cause I am by myself so if i dont work my bills dont get paid i pray that you come back to NC cause i would love to meet you and thank you for what you do and you you have helped me and all the prayers 🙏🙏 Thanks again for everything 🙏🙏 I have been homeless before and for you to help someone like i said before like my adopted dad did for me and my son you will be blessed 🙏🙏
When I was 3-4 years old I would sing Jesus love me. A pastor wrote a letter to me that was a prayer that I would find Jesus as my savior. Well I did and I haven’t turned away from Him since. I think that when we are truly Him it shows all over us from our feet to our faces. Ours souls are our minds and they light up our faces when we are His. My feet are the spirit used and moved for what God wants us to do. The Our Father Prayer that Jesus taught us tells me He will supply my needs if I ask and trust, to forgive trespasses and those who trespass against me. There are times I have to ask others to pray with me but I know who is the one I have to trust. I see you Donny as a hand of the Holy Spirit that reaches out to help comfort a brother or sister. I can be carrying a boulder but it’s my faith in God that hopefully shows on my face and is spoken in faith my trust in God. We should all be like Jesus and also be the comforting hand assisting the Holy Spirit. I believe Mary’s face was glowing like the sun to know she was carrying the Son. That’s what shows from our souls, the presence of Jesus.
Just want to say this....Donny, as a believer/Christ follower, we should all be preachers. Jesus told us to go into all the world to preach (spread) the good news of Jesus Christ. If we are obeying that command, we are "preachers". I don't believe we need to be preachy/trying to force our beliefs on anyone....but we need to tell people about Christ, whether that is by the testimony of our words or by the testimony of our walk with Christ. I believe the work of the Holy Spirit is to nudge/convict a non-believer/person who is seeking.
Just my thoughts.
I hope to see you in Pennsylvania once you get your bus up and running. :-)
I wrote a whole thing, and it disappeared. But, in short, I think God is using you to teach us, inspire us, admonish us, mold us to be what He wants. We all have our own lives, but we all have the same mission- to give God the glory, and to bring people to Him. I really admire what you are doing. You have the heart of God, and people will be in heaven because of your willingness to go and share God's love. Let me know if you make it to Virginia! Denise
Dec 13, 2023·edited Dec 14, 2023Liked by Donny Mac
Thank you for another interesting prayer walk in a beautiful location. In the discussion of good and evil in the world, since I have always believed in God, my answer is coming from that viewpoint. I believe evil is the corruption of a good thing. God, who is all good, created the world good but gave man a free will. Man chooses sin, God allows evil to exist but He did not create it. God is incapable of evil, committing, creating or causing it. As far as preaching, witnessing or simply talking about our faith, we are told by Jesus in Matthew 5 that we are the light of the world, we are here to spread His light and not hide it. Preachers, for example, are using their talents to spread that light just as we all use our talents to spread it in ways that are best suited for us. You, Donny, in your own way, through amazing prayer walks and your outreach are a bright light in this world. In my opinion that light we shine can be considered our soul magnifying the Lord by honoring Him and His greatness. Thank you again for your inspiration to study and grow in my spiritual journey. I pray for continued blessings on your journey. 🙏❤️
I like hearing you say that you're just another guy with an opinion based on your circumstances and your personality and that if people want to know the Author is still alive, if they want to know they can ask Him and read the book.
I think you say this on every walk, which makes me feel comfortable supporting you, because I see that the focus you place on Prayer Walks is on God, the Creator of all things, on Jesus Christ, the only and sufficient savior, and in the Holy Spirit our intercessor.
This reminds me of when I went to college to take a course based on humanism, I was very young and the pastor of my church told me: listen and study everything, but don't forget to compare everything they are teaching you with what is in the Bible . Stay firm in the scriptures and take a stand, that's what I did (only one teacher in the entire course felt uncomfortable with my position and one day he asked me to leave the room, because according to him my questions were disrupting the class – lol) .
I understand that when Mary says “my soul magnifies the Lord” it is because she is amazed and feels honored to see that God chose her to carry out the greatest event of all humanity, she is saying that God is merciful in paying attention to her, a simple and humble girl.
The existence of evil in the world is an issue that has challenged the faith of many people throughout history. But I believe that evil exists because of the freedom that God granted to human beings. God gives man free will, the ability to choose between good and evil. Unfortunately, man chose to disobey God, introducing sin and its consequences into the world (Genesis 2 and 3). Evil is a consequence of human choice to stray from God's ways.
Sorry for the long text, but all the topics you raised today I love reflecting on and talking about them...
Thank you for walking on this beautiful, sunny day (that’s yet another reason to praise God for everything He created).
thank you for sharing Angela. I appreciate your thoughts and would like to ask you to expand.
You said "I believe that evil exists because of the freedom that God granted to human beings".
I would very much enjoy hearing your thoughts on Lucifer also having he ability to choose to disobey God, how that choice led to other angels choosing to disobey and how that lead to the existence of evil long before people existed.
I don't mind you asking, in fact, I love these discussions, they teach us a lot.
You are right, it is necessary to think about the existence of evil long before the creation of human beings.
I think it is important to consider that evil is the absence of good, therefore it is the absence of God because God is fully good and holy, so everything that is opposite to God is evil and is Named in the Bible as disobedience, iniquity and sin.
It can be said that evil has always existed as that which is opposite to God, however evil only became something experimental on earth after the existence of man and woman - that's what I meant in that excerpt that you extracted from my comment, that is, God gave each individual the ability to choose, the freedom to decide what to do and how to behave.
It is possible to say that human beings were originally created good, but chose to transgress God's will.
I may be wrong, but the Bible does not clearly say when evil came into existence, it is known that some angels were the first creatures to rebel against God and these angels are called fallen angels.
The Bible says that fallen angels exist, but it does not say their names. The only fallen angel with a name in the Bible is Satan. The others are the devil's servants, who rejected and rebelled against God. The Bible says that they are all spiritual beings directed towards evil.
According to the Scriptures, Lucifer's fall was motivated by his pride and desire to become equal to God.
Lucifer could accept God's supremacy or he could choose to be independent. In Isaiah 14, it brings Lucifer's speech when he repeats several times “I will ascend, I will reign, I will be” this shows the choice he made, defying God and declaring himself as the “most high”.
All the beauty and power of the archangel, all the good things that were created in him, caused him to become extremely proud and his pride caused him to rebel.
In fact, human beings experienced evil for the first time when they were instigated by a tempter. And the Scriptures make it clear that this tempter, in the figure of the serpent, was Satan.
Therefore, when evil appeared in the material world, it was already a reality in the spiritual world.
I also think it is important to consider that the Bible presents some concepts about “EVIL”, “moral evil”, that is, sin and “temporal evil”, the punishment sent by God because of man's wickedness.
But, the good thing is the Bible says that soon God will definitely put an end to all evil for those who repent of their sins and accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior!
I hope I answered your questions and thank you for the opportunity to talk to you!
Your steadfast faith is so refreshing to me and your humble spirit always makes these walks and the questions you ask something I want to explore for myself. I pray all the time. I feel I have a direct line where God wants to hear whatever is on my heart. I try very hard to take time each day to get quiet and listen for what He wants me to know. I personally believe that evil comes because man has free will and God allows the course of life to happen as a result. None of us are spared from the effects of that. But we can still praise Him for His plan to overcome evil with good. I rejoice in a loving God who wants to be in relationship with each and every one of us. I love your vision for ministry and I know God will use you mightily to bring people into His loving care through the hands and feet of others. I hope we get to cross paths again once that bus is on the road! In the meantime I'm praying God puts people in front of you who need to feel His love and that you get to be the instrument He uses to show them Himself. Blessings, my friend!
Dec 15, 2023·edited Dec 15, 2023Liked by Donny Mac
Good morning Donny! I must confess I wrote something Wednesday and deleted it before you started reading the wonderful comments, below. So I'm resharing, but a little differently than previously written. It wasn't one of my better days on Thursday, but this morning, Friday, after prayer, reading and meditating on God's word, I'm feeling better. That's because I began taking my eyes off of my problems and placed the focus on Jesus. We all experience challenges in this broken world, but keeping the focus on Jesus is the only way. I have my weak moments every now and then on this journey of faith.
Like you shared, prayer is essential in communicating with God to bring all these challenges, fears, and sin to the table before God. Also, breathing in the Word of God each day and committing in humble obedience to Him is also essential. Community of believers is also so important. It helps us to distinguish between the good and evil in this world. When I let all these come together, and get my focus off of "me" and refocus, renew, and reframe my thoughts on Jesus, a gentle peace floods my soul, brings joy to my heart, and the hope of salvation to my mind. All these encompass me and helps me to reconcile myself with God on a daily basis.
I will continue to make mistakes, but knowing that Jesus died and forgives me each time brings me hope and peace. I pray each day, I'm hearing His voice and following what I feel He's revealing His will for me today and forward. As I've previously shared, my main hope is to encourage others, pray for and with them.
Prayers continue for you and the prayer walk ministry in letting God continue to use you as His vessel to encourage me and all of us on our own journeys of faith. You're always welcome to come and visit N.C. again as God continues to lead you. God bless you Donny!
I understanding your desire to delete a message because it was written on a "not so great day". As I read your comment I was reminded of 2 Corinthians 12:9 Gods strength is made perfect in our weakness.
When we read the Bible every story shows how we people fall short and God is glorified.
We can not be afraid to fall short and let others see. Every "leader", so to speak, in the Bible failed publicly and we have been gleaning from their imperfections for thousand of years because God is so good.
Thank you Donny! I've read that verse many times as it holds so much truth. I concur so many people in the Bible who fall short, but God used their weaknesses as His strength overcame those as He was glorified in the end: Moses, David, Joseph, Jeremiah, and the list goes on. A writer, Lysa Terkheurst phrased it well "God is good at being good."
I forgot to say, I think, as christians we are all supposed to glorify God in all we do. People should see Jesus shine through us, no matter what we are doing. The Bible says in everything we do, do it all for God's glory.
I lift up my soul to glorify my Lord. I praise him constantly. He is with me every step I take. When I am at my lowest point as I am right now missing my husband , I know I can talk to the Lord and he blesses me. Today is my 78th birthday, and my husband used to give me the most beautiful cards. I feel like my Lord is with me and I am abounding in His love.
What a beautiful thing to know. Happy birthday Terri. May God bless you!
Happy belated birthday Terri! Love what you shared! God bless you!
Congratulations and may God bless you in this new cycle of your life!
Donny I know that you strongly believe in prayer that's why I always ask for your prayer 🙏🙏 Yes I pray all the time 🙏🙏 it is my knee it hurts so bad and I pray that he would just ease the pain cause i have to work cause I am by myself so if i dont work my bills dont get paid i pray that you come back to NC cause i would love to meet you and thank you for what you do and you you have helped me and all the prayers 🙏🙏 Thanks again for everything 🙏🙏 I have been homeless before and for you to help someone like i said before like my adopted dad did for me and my son you will be blessed 🙏🙏
thank you for your prayers. God willing I will be back in 2024 to visit.
When I was 3-4 years old I would sing Jesus love me. A pastor wrote a letter to me that was a prayer that I would find Jesus as my savior. Well I did and I haven’t turned away from Him since. I think that when we are truly Him it shows all over us from our feet to our faces. Ours souls are our minds and they light up our faces when we are His. My feet are the spirit used and moved for what God wants us to do. The Our Father Prayer that Jesus taught us tells me He will supply my needs if I ask and trust, to forgive trespasses and those who trespass against me. There are times I have to ask others to pray with me but I know who is the one I have to trust. I see you Donny as a hand of the Holy Spirit that reaches out to help comfort a brother or sister. I can be carrying a boulder but it’s my faith in God that hopefully shows on my face and is spoken in faith my trust in God. We should all be like Jesus and also be the comforting hand assisting the Holy Spirit. I believe Mary’s face was glowing like the sun to know she was carrying the Son. That’s what shows from our souls, the presence of Jesus.
Just want to say this....Donny, as a believer/Christ follower, we should all be preachers. Jesus told us to go into all the world to preach (spread) the good news of Jesus Christ. If we are obeying that command, we are "preachers". I don't believe we need to be preachy/trying to force our beliefs on anyone....but we need to tell people about Christ, whether that is by the testimony of our words or by the testimony of our walk with Christ. I believe the work of the Holy Spirit is to nudge/convict a non-believer/person who is seeking.
Just my thoughts.
I hope to see you in Pennsylvania once you get your bus up and running. :-)
Thank you for sharing. I agree a follower of Jesus is called to spread the good new of Jesus.
God willing I will visit Pennsylvania in 2024
I wrote a whole thing, and it disappeared. But, in short, I think God is using you to teach us, inspire us, admonish us, mold us to be what He wants. We all have our own lives, but we all have the same mission- to give God the glory, and to bring people to Him. I really admire what you are doing. You have the heart of God, and people will be in heaven because of your willingness to go and share God's love. Let me know if you make it to Virginia! Denise
I truly hope God will use me to bring people to Christ.
Thank you for another interesting prayer walk in a beautiful location. In the discussion of good and evil in the world, since I have always believed in God, my answer is coming from that viewpoint. I believe evil is the corruption of a good thing. God, who is all good, created the world good but gave man a free will. Man chooses sin, God allows evil to exist but He did not create it. God is incapable of evil, committing, creating or causing it. As far as preaching, witnessing or simply talking about our faith, we are told by Jesus in Matthew 5 that we are the light of the world, we are here to spread His light and not hide it. Preachers, for example, are using their talents to spread that light just as we all use our talents to spread it in ways that are best suited for us. You, Donny, in your own way, through amazing prayer walks and your outreach are a bright light in this world. In my opinion that light we shine can be considered our soul magnifying the Lord by honoring Him and His greatness. Thank you again for your inspiration to study and grow in my spiritual journey. I pray for continued blessings on your journey. 🙏❤️
What a lovely out look. thank you for sharing Linda and thank you for your prayers
I like hearing you say that you're just another guy with an opinion based on your circumstances and your personality and that if people want to know the Author is still alive, if they want to know they can ask Him and read the book.
I think you say this on every walk, which makes me feel comfortable supporting you, because I see that the focus you place on Prayer Walks is on God, the Creator of all things, on Jesus Christ, the only and sufficient savior, and in the Holy Spirit our intercessor.
This reminds me of when I went to college to take a course based on humanism, I was very young and the pastor of my church told me: listen and study everything, but don't forget to compare everything they are teaching you with what is in the Bible . Stay firm in the scriptures and take a stand, that's what I did (only one teacher in the entire course felt uncomfortable with my position and one day he asked me to leave the room, because according to him my questions were disrupting the class – lol) .
I understand that when Mary says “my soul magnifies the Lord” it is because she is amazed and feels honored to see that God chose her to carry out the greatest event of all humanity, she is saying that God is merciful in paying attention to her, a simple and humble girl.
The existence of evil in the world is an issue that has challenged the faith of many people throughout history. But I believe that evil exists because of the freedom that God granted to human beings. God gives man free will, the ability to choose between good and evil. Unfortunately, man chose to disobey God, introducing sin and its consequences into the world (Genesis 2 and 3). Evil is a consequence of human choice to stray from God's ways.
Sorry for the long text, but all the topics you raised today I love reflecting on and talking about them...
Thank you for walking on this beautiful, sunny day (that’s yet another reason to praise God for everything He created).
thank you for sharing Angela. I appreciate your thoughts and would like to ask you to expand.
You said "I believe that evil exists because of the freedom that God granted to human beings".
I would very much enjoy hearing your thoughts on Lucifer also having he ability to choose to disobey God, how that choice led to other angels choosing to disobey and how that lead to the existence of evil long before people existed.
I hope you don't mind me asking.
I don't mind you asking, in fact, I love these discussions, they teach us a lot.
You are right, it is necessary to think about the existence of evil long before the creation of human beings.
I think it is important to consider that evil is the absence of good, therefore it is the absence of God because God is fully good and holy, so everything that is opposite to God is evil and is Named in the Bible as disobedience, iniquity and sin.
It can be said that evil has always existed as that which is opposite to God, however evil only became something experimental on earth after the existence of man and woman - that's what I meant in that excerpt that you extracted from my comment, that is, God gave each individual the ability to choose, the freedom to decide what to do and how to behave.
It is possible to say that human beings were originally created good, but chose to transgress God's will.
I may be wrong, but the Bible does not clearly say when evil came into existence, it is known that some angels were the first creatures to rebel against God and these angels are called fallen angels.
The Bible says that fallen angels exist, but it does not say their names. The only fallen angel with a name in the Bible is Satan. The others are the devil's servants, who rejected and rebelled against God. The Bible says that they are all spiritual beings directed towards evil.
According to the Scriptures, Lucifer's fall was motivated by his pride and desire to become equal to God.
Lucifer could accept God's supremacy or he could choose to be independent. In Isaiah 14, it brings Lucifer's speech when he repeats several times “I will ascend, I will reign, I will be” this shows the choice he made, defying God and declaring himself as the “most high”.
All the beauty and power of the archangel, all the good things that were created in him, caused him to become extremely proud and his pride caused him to rebel.
In fact, human beings experienced evil for the first time when they were instigated by a tempter. And the Scriptures make it clear that this tempter, in the figure of the serpent, was Satan.
Therefore, when evil appeared in the material world, it was already a reality in the spiritual world.
I also think it is important to consider that the Bible presents some concepts about “EVIL”, “moral evil”, that is, sin and “temporal evil”, the punishment sent by God because of man's wickedness.
But, the good thing is the Bible says that soon God will definitely put an end to all evil for those who repent of their sins and accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior!
I hope I answered your questions and thank you for the opportunity to talk to you!
well said. thank you for sharing
Your steadfast faith is so refreshing to me and your humble spirit always makes these walks and the questions you ask something I want to explore for myself. I pray all the time. I feel I have a direct line where God wants to hear whatever is on my heart. I try very hard to take time each day to get quiet and listen for what He wants me to know. I personally believe that evil comes because man has free will and God allows the course of life to happen as a result. None of us are spared from the effects of that. But we can still praise Him for His plan to overcome evil with good. I rejoice in a loving God who wants to be in relationship with each and every one of us. I love your vision for ministry and I know God will use you mightily to bring people into His loving care through the hands and feet of others. I hope we get to cross paths again once that bus is on the road! In the meantime I'm praying God puts people in front of you who need to feel His love and that you get to be the instrument He uses to show them Himself. Blessings, my friend!
Thank you for sharing Cathey. and thank you for your prayers. such a good prayer.
Good morning Donny! I must confess I wrote something Wednesday and deleted it before you started reading the wonderful comments, below. So I'm resharing, but a little differently than previously written. It wasn't one of my better days on Thursday, but this morning, Friday, after prayer, reading and meditating on God's word, I'm feeling better. That's because I began taking my eyes off of my problems and placed the focus on Jesus. We all experience challenges in this broken world, but keeping the focus on Jesus is the only way. I have my weak moments every now and then on this journey of faith.
Like you shared, prayer is essential in communicating with God to bring all these challenges, fears, and sin to the table before God. Also, breathing in the Word of God each day and committing in humble obedience to Him is also essential. Community of believers is also so important. It helps us to distinguish between the good and evil in this world. When I let all these come together, and get my focus off of "me" and refocus, renew, and reframe my thoughts on Jesus, a gentle peace floods my soul, brings joy to my heart, and the hope of salvation to my mind. All these encompass me and helps me to reconcile myself with God on a daily basis.
I will continue to make mistakes, but knowing that Jesus died and forgives me each time brings me hope and peace. I pray each day, I'm hearing His voice and following what I feel He's revealing His will for me today and forward. As I've previously shared, my main hope is to encourage others, pray for and with them.
Prayers continue for you and the prayer walk ministry in letting God continue to use you as His vessel to encourage me and all of us on our own journeys of faith. You're always welcome to come and visit N.C. again as God continues to lead you. God bless you Donny!
I appreciate you sharing Anne.
I understanding your desire to delete a message because it was written on a "not so great day". As I read your comment I was reminded of 2 Corinthians 12:9 Gods strength is made perfect in our weakness.
When we read the Bible every story shows how we people fall short and God is glorified.
We can not be afraid to fall short and let others see. Every "leader", so to speak, in the Bible failed publicly and we have been gleaning from their imperfections for thousand of years because God is so good.
God bless
Thank you Donny! I've read that verse many times as it holds so much truth. I concur so many people in the Bible who fall short, but God used their weaknesses as His strength overcame those as He was glorified in the end: Moses, David, Joseph, Jeremiah, and the list goes on. A writer, Lysa Terkheurst phrased it well "God is good at being good."
I forgot to say, I think, as christians we are all supposed to glorify God in all we do. People should see Jesus shine through us, no matter what we are doing. The Bible says in everything we do, do it all for God's glory.
Good morning Donny. Thanks again for these thoughts....you always challenge me.
What are you doing in Tennessee? Recording?? :-)
Hello Lillian, You're welcome. Thank you for joining.
I came to TN to help some friends and work on some scripts.
there was talk of more recording... we will see where god leads.