Living Above the Sun Ministries

On this day in 1517, the priest and scholar Martin Luther approaches the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, and nails a piece of paper to it containing the 95 revolutionary opinions that would begin the Protestant Reformation. In his theses, Luther condemned the excesses and corruption of the Roman Catholic Church, especially the papal practice of asking payment—called "indulgences"—for the forgiveness of sins. At the time, a Dominican priest named Johann Tetzel, commissioned by the Archbishop of Mainz and Pope Leo X, was in the midst of a major fundraising campaign in Germany to finance the renovation of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Though Prince Frederick III the Wise had banned the sale of indulgences in Wittenberg, many church members traveled to purchase them. When they returned, they showed the pardons they had bought to Luther, claiming they no longer had to repent for their sins. Luther's frustration with this practice led him to write the 95 T

"Listen, Job; stop and consider the wonderful miracles of God!" Job 37:14 The thought has been with me all day about how much our lives matter. We plant seeds in peoples lives and don't even know it. Seeds that will one day take root and change the course of a persons life. We plant seeds through our actions, and our words, our choices...etc. etc. However, the thought also came to mind that sometimes we might not even have to mention God's name to point someone to Jesus. Sometimes we Christians, including myself, can intimidate "unbelievers" with our strong Christian faith, and our talk of the Bible all the time. While I'm not saying that is wrong, I think sometimes we just need to relax and not be so self-conscience about if people see Jesus in us that it makes others uncomfortable to be around us; it defeats the whole purpose. I believe we are to model after Jesus, and when we read about Jesus in the Bible, he sure does do a lot of teaching. The

"He Created everything there is. Nothing exists that He didn't make. Life itself was in Him, and this life gives light to everyone." -John 1:3-4 From "Children's Letters to God": Dear God, I didn't think orange went with purple until I saw the sunset on Thursday. That was cool. -Eugene Sunday morning I had to be to church early. Now is the time of year when you get home it's dark and when you leave again in the morning it's dark. Sunday, I was anxious about church, Satan was attacking my thoughts and the week prior has been a faith tester. Driving, I saw the sunrise with beautiful colors and artistic thought. I had on my radio and I was singing "How can I keep from singing your praise" and song by Chris Tomlin. Tears filled my eyes as I thought of my Savior, my creator. I got my cell phone out and took a few pictures. There were purples, and pinks, and oranges, clouds in various shapes looking like Jesus could st

These three things can be accomplished with the Holy Spirit dwelling in you. Sometimes it's hard to do these three things, or be these things. It would have to take a Jesus kind of love to love some people....sometimes I'm hard to love or be at peace with. I've learned some valuable lessons this week, and I'm so thankful for the wise women God has placed in my life. I'm thankful for what they teach me, and how they lead me in the right direction. How they pray for me, and love me when I'm hard to love. For the encouraging words they speak into my life. This past week was a challenge. Satan attacked BIG time. I won't go into detail because it really doesn't matter. What matters is what I learned and how I felt such peace such a nearness to God. I'd just like to take you through scripture to where you can learn through the Holy Spirit how to be at peace, love, and harmony when Satan attacks. Remember that God puts us through the fire to tes

"At that point they went wild, a rioting mob of catcalls and whistles and invective. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, hardly noticed—he only had eyes for God, whom he saw in all his glory with Jesus standing at his side. He said, "Oh! I see heaven wide open and the Son of Man standing at God's side!" Yelling and hissing, the mob drowned him out. Now in full stampede, they dragged him out of town and pelted him with rocks. The ringleaders took off their coats and asked a young man named Saul to watch them. As the rocks rained down, Stephen prayed, "Master Jesus, take my life." Then he knelt down, praying loud enough for everyone to hear, "Master, don't blame them for this sin"—his last words. Then he died." -Acts 7:54-60 Stories such as Stephen's found in the book of Acts have always spoken to me, and left me speechless, with a yearning to be more like them. Other include, Paul, Timothy, Silas, Barnabas....read the whole book of

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne." -Hebrews 12:1-2 Lately God has been speaking to me for the past few years of stripping things away, in fact, I have written a few posts in the past about this topic. God is revealing more and more that what we possess here on Earth is just stuff. What he is doing is stripping away everything to show who we really are....simple human beings before an Almighty God. He convicts us of our imperfections, putting His light in all the dark corners of our life. He challenges us, He places callings on our lives