Words have power; IF you let them… Let’s think about words for a minute. While there is much attention given to negative words and a lot of advice on how NOT to use them or let them influence us, we don’t tend to see much attention given to positive words. Think about it, when was the last time you recall actually borrowing, copying, highlighting, saying or writing words that can build you or others up. What about influential words or phrases? How many of those words do we actually remember or have somewhere handy that we can read and reflect on often? Now maybe it’s different for you, but I need to see, read, say, and recall positive influencing words. Because of this my home, office, and electronic devices are filled with phrases that encourage, inspire and guide me daily. These give me power and assurance that despite the person, place, thing, or situation I am facing I can rely on the Holy Spirit in my heart and Jesus to stay with me and show me the way. How are you using your words?.. Check your experience…“Listen carefully to my words. Don’t lose sight of them. Let them penetrate deep into your heart, for they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body” Proverbs 4:20-22 Lord, let us use words to help and inspire ourselves and others, AMEN. “In our personal stories you will find a wide variation in the way each teller approaches and conceives of the Power which is greater than himself.” Big Book pg 50 Have a blessed day y’all! Start your day on a positive note! Daily devotions from the Big Book and Bible combined! Paperback and Kindle versions available!! Every penny goes to support Faith Through Works Fellowship ministries including our beloved Furniture Bank! Please order yours today and help us help others! https://www.amazon.com/s?k=pastor+mark+farley&ref=nb_sb_noss

What’s on your agenda?.. We are busy folks and we rely on schedules, calendars, appointments, and other tools to keep us on track and on time. It’s a part of our lives and culture. Have you ever taken a moment to consider who or what drives our need to have these daily, weekly, and monthly agendas? Sure, I get it, we need to stay organized and we all are juggling many balls in order to make this life thing work. But wouldn’t it be nice if instead of just our yearly vacations, we could set our own agendas according to our spiritual needs? It’s part of a healthy routine to carve out time for daily physical fitness as well as spiritual time. So….what is on your agenda today?.. Check your experience… . “For the first time, he lived in conscious companionship with his Creator.” Big Book pg 56 Lord, let us set part of our daily agenda to spend time with You and Your Word, AMEN. “God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure” Ephesians 1:5 Have a blessed day y'all!! Start your day on a positive note! Daily devotions from the Big Book and Bible combined! Paperback and Kindle versions available!! Every penny goes to support Faith Through Works Fellowship ministries including our beloved Furniture Bank! Please order yours today and help us help others! https://www.amazon.com/s?k=pastor+mark+farley&ref=nb_sb_noss

We gotta provide the effort in order to gain results… We go to the drive thru to pick up our coffee, food, and even groceries. Heck, even now we have apps that will preorder our coffee, meals, groceries, and other things for us! Press a button and it is done. Wouldn’t it be great if we could press a button and fix our flaws and shortcomings? Believe me, if there truly was an app or an instant fix for permanent weight loss, I would be all over it. Despite many claims by money motivated folks, this is not part of our reality right now. So I will have to look inside myself and continue the day by day work on my weight loss as well as my other character defects. The good news is that along with the encouraging support from many friends and family, there is spiritual support from Jesus, IF I will work for it. I don’t know about you, but everything else I have given over to God has improved, so I am suiting up and showing up to allow the Holy Spirit to also help me become healthier inside and out…Check your experience… “We found that as soon as we were able to lay aside prejudice and express even a willingness to believe in a Power greater than ourselves, we commenced to get results, even though it was impossible for any of us to fully define or comprehend that Power, which is God.” Big Book pg 46 Lord, let us open our hearts and minds and be willing to allow You to mend us through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, AMEN. “Come close to God, and God will come close to you." James 4:8 Have a blessed day y’all! Hey friends please check out Servants Hearts! It’s a free site to help connect folks with volunteer and helping opportunities! Furniture Bank, Spiritual Solutions Group, and Advocate Phoenix are pleased to share the newest free helping service from Faith Through Works Fellowship! Its Phoenix based for now. Pray for its growth to provide helping hearts and willing hands to our organizations that need help! http://aservantsheart.us/

Being transparent… Isn’t it nice when it turns out that things and people ARE what they seem? We don’t get to experience much of that today, but it sure is refreshing when we do. It seems to be a cultural norm that either we are only seeing and hearing what we want to, or we are being shown and told only what others think we want. It sure gets confusing. It’s a spiritual principle as well as a biblical truth that we are at our best when we do what we say and say what we do. Living transparently allows us to be us all the time and not have to switch characters and remember what roles we need to assume for different people and situations… Check your experience…“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” 1 John 3:18 Lord, let us be transparent in our daily lives, learning to be the best we can be through seeking and doing Your will, AMEN. “There is action and more action. “Faith without works is dead.” Big Book pg 88 Have a blessed day y’all! …. MAKE A DIFFERENCE! Furniture Bank is in the hand-UP business and not the HANDOUT GAME! You can donate any amount for a tax deduction and tax receipt, even $20 a month helps, because $100 provides a new twin bed and bedding to make a house into a home for our clients and families escaping homelessness and hopelessness. We send 2 or 3 new beds to every family we assist. Furniture Bank is a 501c3 public charity and every penny donated goes toward helping our families, veterans, and individuals in need. Visit our website and click on the PayPal button for a secure transaction and tax receipt that will follow within 48 hours. Please help us help others! http://www.furniturebank.us

We GET what we GIVE… this is a fact and it's based on the spiritual principle that we will get out of it whatever we put into it, no matter what the situation or opportunity is. If I give positivity and focus outward on others I receive grace and peace. If I give negativity and focus inward, then I get the negativity back in some form or fashion. It’s always a blessing to me to get to spend time with friends and catch up on their lives. Whether I am hearing of the good things or the challenges, I find my heart listening to learn the source. I think it’s a part of our human nature and experience here in this life that no matter what, either good or not so good, we have a part in it that we need to look at. It never ceases to amaze me that the ones who are receiving the most blessings are giving the most of their time and sharing their resources with others. Along with that, those of us that are hurting the most are having a hard time being of service to others. Now maybe it’s different for you but over the years I have learned that when I am experiencing challenges and or hard times, it is a good time for me to shift my focus away from me and seek out another person to help. Sure enough, my situation improves and things get better. How’s it working out for you?… Check your experience... “Think of what you can bring to it.” Big Book pg 92 Lord let us look to see what we can do to help others instead of seeing what we can get from them, AMEN. “Not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing.” 1 Peter 3:9 Have a blessed day y’all! Hey friends please check out Servants Hearts! It’s a free site to help connect folks with volunteer and helping opportunities! Furniture Bank, Spiritual Solutions Group, and Advocate Phoenix are pleased to share the newest free helping service from Faith Through Works Fellowship! Its Phoenix based for now. Pray for its growth to provide helping hearts and willing hands to our organizations that need help! http://aservantsheart.us/

Are you serving or being served?.. This is a thought to consider as we celebrate Labor Day today. It’s easy to sit and be served. We experience this at restaurants, hair salons, doctor visits and other things where we are the customer. We gain from receiving these services. However, it’s not always easy to serve others. Even when we are passionate about what we do, there are those few people or certain situations that try our patience and make our skin crawl. Nevertheless, we gain from performing these types of services. What about serving others for no gain? This is where we are asked to help another person who we may or may not even see or know, but they will benefit from our labor and service. It’s a thankless task with no direct reward for us… or so it seems! Serving others helps yourself, when your motive is selfless and your efforts are to be of service with no personal gain….check your experience… “Our real purpose is to fit ourselves to be of maximum service to God and the people about us.” Big Book pg 77 Lord, let us serve others with the motive of helping and not gaining, AMEN. “A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.” Proverbs 11:25 Have a blessed day y’all! …. MAKE A DIFFERENCE! Furniture Bank is in the hand-UP business and not the HANDOUT GAME! You can donate any amount for a tax deduction and tax receipt, even $20 a month helps, because $100 provides a new twin bed and bedding to make a house into a home for our clients and families escaping homelessness and hopelessness. We send 2 or 3 new beds to every family we assist. Furniture Bank is a 501c3 public charity and every penny donated goes toward helping our families, veterans, and individuals in need. Visit our website and click on the PayPal button for a secure transaction and tax receipt that will follow within 48 hours. Please help us help others! http://www.furniturebank.us

Everybody is good at something…. We all have talents, abilities, and skills. Thank goodness they are not all the same. It’s easy to get caught up in the cultural norm of our society to compare ourselves to others, but with that comes the human based negative emotions that lead to pride, envy, greed, and so on. What if we practiced celebrating our differences instead of belittling them? I am lost without my friends who are mechanically inclined as well as my other friends who have the common sense I was not blessed with! We each have the unique ability to help others and what a positive feeling that produces. Are you willing to look for ways to help and celebrate your differences?.. Check your experience… “He was inexplicably different.” Big Book pg 9 Lord, let us use our differences to help others and learn from one another, AMEN. “There are different kinds of gifts, but they are all from the same Spirit. There are different ways to serve but the same Lord to serve. And there are different ways that God works through people but the same God. God works in all of us in everything we do.” 1 Corinthians 12:4-6 Have a blessed day y’all! Start your day on a positive note! Daily devotions from the Big Book and Bible combined! Paperback and Kindle versions available!! Every penny goes to support Faith Through Works Fellowship ministries including our beloved Furniture Bank! Please order yours today and help us help others! https://www.amazon.com/s?k=pastor+mark+farley&ref=nb_sb_noss