Our foundation is our strength…. “Have we skimped on the cement put into the foundation?” Big Book pg 75. ... I am sure we are all familiar with the story of the 3 Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf. The moral of the story is that we need to have a strong foundation and not take shortcuts or fall victim to poor influences when building our lives. We are faced with subtle challenges daily that can actually undermine our foundation if we do not pay attention. It’s not our place to judge or convict others, but it is our job to love others AS THEY ARE as God loves us AS WE ARE. Allowing yourself to believe anything other than this will weaken your foundation and leave you spiritually bankrupt. How is your foundation? Are the bricks of faith, truth, love, and hope in place firmly? ... Check your experience…. “Let your roots flow down into him and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught and you will overflow with thankfulness.” Colossians 2:7 Lord, let us be blanketed by your Word, covered in Your Truth, and love others as You continue to love us, AMEN. 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 are now 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://smile.amazon.com/s?k=pastor+mark+farley&crid=14NTE20XGC0O1&sprefix=pastor+mark+%2Caps%2C201&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_12   

Got enough "stuff"? ... Years ago I was asked to help a man who had some personal life issues. I was still kind of new to the ministry and was a bit confused from my initial meeting with him. I met a man who was obviously very wealthy and powerful. He owned a very public and successful business, had money and was surrounded by more material wealth than I had ever seen. He had what seemed to me at the time, an army of assistants and employees catering to his every need. In my initial first 30 second assessment, this man had it all! Despite all this, I was sent to help and was amazed at what I learned as I got to know this man. He was filled with anger and loneliness. Even though he was surrounded by people, along with enough material wealth and possessions to make anyone envious, HE WAS MISERABLE! He had no personal relationships and had estranged most of his family over the years. I learned that money had become his God and that material things were his mistress. He had no real relationship with anyone. Long story short, I spent some time with him but it was obvious he was not having any of what I offered in my "Jesus bag and sobriety kit" as he came to call it during the few months I tried to help him. I was replaced by more senior ministers so I lost track of his progress but I never forgot how miserable this extremely wealthy man was. I felt sorry for him because despite his power and wealth he was morally bankrupt and spiritually poor. ... How about you? How is your spiritual bank account and net worth!... Check your experience. .. "He is the Father, we are His children." Big Book pg 62 Lord let our true wealth come from the richness our Spirit gains from you and our relationships with those around us, AMEN. "We came into this world with nothing. For sure, when we die, we will take nothing with us.” 1 Timothy 6:7 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 are now 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://smile.amazon.com/s?k=pastor+mark+farley&crid=14NTE20XGC0O1&sprefix=pastor+mark+%2Caps%2C201&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_12  

Take time to listen before waiting to speak… Have you ever caught yourself on “auto-pilot” in a conversation? For me, it usually happens when during a familiar conversation or recurring situation. My mind tells me the answer before the other person even asks or finishes! Now maybe it’s different for you, but I catch myself going into auto- pilot mode when I start deciding what must be done even before I have really listened and or HEARD what the other person is trying to say. OK, so this is part of standard fare for raising kids under 5 when it comes to junk food and unsafe toys, we DO know the answers before they form the question, but this type of listening hurts us in all other aspects of our lives. Think about it. We like to be listened to, heard, and feel that we have been understood. It’s a spiritual principle that we need to treat others in the same way that we wish to be treated. So maybe this is the 3rd time Aunt Mabel has told you the story about her trip to the grocery with the wrong coupons. Perhaps by actively listening to her and building conversation around her story, she may finally feel heard and stop telling you the same story. How do you listen? Does the solution noise in your head drown out what the other person is trying to say? … Check your own experience and…Take time to listen instead of waiting to speak. “We never gave the spiritual side of life a fair hearing.” Big Book pg 50 Lord, let us listen with our hearts and hear with You Holy Spirit that resides in us all, AMEN. "To answer before listening-- that is folly and shame. Proverbs 18:13 Have a blessed day y'all!! Check out my NEW WORKBOOK! Start your day on a positive note! Daily devotions from the Big Book and Bible combined! Paperback and Kindle versions are now 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://smile.amazon.com/s?k=pastor+mark+farley&crid=14NTE20XGC0O1&sprefix=pastor+mark+%2Caps%2C201&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_12

We are only as sick as our secrets… Sometimes withholding information is good to do, like when it is not needed for the situation at hand, or could overwhelm or overload someone due to their current circumstances. Most of the time it pays to be transparent and not keep secrets because they have a way of coming to light, especially in this day and age with Facebook, Snap Chat, Instagram, and all the other ways we socialize and communicate. The spiritual fact is that no matter what is on our hearts or in our minds, the Lord knows through the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. So maybe this doesn’t apply to you , but why is it that there are times when I think I can “pull one over” on the Lord, or feel that if I don’t look at it or pray about it He won’t know? I chalk it up to my weak self-will fueled by either pride or fear, depending on the motivator, but the truth is the longer I hold off from bringing it to the Lord, the harder it is for me to gain grace and be free. How’s this working out for you?.. Check your experience… . “…we soon became as open minded on spiritual matters as we had tried to be on other questions.” Big Book pg 48 Lord, let us open our hearts and minds to Your grace and guidance, AMEN. “For there is nothing covered up that will not be seen. There is nothing hidden that will not be known.” Luke 12:2 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 please to share the newest free 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/

7 loaves and a few fish….. Sometimes when worldly needs and demands pile up we can begin to feel overwhelmed with responsibilities and requests that our minds have a hard time wrapping our heads around. When our heads do the math, it doesn’t always add up causing fear and anxiety. Just remember, if it is God’s will, it will happen, perhaps not the way we imagine, but it will happen. Just look at the 4000 Jesus fed with 7 loaves and few fish! … “Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” Philippians 4:6 Lord, let us bring our needs, wants, and desires to You in prayer and pray to WANT what we get and not to GET what we think we want! AMEN. "Our ideas did not work, but the God idea did." Big Book pg 52 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 usually send 2 or 3 of these 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 www.FurnitureBank.us 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 gotta put it on... Have you ever noticed that we have to make many choices daily? We decide what clothes to wear, what foods to eat and even the routes to take to get us from place to place. Some requires a lot of thought and some very little, but either way we have to give it our thoughts and make our choice. It's the same in our Spiritual life. Even though we are saved and promised eternal life when we take Jesus as our Lord and Savior, He still gives us the free will to choose our Spiritual walk daily. So how is that working out for you? Are you choosing to put on your Spiritual Armor daily and walk in His path? ... Check your experience. ... "walk day by day in the path of spiritual progress." Big Book pg 100 Lord, let us put on Your Spiritual Armor daily and walk covered and protected, AMEN. "..and you must put on the new self, which is created in God's likeness and reveals itself in the true life that is upright and holy.” Ephesians 4:24 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 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/

Another type of "Book Learnin'"... We go to school for 12 or more years to get our education. Most of us get some sort of on the job training from our employers. A lot of us get many educational lessons from the school of hard knocks. And a few of us get on going education from our Big Book and its daily 12 Step practices. But what about Spiritual learning? I have yet to see it on any applications in the working world. The lessons I am finally learning on life come from the Bible and being in God's will and Word daily. Maybe it's different for you, but my wisdom comes from applying the words in God's Book to my life. ... Check your experience. ... . "There had been a humble willingness to have Him with me and He came. But soon the sense of His presence had been blotted out by worldly clamors mostly those within myself. And so it had been ever since. How blind I had been." Big Book pg 12&13 Lord let us walk daily in Your Will and Word to gain the wisdom we need, AMEN. "But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure and full of quiet gentleness. Then it is peace-loving and courteous. It allows discussion and is willing to yield to others; it is full of mercy and good deeds. It is wholehearted and straightforward and sincere." James 3:17 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 usually send 2 or 3 of these 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 www.FurnitureBank.us 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