This is the Weekly Devotional Message from

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Hello!

I hope you're having a super morning! Here's your weekly dose of encouragement from "our world" and God's Word.

The internet isn't simply a great place for text messages. It's also a great place for live audio! Therefore, JCSM will be doing a monthly webcast. Our first, audio webcast is set for May 2^nd at 6pm PST (Pacific Standard Time), 9pm EST (Eastern Standard Time). More details will be forthcoming, but all you'll need is a media player, such as Real Player, and a web connection.

On the first show, I'll say a few words about the ministry, share the gospel, play some Christian music and there will even be a couple of surprises! We'll also have a phone number, so people can call in and get on the air. Please pray for this new endeavor because we are currently setting it up and working out the kinks.

Would you like to get an inside view of the country of Israel? While I was there in December, for two weeks, I took detailed notes in my journal. My wife typed this journal and I've uploaded it to the web. Journey to the Holy Land, here: http://www.jcsm.org/Contents/MyIsraelJournal.htm.

We've uploaded 50 new pictures from our Israel trip! There are some great shots of Jerusalem and beyond. You can see them here: http://www.jcsm.org/Israel2001/IsraelPicturesList.htm.

Dr. J.P. Moreland gave us an awesome seminar at Biola University/Talbot Seminary. I took a lot of notes and posted them on the web. If you'd like to read about "Christianity and the Nature of Science", just go here: http://www.jcsm.org/Education/JPMoreland.htm.

Recently, I noticed that several links on the JCSM site weren't working! I've hunted down the problems and fixed them. I won't get into what was wrong, but we think all the links are functional, now. If you came across a broken link, please return and try it again.

Jesus Christ was crucified on the Jewish holiday of Passover. Do you know what Passover is? Well, I've written a detailed description of a Passover celebration and what the Jews say, eat and do! You can discover these things here: http://jesus_christ_saves2.tripod.com/Passover.htm.

Would you like to hear some Christian, midi music? We have a site for these! Link: http://www.jcsm.org/Music/ChristianMidiFiles.htm.

Many atheists have asked (honest?) questions on my friend's message board. They've even left their email addresses. If you'd like to read them and respond, I'm sure you can be a light for these people. Please take a minute to surf to the next site and respond to someone who needs the Lord: http://www.infidelguy.com/questions_to_ask_theists.htm.

On April 23, Dr. Craig Hazen is speaking, at Biola University, at 7pm! This is the final lecture in their series. I'll be there early and if you're in the area, you should come. He'll be talking about Christian theology and how to wrap your head around the basics things in God's Word.

Do you like to read? Do you like cheap books? Well, here are some Half.com coupons. Link: http://www.dealcatcher.com/deals.asp?view_type=8&merchant_id=319

Every computer has it's own IP address. If you need to discover yours, just go here: http://www.whatismyipaddress.com.

Do you need a good mp3 player? I give Winamp two thumbs up! You can freely get it from http://www.download.com.

I pray that you are joyfully being sanctified into a Christ-like image. Seek God's kingdom first and He will give you everything you need.

On April 25^th, the Christian music industry is giving away the Dove Awards! Check your local listings for show times.

Are you getting this message every week? Are you receiving about twelve pages with this message? If this message isn't reaching you consistently or if it's shortened, you can always find these weekly devotions on our web site! Devotional archive: http://devos.jcsm.org. Plus, if www.jcsm.org isn't working, please try www.jcsm.net.

This is your ministry, so please feel free to link to JCSM and forward these devotions to your friends and family. On the JCSM website, there are over 2500 links (pictures, midis, Bible lessons, humor, proverbial stories, links, devotions, poetry, prayer journals and much more!) and it has registered over 70,000 visits!

Would you like to support God's work on the web? If this ministry has touched you in a special way, please pray and consider sending a gift to JCSM. You can join us in our vision to reach people on the web with the good news! Either email me for more information or simply go here: http://vision.jcsm.org.

If you need to email me, please see the address below. Hitting "reply" to this message won't send an email to me. I'm sorry if this is an inconvenience to you, however, rest assured that I will answer all of the emails I receive.

Welcome to the new recipients of this message! Here are the devotions, challenge, moment of introspection, the Bible word of the week and the quotations for the week. Have a fantastic week and God bless you!

Love in Christ,

Jason J. Gastrich

http://jcsm.org/contact.php

ICQ#: 20731140

The Weekly Devotional Message

Day 1: "The God of Miracles"

Acts 2:22 "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know."

1 Corinthians 12:7-10 "But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues."

1 Corinthians 12:28 "And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues."

Galatians 3:5 "Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you works miracles among you."

Acts 4:16 "What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it."

Prayer: "Dear Lord, thanks for the miracles that You do! Thank you for giving us the same miracle-working power. Praise You for being a mighty God. Thank you for creating the laws of nature. No wonder You can manipulate them! We love You, Lord, and we thank you for your grace and mercy. Bless us and make us like You. Help us to have extraordinary faith. Let us believe that You can do enormous things. Help us to pray really big, too. You are our God. Thank you for wanting to do awesome things for us because You love us. In Jesus' name, Amen."

Day 2: "Pray Boldly"

Hebrews 4:16 "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

James 1:5, 6 "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind."

Prayer: "Help your saints to pray boldly, Lord! Thank you for wanting us to come to You with bold faith. Thank you for wanting us to tell You our problems and our successes. Thank you for being a relational being and wanting a relationship with us. Help us to talk to You and to listen to You. Let us not be talkers only or listeners only. Thank you for taking the time to reach down and touch humankind. Praise You for being a God that did not put us here and leave. Remind us that You are faithful. Remind us that You are worthy. Thank you for being our strong adversary. Forgive us for forgetting to pray and forgetting to seek You. In Jesus' name, Amen."

Day 3: "The Need For Fervor"

1 Peter 1:22 "Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart."

Acts 18:25 "This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John."

Romans 12:10, 11 "Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord."

James 5:16 "Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much."

1 Peter 4:8 "And above all things have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins."

Prayer: "Help us to be full of fervor for You! Let us pray fervently, too. Thank you for wanting to hear our fervent prayers. Forgive us for praying in a mundane or robotic manner. Remind us that You are alive and well! Help us to be alive and well, too. Remind us of the way your Spirit falls on us when we pray fervently. Thank you for the fact and the feeling of your Holy Spirit. Fill us with your Spirit, Lord. Let us pray with sincerity and purpose. Remind us that we are talking to our Heavenly Father. Thank you for listening to us. In Jesus' name, Amen."

Day 4: "Don't Be Afraid"

Isaiah 41:10 "Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand."

Matthew 10:28 "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."

Luke 12:32 "Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."

Revelation 2:10a "Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer."

2 Timothy 1:7 "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."

Prayer: "Remove our fears, Lord. Thank you for letting things come into our lives that are potentially scary. Help us to rise above the fear factor and embrace You. Thank you for wanting us to walk with sure steps and be unafraid of this world. Thank you for giving us confidence and surety! There's no other God like You. Thank you for the peace and success in your statutes. Help us to identify fear and counter it with prayer, scripture and boldness. Lift our heads, Lord. Remind us that You have overcome the entire world. Thank you for the way You were, are and always will be sinless. Let us be sanctified into your image. In Jesus' name, Amen."

Day 5: "Be Bold and Courageous!"2 Corinthians 3:12 "Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech."

1 John 4:17 "Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world."

Hebrews 10:19-22 "Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water."

Joshua 1:9 "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."

Prayer: "Thank you for wanting us to be bold and courageous. Thank you for the Christians who have done incredible things in your name. Help us to do the same. Help us to be strong, bold men and women of faith. Increase our faith and our love. Give us great, miracle-working power. Let us speak your words of truth and do your perfect will. Thank you for being such a good God that You want us to have your qualities. Thank you for being so secure that You are not afraid of us having your qualities and being like You. Let us worship and emulate the Creator and not the creation. To You be all the glory! In Jesus' name, Amen."

Day 6: "Totally, Brand New"

Ezekiel 18:31a "Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit."

Ezekiel 36:26, 27 "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them."

Psalm 51:10 "Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me."

2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."

Prayer: "Thank you for making us new, Lord. Thank you for renewing our minds, too. Thank you for putting your Spirit inside of us and giving us a totally new and better perspective on life, God and people. Help us to see things like You do. Forgive us for humanizing things and making things seem like they work without your supernatural hand and influence. Remind us that You are everywhere and You are doing incredible things that we can't always see. Praise You for having an awesome plan. Your thoughts are higher than our thoughts and your ways are higher than our ways. Thank you for prophesying about your Spirit coming to live inside people and then fulfilling it in Acts! In Jesus' name, Amen."

Day 7: "To God Be the Glory"

Ephesians 3:20, 21 "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen."

1 Peter 5:11 "To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen."

2 Peter 3:18 "Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen."

Prayer: "To You be all the glory, honor and praise, forever and ever! Thank you for being the first and the last. Thank you for redeeming us. Just like some recyclables, You have taken the things that have been left behind and You have made them usable and great. Praise You for giving us wisdom and knowledge that exceeds the wisdom and knowledge of even the wisest, earthly scholars. Help us to be wise enough to use the truth correctly. Remove our pride and give us humility. Help us to continue to think critically and rationally, but embrace faith and your Word. Thank you for giving us a supernatural and eternal source of truth! Thank you for touching our lives and making us so different that we can't stay the same and we can't stop from telling others about it! We love You, Lord. You are our everything. In Jesus' name, Amen."

Challenge

Make a commitment and set aside some time to pray to God!

You can choose the amount of days and the amount of time. However, we all need to have time when we remove distractions and pray.

You won't regret the time you spend in prayer. I don't think I've ever heard someone say, "I wish I wouldn't have prayed so much."

If you start praying, you'll see how God answers your prayers and blesses you! If you'd like to learn more about prayer, please let me know and I'll send you the lesson that I recently taught on prayer.

Right now, I have 35 more days where I'm writing prayers in my journal for 30 minutes per day. This has been an awesome experience and I'm so happy to be growing closer to God.

God bless you as you meet this week's challenge!

The Bible Word of the Week

holy: exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness

The Quotations of the Week

You need a miracle.

My miracle is in motion.

Miracles sometimes come in three steps: impartation, incubation and manifestation.

There are over 35 of Jesus' major miracles recorded in the Bible.

Do what you're good at, to glorify God, and He will bless that.

You can't figure out miracles.

The virgin birth was the biggest, unequaled miracle, ever.

Miracles are for the old and the young.

4 Basic Principles of a Miracle:

1) Miracles are often communicated in unusual ways.

2) Miracles are beyond our ability.

Since miracles are beyond our ability, then they're beyond our comprehension and explanation.

3) Miracles are the result of the power of God.

We don't see many miracles in the western world because the churches don't allow them.

If I listen to the wrong songs, I'll be tempted to do things I don't want to do.

God's Spirit motivates you toward God and other spirits motivate you away from God.

4) Miracles sometimes need an atmosphere and mentality of faith to take place.

Make sure you are attending a church where the Word of God is paired with faith.

God blesses people that give (both to church and others).

If you want New Testament power you must live by New Testament principles.

Your experiences have to bow down to the Bible and not the Bible to your experiences.

Each time someone was filled with the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts they miraculously spoke in another language.

If you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you can also speak in another language.

Speaking in tongues can be one of two languages: foreign (Acts 2:6) and heavenly (1 Corinthians 14:2).

The Devil and demons don't understand the heavenly prayer language of tongues.

Allow the Holy Spirit to speak through you.

Pray boldly.

Go for the power of God.

Quit coming to God in unbelief.

Fill yourself with the Bible throughout the week.

Are you looking like a spiritual basset hound?

How long do you have to be somewhere before you pray a blessing for the place?

These quotes came from God, me, the Inspirational Study Bible (with Max Lucado), Mike Robertson and Benny Perez.

These quotes can be used for sanctification and fun. Most of them are directly based on scripture and scriptural principles. Some of my quotes are humorous or rhetorical. Some are written from sermons and Bible studies. Others are lyrics from songs. If you'd like me to go into more detail on any of them, please email me.

Like most verses in the Bible, they can be debated. To use what I've written in the most beneficial way, try and trace them back to the scriptures and apply the true principles to your life in a meaningful way! Please don't sell my quotes or publish them for profit. If English is not your first language, you may not understand some of the quotes. I'm sorry, but some of them are English metaphors and deal with multiple word meanings. God bless you all!

Please make a commitment to pray for this ministry. As every believer is tempted and tried, this ministry faces trials also. God has blessed me, JCSM and the people who have been reached! Unfortunately, the enemy knows this and spiritual warfare is the result. Please at least pray that the devotions continue to be sent religiously, the web pages stay on the www and the subscribers are blessed, sanctified and protected from evil. Thank you very much in advance!

Do you want to help people receive the good news? We share the gospel over 2.5 million times each year! Please join us in the great commission. We're reaching new people every day with God's awesome Word! If God has blessed you and you wish to send a love offering to me and my ministry, please email me and I'll give you our mailing address.

You can join our vision and help this ministry! Your donations will keep these ministries running and further our visions for evangelism. Hundreds of web pages have been created to lead people to the Lord. Frequently, we make new ones and they are used to bring more and more people into a closer relationship with Jesus Christ. We're certain there will be more ways to reach people in the future.

Along with getting support, we also give support! JCSM regularly gives to churches and needy people. Another function of this ministry is to do counseling. We are always answering questions about life, the Lord and everything in between. Lastly, we do a lot of research on religious topics on the internet and library. You will definitely see the results of our hard work and your loving support, in the web pages, and in the weekly devotions!

For more about me and my service history, go to http://resume.jcsm.org. For what I do, my ministries and giving, go to http://vision.jcsm.org.

If you have received these devotions from someone other than JCSM, please email us and we will send them to you, personally, each week. Don't worry. We don't send forwards or any other junk mail. Plus, we refrain from giving your name to anyone.

The devotions are sent on Mondays, our Bible lesson is sent on Thursdays, the gospel is sent on the 11^th of every month and the monthly newsletter is sent on the 20^th. These are the only messages we send, however, please email me us you wish to be removed from this list.

If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, please email me! I would love to share the gospel with you. The Bible is very straightforward when it speaks about Heaven, Hell and eternal life. If there is any doubt that you are going to Heaven when you die, please let me know today!

Are you having trouble in life and need someone to talk to? You can call the youth crisis hotline at 1-800-HIT-HOME, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Their motto is "help, not hassle". YDI pays for these calls and has helped over 1 million people! They are also looking for people to answer calls. Their web site is at www.1800hithome.com.

Would you like to feed starving people by simply clicking a button and paying absolutely nothing? Sponsors pay to donate food to hungry people all over the world. I click these nearly every day. It takes about 10 seconds and it donates food to needy people! Go here: www.stopthehunger.com and here www.thehungersite.com.

Go here to donate free Bibles to people: www.TheBibleSite.org. If you want to join a Christian organization that helps feed and clothe poor people, check into World Vision. You can see their site here: www.worldvision.com. Compassion International is another, great Christian organization that rivals World Vision. You can visit them here: www.ci.org.

Do you believe in evolution? If you can prove that the evolution of species has happened, Dr. Dino will give you $250,000. I know Kent Hovind and this is a legitimate offer. For more information, please see his web site: http://www.drdino.com.

JCSM now does regular mailings! If you are getting rid of your email or know someone who wants the devotions, but doesn't have email, please give us their address and we'll send them the devotions. If you don't have internet access, but want to read a certain web page or Bible lesson, let us know. We can copy and paste something into an email message for you. If you have internet access and need a great, online, study Bible, go here: www.biblestudytools.net. I recommend using either the King James Version or the New King James Version Bible.

JCSM operates in Oceanside, California, United States. This ministry has been certified by the Evangelical Ministries to New Religions. EMNR is an accrediting body for sound, Christian ministries that preach the true gospel of God to people in other religions and cults. Their web site is located here: http://www.emnr.org.

Since April of 1997, the weekly devotional message has been sent on the internet. This message currently reaches over 39,000 people in 99 countries. To read a list of these countries, go here: http://www.jcsm.org/misc/countries.htm. To read the archived devotions online, go here: http://devos.jcsm.org.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries

http://www.jcsm.org

Over 2500 links!

Jesus loves you!

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever should believe in Him should have everlasting life."