Wednesday Thoughts

March 18, 2026

Matthew 24: 6-8 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.

Yes, we are at war. The United States of America has joined Israel in taking on the evil regime of Iran.
As we listen to the arguments across the board...they are vain and silly. The politics have overtaken common sense. We are more divided than we have ever been in this country and that is exactly what the evil one satan wants. He is prowling around like a roaring lion waiting for a more opportune time to pounce!! And he certainly is pouncing!!
Scripture tells us that there will be wars and rumors of wars! These things are going to happen!! Jesus tells us in this scripture that we are not to be worried about this; we should not be standing around wringing our hands! This is the time we must be on our knees and pray to the God of the universe for courage and strength to face what is and what is coming!!
Dear church do not be afraid and do not worry...PRAY, PRAY, PRAY!! Seek the Lord and He will be found!
Remember we as true followers of Christ know these things are going to happen, there is nothing political about it!! We as the true church of Jesus the Christ must show others how to walk by faith and not by sight!!
The birth pains have begun and they are getting stronger!
Matthew 24: 9-14 Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death and you will be hated by all the nations for My name's sake, and then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. BUT the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, AND THEN THE END WILL COME!
Our great and mighty Lord knows the time and the hour for the end to come,,,Jesus tells us that only the Father knows, and we have been alerted to know what to look for! So, the time is now to prepare for our Lord’s coming and to preach the gospel to this lost and hurting world, to bring as many into the Kingdom as possible. This is what we need to keep our minds on, not what the news stations and politicians say, our trust is in the Lord not in man.
So, as warriors for Jesus, keep your eyes on Him and Him alone! Let the Holy Spirit be your guide! And may the peace that passes understanding be with you all in the days ahead!
Blessings, Pastor Karen

Pastor's Entry

Past Entry

February 25, 2026

Isaiah 30:15 "in quietness and in trust shall be your strength"

Strength, what is strength??
My grandchildren test their strength on each other all the time, they wrestle and compete every time they are together!! Who is the strongest?? Who will win?? And believe me, not one of them like to lose!!
Often, we are the same as children we wrestle and compete with each other, who can do more, who is the best! Who will win!! And just like children none of us like to lose!
Scripture tells us, "In quietness and in trust shall be your strength." Also, in Nehemiah it tells us that the JOY of the Lord shall be your strength! Quietness, trust, joy, they certainly aren't words we normally associate with strength. But scripture tells us these are the qualities of strength...how do we get such strength? Psalm 84 tells us that blessed are those whose strength is in the Lord! Isaiah 40:31 tells us that the Lord will renew our strength! 2 Timothy 4:17 tells us that the Lord stood by me and strengthened me!
The way we live, the way we conquer is through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! When we quiet our spirits and we put our trust completely in Jesus that is when we learn to live in quiet, unwavering, steadfast strength, a strength that cannot be shaken when tests and trials come! A strength that others are drawn to, a strength that shows Who we belong to, a strength that can only come from above.
This strength causes us to walk in the peace that passes all understanding, it will sustain us through the tough times in our lives!
In the chaos and craziness of the world we are living in we will need the strength that only Jesus can give us... now more than ever! Find time to be quiet with your Lord, learning to know Him while the days are fairly calm compared to what is coming. Get to know the One Who created you, the One Who loves you like no other. Learn to trust Him with Your life and see how much better life is!!
Our Lord came to give us life and life abundant...a promise that He keeps when we seek Him with our whole heart!
Dear church, in quietness and trust let Your Lord be your strength and you will see that the things of this world will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace!
Blessings, Pastor Karen

Past Entry

February 18, 2026

The Lord helps those who help themselves.
How many times have we heard this phrase? How many believe this phrase is in the Bible? Do you?
I looked to see where this could be in the Bible and It was nowhere to be found! How about that??
This phrase is actually found in Benjamin Franklins Poor Mans Almanac dated 1736.
Romans 5:6-8 You see, while we were still powerless; Christ died for us! Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
While we were hopeless, lost, without power to save ourselves Jesus the Christ came and saved us all. We could not help ourselves out of sin and eternal death, only Jesus could do that.
We must be so careful what we take as gospel, we must be so careful what we believe! Now more than ever we must know what the Word of God says. There are so many false teachers in the world today, there are so many old sayings that we take as the gospel today, we are so easily deceived.
We must learn to think like our Lord thinks, we must learn to hear the voice of our Savior, we must ask for wisdom and discernment from above or we will be fooled.
Matthew 24:24 For there will be false Christs and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. In the end days we must be on our game!! We must know the TRUTH!
Dear church! Be awake, be alert, be aware of the deception that is here and the deception that is coming!
Don't be deceived dear brothers and sisters, keep your eyes on Jesus, He is our only hope, He is the only way, He is our help and our shield, stay as close to Him as you can so that you will not be deceived! And may our Lord have mercy and grace on us all as we seek Him in all things!!
Blessings, Pastor Karen

Past Entry

February 11, 2026

Proverbs 4: 25-27 Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from the evil.

Distractions, they are everywhere! All we have to do is turn on the television and we are lost in distractions! Proverbs tells us to look straight ahead and FIX our gaze directly before us...do not be distracted! Don't be looking at what is going on and allowing it to overcome you! The news media have become masters of distraction, they have power over the airwaves, and we only hear what they want us to hear!! WE MUST BE CAREFUL!!
Give careful thought to the paths of your feet...watch what path you are following, be careful that you are not led astray! The only TRUTH that we as believers have is the Word of God...it has the path we are to follow...the straight and narrow way...the way of Christ.
Be steadfast in ALL of your ways...be steadfast to the Word of God, know what it says and follow it. This is the only way we can keep from being distracted by the deceitfulness of this age.
Do not turn to the right or to the left, don't veer off the path...keep your eyes on Jesus! Keep your foot from evil! Do not walk in the paths of unrighteousness but walk in righteousness with your God!
Dear church, in these days of fear, anxiety and deception the only way we can walk in peace and truth is to keep as close to Jesus as we can. To know Him in the deepest personal way that is possible. He is our Protector, He is our Redeemer, He will guard and keep us in times of trouble, we can trust Him in every way. He sent the Holy Spirit to give us wisdom from on high and we must learn to recognize and listen for His voice!
Remember to keep your eyes straight ahead keeping your eyes on your Risen Lord, the Savior of the World!
Blessings, Pastor Karen

Past Entry

February 4, 2026

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses, Now choose life so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to His voice and cling to Him. For the Lord is your life, and He will give you many years in the land He swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

When I pick up my youngest granddaughter Adalae, the first thing she does is grab hold of my shirt and hold on. She is used to being held while I follow the other grandkids around and she knows to hang on because you never know when Nana may have to chase a kid or two down!!
This scripture in Deuteronomy tells us that we are to love the Lord our God, we are to listen to His voice, and we are to cling to Him! Hold fast to Him! Don't let go!! Our Lord is our life! He is our everything and we as His children must cling as closely as we can! For He is our shelter in the storms of life, and He is our shield of protection!! He is our Rock, He is our Bright and Morning Star, He is our Father, our Redeemer, our Savior!
The Lord calls heaven and earth to witness that He has set life and death before us! He has set blessings and curses before us and implores us to choose life!! Choosing life, what does that mean? I believe it means clinging to our Lord through the good and the bad times, loving Him above all else, listening for His voice and obeying what He says. It means allowing our Father to mold us and make us into His perfect likeness. As we draw closer to Him, we will look more and more like Him! We will love like Him, we will walk and talk like Him, and our hearts will be totally sold out to His way of life!!
So, as I meditate on this scripture today, I must make a decision,,,choose life or choose death...what will my choice be?? Every morning, I wake up I get to choose! Every morning, I get to decide how I am going to live, how I am going to treat others, if I am going to listen to my Fathers voice or turn away.
Dear church, it is the same with each one of you! You get to decide; how closely will you cling to your Lord?? How well will you listen?? How much you will love others?? How will you bear His image??
Our Lord loves us so much He tells us to choose life!!
What an amazing God we serve!! All I can say is if you decide to choose life, hold on tightly to Jesus because it is then that the adventure begins!!
Blessings, Pastor Karen

Past Entry

January 28, 2026

Psalm 46:10 Be still and know that I Am God. I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted on the earth.

After a snow there always seems to be a stillness, a quietness, a hush, like the whole world has stopped for a moment. It's interesting that in this scripture the psalmist says to be still and know that God is God!! I have found in the stillness is when God speaks to me, which causes me to wonder is He always speaking to me, but because of the noise and chaos of the world I cannot always hear Him?
If we could learn to "Be Still" in our spirit how different our lives would be! We would be able to let go of anxiety and fear. We would be able to walk in the peace that passes all understanding in the good and the bad times. We would know our God and all that He is capable of! As we sit and be still, we can begin to have confidence in who God is, knowing that He is in control of it all!! Our lives, our families, our church, our world!! That we can rely on Him for everything...for He meets all our needs if we trust in Him...Yes! He does!
In the next sentence of this scripture our Lord says " I WILL BE EXALTED AMONG THE NATIONS; I WILL BE EXALTED ON THE EARTH!! I believe that once we truly know and understand who God is...we will exalt Him! We will know that His name is above all names!! That HE IS THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE!! That all things are in His mighty hands.
What we are seeing unfold on this earth are signs of the times, they are signs to Christs church to be ready!! How will we hear His voice if we are not still before Him?? How will we know what to do?? How will we know how to pray?? How will we have the courage to exalt Him to the world??
My son got me an elliptical for Christmas, so the last few mornings I have gotten up and exercised for thirty minutes, and I listen for Gods voice, I turn on my praise and worship music and listen...how powerful is the time with my Lord! Oh, how we need powerful time with our Jesus...it is in that time He speaks so clearly that it truly amazes me!! It is like He has been waiting for me to listen!!
Dear church...from the bottom of my heart today I ask you to take time to be still and listen to what your Lord wants to say to you!! He is waiting on you to listen to Him...not just at church on Sunday but every minute of every day! We are witnessing what happens when we do not listen to the powerful voice of God...there is violence, chaos and confusion everywhere!! The body of Christ in this nation have forgotten who they are and Who they represent!! As the body of Christ, we need to be listening!! We need to be exalting the Name of our Lord!! We need to be still, be in prayer and standing strong in the face of this very present evil!
Romans 8:31 tells us, " If our God is for us, who can be against us??" Take this scripture today and be still and think on what it is saying!! Watch and pray dear church but most of all Be Still and Know who your God is and be amazed as the cares of this world grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace!!
May you all have a peaceful day as you listen for the voice of your Savior, Jesus the Christ!
Blessings, Pastor Karen

Past Entry

January 14, 2026

2 Timothy 1: 6-7 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands., for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and a sound mind.

What kind of spirit are you living in today?? The spirit of fear?? The spirit of hopelessness?? The spirit of anxiety??
How do we overcome these devastating spirits?? How do we walk out of the bondage of fear, hopelessness, anxiety and many other things??
Paul is telling Timothy to fan into flame the gift of God that he has been given...what was Timothy's gift?? As I studied about him, he had a special motivation and empowerment from the Holy Spirit to fulfill his ministry!! Apparently, the flame was burning low and Paul was reminding him to fan into flame again what God had given him!! He was encouraging him in his faith and in his ministry! He was reminding Timothy that God does not give us a spirit of fear!! That God gave him a spirit of Power, of Love and a Sound Mind, and that these gifts must be constantly fanned into a flame!! Time and time again!!
How about us?? Do we fan into flame our gifts?? Our faith?? Do we continue to stay in the Word of God?? Do we continue to be faithful to a bible study or a church and hang close with other believers?? Those who can encourage us, walk with us and help us come up out of the pit??
We have seen that when an animal gets cut off from the herd, the predators move in, they wait for the opportunity to kill. When we cut ourselves off from the body of Christ, satan moves in... he prowls around like a lion waiting, just waiting for us to lag behind and if we are not careful, we will be devoured. That is when our circumstances start to look bigger than our God, when fear overtakes our sound mind and we lose our mind.
Dear church, satan comes to steal, kill and destroy, that is his mission. He is the father of lies and he whispers lies to us everyday, it is up to us whether we believe them or not...it is up to us whether we take the bait or not, it is up to us to choose life!!
Timothy had a calling on his life, so do we. Our Lord has given it to us and satan wants to stop it. Satan's playground is your mind if we allow him to play there.
Take back what the enemy of your soul is trying to steal!! Our Lord has promised to never leave us nor forsake us!! He has given us His Spirit, the Holy Spirit so that we are able to walk in POWER! So that we can LOVE like he does!! So that we have a SOUND. CLEAR MIND...and self control!!
So, when the attacks come think on Gods power in your life, His love that surrounds you and that He has given you clarity of mind!! Call out to Him and He will answer you!!
Dear church, hang on to Jesus who is the author and the finisher of your faith for He is faithful! Fan into flame the gift God has given you and ask Him to show you how to keep the fire burning!!
Blessings, Pastor Karen

Past Entry

January 7, 2026

Matthew 8:23 And when Jesus got into the boat, his disciples followed Him. and behold there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but Jesus was asleep. And they went and woke Him, saying, "Save us, Lord; we are perishing." And Jesus said to them, " Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?" Then He rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, "what sort of man is this, that even the winds and sea obey Him?"
A great calm...when we follow Jesus, we are promised peace that passes all understanding. Jesus walked in that peace when all around Him swirled lies, betrayal and chaos. When Jesus came on the scene, the whole world changed! Truth and justice, power and authority, amazing love and mercy walked with man. The establishment didn't like it, those who were corrupt in the world and in the church living off the people hated Him because he revealed the deep dark evil that they were living in.
When Jesus disciples followed Him into the boat...they had no idea of the wicked storm that was coming. They had no idea of what following Jesus would cost! If they knew, would they have followed??
As we watch the world and the chaos of it, we are called to walk in peace of Christ! So often we call out to God, "Save us Lord, we are perishing!!"
How long will it take for us to walk by faith and not by sight?? How long will it take for us to know the storms are coming and prepare to walk in peace through them all?? We know that in the end days the love of many will grow cold...yes, there will be great division in the world, there will be those who just cannot see the Truth, they have been blinded by the enemy of their souls.
When the disciples awakened Jesus, He looked at them and asked the question why are you afraid?? Didn't they know their Savior, their Redeemer, their Lord was in the boat with them?? Didn't they know who He was?? Even then??
O you of little faith...is that us?? When the world looks like it's going to fall apart where is our faith??
If Jesus the Christ lives in us, then we have the same power and authority to calm the storm around us...If Jesus the Christ lives in us the winds will cease, the sea will rest and there will be a great calm...If Jesus Christ lives in us the world will look at us and wonder what kind of people we are! Where nothing can shake us, nothing can stir us up, nothing can knock us down and no devil in Hell will keep us from getting into the boat with our Risen Lord and Savior Jesus!!
So, as we see more chaos happening all around us, know that Jesus is in the boat with us...His peace, His strength, His power are with us. Remember these are just signs of the age we are living in and as it says in Ecclesiastes 9 there is nothing new under the sun.
Our Lord is working and moving in our midst, there is nothing that surprises Him, our part in all this is to follow Him, obey Him and carry the peace that people are looking for pointing them to Jesus, the One who sleeps during the storms and tells us to do the same, sleep meaning resting in the knowledge of who our Lord is. He is the Storm calmer, the Way maker, the Miracle worker, Almighty God!!
Dear church, rest easy...our God is with us!
Blessings, Pastor Karen

New Beginnings Covenant Brethren Church