Matthew James Elliott's Blog, page 9

Book Review- Marriage God's Way by Pastor Scott LaPierre

Greetings, 


I was recently given the opportunity to read a book written by one of our ministry partners. The book, Marriage God's Way by Scott LaPierre, is a spectacular piece and offers a lot of insight into what marriage should be.  Pastor Scott is the the senior pastor of Woodland Christian Church. He and his wife, Katie, have been blessed with six children and enjoy every crazy minute of parenting as husband and wife they are given. Below you can see a picture of them that links to his facebook page. Pastor Scott and His FamilyI don't normally write book reviews but this book is well worth the time it took to write this small review. The book itself was a bit longer that I originally thought it was going to be but every page I read had some type of helpful information for those that are curious about what marriage should be all about from the biblical perspective. Hands down this books gets 5 stars in my book, no pun intended. 

I completely believe that this book will offer some great insight into any marriage. For those that are newly weds it teaches the basics about everything you need to make your marriage work. For those that have been married for years it teaches about respecting your spouse and understanding their needs better. It's a great read and I encourage you to take a look. The book's cover is captured below and will link you directly to its Amazon page.
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Marriage God's Way by Scott LaPierre was a very informative and enlightening book. I can see that the Pastor Scott has really put a lot of thought and prayer into the contents of this book. From beginning to end the Biblical platform presented in a historical way that really could help a lot of marriages. Both encouraging and challenging for both the husband and wife, I wish I had something like this when my wife and I first got married, it would have been a huge asset to our marriage when we were just starting out. Having something like this easy read would have made our journey together so far even better.

As someone who went through marriage counseling before I was married and as someone who has offered counsel to others since getting married, I still found some very good insight into how I should view my wife. The mixture of personal experience with professional and biblical experience captured my attention more than most other books I’ve read. I intend to keep reading through it until I've captured every enlightening aspect in my own marriage. Pastor Scott LaPierre truly has a passion for reaching others for Christ and being a Biblical example of Marriage God's Way that all men should aspire to be.

Making a marriage work is a team effort and many of us lose sight of that along the way. Pastor Scott mentions in the first few chapters of this book that God comes first, A spouse should come directly after that and everything else follows. I really like that philosophy and feel the it is the aspect that really makes marriages survive even the hardest of moments.

Don’t take my word for it though, check it out for yourselves.


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Blessings in Christ and Thanks again for visiting us at "The Gathering Room."
"Times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord." 45.3.20

M.J. Elliott

The Purpose of Pain- An Emotional Reality

Greetings,
I started this little series a while back, the first post is entitled, Thoughts on the purpose of pain. I've been thinking about it a lot more lately and thought I'd share a bit more.
There are days when we all feel all feel pain as a part of our daily experience and it’s never easy. One of of the more challenging types of pain we must endure in life has everything to do with emotional pain. We all have encountered this and I’m sure that there are some out there that are experiencing this type of pain today.

This type of pain has always boggled my mind and I’ve never really understood why we must endure it in life. Many say that we endure this type of pain because, in the end, God will use that pain to bring honor to his name. I’ve always thought that was kind of selfish. Why should we endure pain just so God can be glorified. It’s never really made any since to me. I see it every day on social media, sometimes from youth or children I’ve worked with in throughout my life and other times I see it blasted all over the news stations and even in those closest to me.

I’ve never really believed that enduring emotional pain was something that we as humans should have to endure.  The reality though is that we live in a world that is surrounded by pain. Emotional Pain feeds on our hearts and our souls. It takes over the deepest part of our inner most being and often causes another type of pain, physical. We can hurt so much emotionally that it spills over into our stomach and becomes almost unbearable.  
It is the reason we are seeing so many more suicidal deaths in the world today. Just the other day I read a story about someone who jumped onto some train tracks and just stood their as the train ran him over.  I couldn’t believe it, as soon as I read this my heart sunk and tears started slipping down my cheek. For someone to be in so much emotional pain that they would be willing to endure such a death like this was unbearable to me.

I thought about that person for the rest of the day and wondered what could have happened to the person, or if there had been one more person willing to reach out to that man or woman and listen for once. We get so wrapped up in the world around us that we often forget to reach out to those around us. We get so focused on our own goals in life that we lose sight of those that need a friend or two to reach out to them in their time of need.
It got me thinking about the emotional pain that has taken it’s toll on my life and I am beginning to realize, if there hadn’t been those special people in my life who took the time to listen to my brokenness, and those that do when I feel it today. I ask myself, would it have became so bad that I might have done something similar to what that person did in the news story.

Honestly, I really don’t know, all I can really say is that I’m blessed to have those that are willing to listen and help me work through the times of emotional pain that have come, gone and one day be back again. I guess the reason behind this post is to simply say, emotional pain is real and it affects all of us. My challenge for you would be to take the time, this person whom ever it was will never have that time again. Regardless of who it was, their story should motivate us to do better in life. I know it motivates me.

Are you willing? Will you open your heart? Can you be emotional with me? Let’s accept it and embrace a better future for ourselves and everyone else.… Until next post check out these books on pain and suffering...

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Blessings in Christ and Thanks again for visiting us at "The Gathering Room."
"Times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord." 45.3.20

M.J. Elliott

Simple Things- The Journaling Phenomenon

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. Romans 15:4 ESV


A journal is something that almost everyone has taken upon themselves to write as they have grown up. How long the commitment was may not have been the best but the idea of writing down your thoughts and experiences is something that many have wondered about, and were most likely forced to do in school.  
Journaling your thoughts on a daily basis can give you something to refer to when difficult times come, as sort of a guide of it’s own. It can show you where you’ve been and give you a clearer picture of what God is trying to reveal to you in your time with.

There have been many times others have been impacted by an entry in their personal journal that was scribbled down several months or even years back.  God has a great way of taking our experiences from the past and bringing back to the forefront of our mind. Having a Journal to refer back to when these times come can be very encouraging.
Today, I still look back on several of my blog posts or “journal entries” and learn something new.  The Bible is the same way. Some of my best ideas come from when I journal about a scripture that has really impacted my life. The result of writing that passage down, along with a few of my thoughts, has birthed most of what I write.
Blessings in Christ and Thanks again for visiting us at "The Gathering Room."
"Times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord." 45.3.20
M.J. Elliott

Reflecting Christmas Movies

Greetings,
As many of you know, Our Christmas eBook will be offered at .99 for 80hrs starting on Dec. 19th, Yes, that is just two days from now. :-). It will then go up to 1.99 the 80hrs following the first.
Part of the content in this Christmas eBook uses good wholesome movies to share the lessons I learned as I researched and created this project. So I thought I'd offer a few links to those movies for you to check out for yourself.
So, Here they are :-). Feel free to check them out on. All you need to do is click on the movie and it will take you to it's Amazon page.

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Blessings in Christ and Thanks again for visiting us at "The Gathering Room."
"Times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord." 45.3.20
M.J. Elliott

Simple Things- The Ambulance Effect

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. - Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV

 As a child growing up my mother had this little thing she would do every time she heard a siren, hence the name: The Ambulance Effect. She would stop everything she was doing and say a simple prayer, “Lord be with them and keep them in your love and give them understanding. Amen.” Many times us kids would ask why and she’d simply answer, “because Jesus would.”
That answer is the root of everything I hold dear in my life, many who know me know one of my ministry sayings is “Love them Crazy, Just like Jesus.” My mother taught me this and while she never really found out what became of all those she prayed for, it was important that she took the time to stop and do something for someone else, regardless of knowing the outcome.
As an adult, I have continued to follow her lead. I have adapted my prayers a little but still, there is something that clicks in my heart when I embrace an opportunity to help someone else in need, whether it be through these simple prayers or something bigger. So next time you see someone struggling embrace the ambulance effect.
It will do more than change your heart, it will change the hearts of others as well when they see the example you set with whatever assistance you offer those around you. One of the ways I like to keep track of those moments where embracing the ambulance effect really makes a difference is by journaling the events that lead to them.
Blessings in Christ and Thanks again for visiting us at "The Gathering Room."
"Times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord." 45.3.20
M.J. Elliott

Simple Things- The Formula

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. - Matthew 7:7-8 NIV

Life is full of it’s ups and downs, God gives us a formula to live by through the scriptures as a way of guiding us towards the patch that we have been called to take.
This formula gives each of us a basic guideline to helping us grow closer to God.  While each of us is given a specific formula for our life all of them come down to simply this, we must ask God to teach us his ways, then we must seek God with all that we are, and then we must knock on the doors he places before us.
With each door that opens, we grow closer to awakening our faith. What matters is how we go about completing that formula.  There is not one specific way that is right or wrong as long as that formula includes all three.  
As you continue to read the next few posts about this project, it is my hope that they will give you ways to combine all three in some form or another. One of the very first things I learned was to Stop and Pray for God to open the doors he has prepared for us to walk through in this life.
This lesson plays a very important role in identifying which formula will work best for you. So, as we will talk about in the next section, make it your choice to go to God in prayer everyday as you seek his guidance in identifying which formula will work best with who you are.
Blessings in Christ and Thanks again for visiting us at "The Gathering Room."
"Times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord." 45.3.20M.J. Elliott

An Introduction to Simple Things P2

When I began to think about a project Love the Saints Ministries could offer to our readers freely, my thoughts were taken back to the original project and then to the sermon series I mentioned earlier.
Our hope with this project is to give the reader a small guide they can look back on to help them when life just simply gets in the way of Awakening your faith.
Now, I’m not suggesting that all it will take to awaken your faith is a little God in your life, it’s not that simple. There are certain things that we must do in order to find ourselves growing closer to God.
There are always going to be struggles and temptations that we have to overcome. What I am suggesting is that even though your life may contain heartache and suffering, YOU have the ability to work through the pains of this life and embrace a joyful heart.

Life has given each of us so much opportunity to embrace a little more joy and the thing we experience, big and small all play a role in forming that desire deep within the confines of our hearts. If personal experience has taught me anything, it is that our experiences do matter and that they can lead us down the path of righteousness or a path of destruction.
So let’s embrace the simple things and start preparing ourselves for an awakening, an awakening of the heart. The journey won’t be as easy as you might think but through Christ and each other we can accomplish the task that has been set before us, to find ways we, as individuals and as believers in the way , the truth and the life, can grow in our walk with God.
There are many different ways a person can do this and as your read the pages of this book you may find some you would like to try and others that you may think are kind of ridiculous. In the end, the important thing is that something begins to awaken, something that will change your life forever.
Blessings in Christ and Thanks again for visiting us at "The Gathering Room.""Times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord." 45.3.20 M.J. Elliott

A Journey with ACTS 2:29

“Dear brothers, think about this! You can be sure that the patriarch David wasn’t referring to himself, for he died and was buried, and his tomb is still here among us. But he was a prophet, and he knew God had promised with an oath that one of David’s own descendants would sit on his throne. David was looking into the future and speaking of the Messiah’s resurrection. He was saying that God would not leave him among the dead or allow his body to rot in the grave.” - Acts 2:29-31 NLT
It is simply amazing that David was able to foretell some of the things that he foretold while he was living on this earth. It is a good reminder that God can use and speak through anyone at any time in history. That in itself, is more wonderful that we can ever imagine.
Because David was faithful until the end, and even in the moments of his sinful life, God blessed him with knowledge beyond his years, literally. It’s encouraging to know that God does this even today with many who are faithful to him.
The blessings that were given to David are the same blessings that God offers many of us today.  What it comes down to is simply that God promised he’d be faithful to David’s descendants, honoring them with the many blessings of heavenly provisions.
David knew that God would take care of what he believed was most important, his legacy. God would take care of his descendants until the end of time and this passage can remind us that as long as we are faithful, he will take care of the important things to us as well.
Let us not be afraid to reach out to our Lord God and ask him to show us the life that we were meant to have, a life woven together by the blessings He provides. Remember that just as God never turn away from David in his time of need, that he will never turn on you either.
Blessings in Christ and Thanks again for visiting us at "The Gathering Room.""Times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord." 45.3.20 M.J. Elliott

An Introduction to Simple Things P1

Have you ever wondered about growing closer to God?

 A While ago, I put together a sermon series that taught about the simple things in life and how they can help awaken your heart, at the time I never really thought about using what I learned as I put that series together in a small eBook like this.


That’s the beauty of God though. He loves to use the “Simple Things” in life to help us understand the vastness of his great love and of the growth we can have in our own walks with God.
There are big things and small thing that we can do each day to help remind us of what our faith is all about and embrace the opportunity to do these things more in our daily lives, the possibilities are endless.
This little Project is just starting off so we are not really publicizing it just yet, but I needed to post something and this is what's on my heart right now. My hope in sharing this project “Freely” is that it will give you, the reader, a little glimpse into what God can do in your life through the “Simple Things” that we often forget about or pay little attention too as we go about our daily routines.
Blessings in Christ and Thanks again for visiting us at "The Gathering Room.""Times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord." 45.3.20 M.J. Elliott

A Journey with ACTS 2:25-28

“‘King David said this about him: I see that the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me. No wonder my heart is glad, and my tongue shouts his praises! My body rests in hope. For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your Holy One to rot in the grave. You have shown me the way of life, and you will fill me with the joy of your presence.” - Acts 2:25-28 NLT

There are so many people in this world that are shaken by the struggles that they face each day and often we forget that we aren’t really ever facing these struggles on our own. King David was a very spiritual person.
Even in the midst of all of the horrendous things he did he found himself on his knees seeking God's guidance and placing is heart in the saviors arms. He knew that it was only through God that anyone would find hope. We need to remember this in our struggles today.

When we focus our energy on giving our praises to God in the midst of our struggles, they often seem to resolve themselves. It may not be in the way that we want it to take place but the do tend to work themselves out.

We can find joy in knowing that God will never leave or forsake us and we can embrace a heart that is glad, not broken.  Let us take a few moments this week to ponder the majesty and the glory that resides within His presence.
Embrace Joy, Echo Praise and Embody God’s Peaceful Rest in your lives today, don’t be afraid to honor him in the midst of every situation that comes your way today.