So… What is Christmas All About?

Mark Farley December 25, 2023 0 Likes 92 Views

So what is Christmas really about?…

Merry Christmas friends.

My hope and prayer is that you enjoy the hope and peace that this day represents.

It’s hard to imagine in today’s world that anyone would love us so much and unconditionally no matter what our current situation is.

Yet that is what Jesus represents.

Most of us spend our lives seeking acceptance and searching for all encompassing love.

That is what this day is for.

Living, real, and never-ending love came to each of us in the form of Jesus.

God even loves us so much that He does NOT force it on us.

It’s ours to take and use as we understand it.

Luckily for us HE gave us an instruction manual on how to receive, use, and share His never-ending love.

I cannot give you this love.

Heck, nobody can, but it is yours for the taking when you are ready, willing, and able.

I can share with you that once you accept the love of Christ, your life will NEVER be the same!!

My life is better beyond my wildest dreams because of the love of Jesus I carry in my heart.

To be blessed with a life with Miss Tami and Miss Kai and a host of loving family and friends is more than this ol’ wretch ever deserves, yet, God loves me unconditionally and wants me to receive this amazing life.

Please take a moment today and look beyond the presents, gifts, and shiny things to reflect on the Holy Spirit that lives in each of our hearts and wants to love us unconditionally.

Merry Christmas!…

“When we saw others solve their problems by a simple reliance upon the Spirit of the Universe, we had to stop doubting the power of God. Our ideas did not work. But the God idea did.” Big Book pg. 52

Lord, thank You for sending Your living love to walk the earth so many years ago and for the Holy Spirit that lives in our hearts, AMEN.

“For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!” Isaiah 9: 6-7

Have a blessed Christmas Y’all!

What if you had a person who coached and mentored you in building a better life?

Inspired 365 Life Coaching with Mark Farley!!

https://www.faiththroughworksfellowship.org/inspired-365-life-coaching

Want a one-on-one coach to get you out of where you are?

Email today and let’s chat to see if we can make up a plan for you to get you to where you want to be!

[email protected]

No Room at the Inn

Mark Farley December 24, 2023 0 Likes 90 Views

There was no room at the inn, but what about in our hearts?..

It’s Christmas Eve Y’all!

Please stop the hurried pace for a moment today and pause to remember that

JESUS is the REASON for the SEASON!.

“We had a new Employer. Being all powerful, He provided what we needed, if we kept close to Him and performed His work well.” Big Book pg. 63

Lord, we thank You for Your unconditional love and healing grace we receive when we accept Jesus as our Savior, AMEN.

“Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child. While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn …son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” Luke 2: 4-8

Merry Christmas Y’all!

Join me in looking at the things we face daily with passages from both the Big Book and Bible!

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=pastor+mark+farley&ref=nb_sb_noss

How about a daily dose of hope and inspired thought?

Free daily message in your morning inbox.

I never share, sell, or publish your email.

https://www.faiththroughworksfellowship.org/blog

What is Your Understanding?

Mark Farley December 23, 2023 0 Likes 94 Views

What is YOUR understanding?…

On the surface, it’s a simple question, however the answer can become complex.

It is a hard question because there are so many different answers that come from so many people, places, and things.

The confusion sets in when we try to analyze, compare, and contrast all of the perceptions, opinions, and so called “facts” that others are willing to provide.

I can’t answer this question for you or anyone else for that matter.

It’s not because I don’t care because those that know me, know that I do care very deeply about this.

I cannot give you a God of your understanding, and I hope you are not allowing others to force theirs upon you.

I will lovingly and unselfishly share my experience, strength, hope, and God with you but…

in order to know God you MUST create your own relationship with him, based upon YOUR OWN experience and understanding…

I love you all but please check your experience and know that for me, to coin a phrase that has meaning to me…

” Jesus IS the Reason for the Season”…

“Perhaps there is a better way-we think so. For we are now on a different basis of trusting and relying upon God. We trust infinite God rather than our finite selves.” Big Book pg. 68

Lord, let us open our hearts and invite You into our lives so that we may know You as well as You know and love each and every one of us, AMEN.

“Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” Matthew 16:15

Have a blessed day Y’all!

What if you had a person who coached and mentored you in building a better life?

Inspired 365 Life Coaching with Mark Farley!!

https://www.faiththroughworksfellowship.org/inspired-365-life-coaching

Want a one-on-one coach to get you out of where you are?

Email today and let’s chat to see if we can make up a plan for you to get you to where you want to be!

[email protected]

Knowing Peace

Mark Farley December 22, 2023 0 Likes 96 Views

Knowing peace…

While most days are very enjoyable for me, this time of the year is very special.

To see folks filled with a spirit of giving, hearts focused on helping, and the genuine spirit of joy and hope I see in others humbles me and brings feelings of gratefulness.

Now it’s only my opinion from my own experiences, and I am sure it is different for others, but I believe that this is the time of year where folks open their hearts and let the love inside overflow to be shared with others.

Race, religion, color, creed, culture, and belief systems are set aside, and for the better part of this month we set aside our differences and celebrate our common journey.

For me, this is how Christ works in us and through us.

Maybe that is why there are so many Christmas songs that have the words peace and love in them!

Are you feeling peace?…

Check your experience…

“We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace.” Big Book pg. 84

Lord, let the peace of your Spirit fill our hearts and overflow to cover our relationships with others, AMEN.

“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.” Colossians 3:15

Have a blessed day Y’all!

Join me in looking at the things we face daily with passages from both the Big Book and Bible!

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=pastor+mark+farley&ref=nb_sb_noss

How about a daily dose of hope and inspired thought?

Best Gift Ever!

Mark Farley December 21, 2023 0 Likes 89 Views

The best gift ever…

Almost everyone has an example of the best present they have ever received.

Usually, folks associate this pleasant thought with a Christmas present, a significant life change, or an important event like a marriage or the birth of a child.

Just like most of the things I share here, it depends on your experience, I totally agree and understand that. I have 4 significant things in my life that I consider as the best…

Miss Tami, Miss Kai, and my blessed sobriety are 3,

but they are all predicated by my relationship with Jesus.

I am far from perfect and do not deserve any of these gifts, but through my constant work on a daily relationship with Jesus, …

I get to enjoy not only Miss Tami, Miss Kai, and my sobriety, but also so many other things that make this life worthwhile.

So, what is your best present ever?…

Check your experience…

“See to it that your relationship with Him is right, and great events will come to pass for you and countless others. This is the Great Fact for us. Abandon yourself to God as you understand God.” Big Book pg. 164

Lord, let us investigate our hearts and see how Your love and grace has delivered us a life far beyond what we deserve, AMEN.

“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” 1 Peter 3:15

Have a blessed day Y’all!

Join us in prayer and with your financial support as we tackle the challenge of helping and mentoring young adults aging out of the Foster Care System.

https://homesfromheaven.org/

AZ Charitable TAX CREDIT!

It’s in the Giving and Not the Getting

Mark Farley December 20, 2023 0 Likes 99 Views

It’s in the giving and not the getting…

Last minute shopping, trying to balance work, budgets, and the never-ending list of what must be done for the perfect Christmas seems to be the main things I am observing in others with a few days left before Christmas.

It’s very hard to get the perfect gift for everyone on your list.

It seems there are all kinds of things still left in the stores but the one in Teal is out of stock or the XS size is no longer available.

It’s so easy to get lost in the task of “getting in order to give” and forget why we have this season in the first place.

He came to give His life for us so that we may have everlasting life through Him.

Please take a minute today and remember that Jesus is the Reason for the Season.

Perhaps the gray sweater won’t be so bad because Teal is no longer available.

Perhaps it might be better to give of your heart and not just stuff….

Check your experience…

“Giving, rather than getting, will become the guiding principle.” Big Book pg. 128

Lord, let us give from our hearts with a motive to help instead of giving to get, AMEN.

“Give generously to the poor, not grudgingly, for the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.” Deuteronomy 15:10

Have a blessed day Y’all!

Join us in prayer and with your financial support as we tackle the challenge of helping and mentoring young adults aging out of the Foster Care System.

https://homesfromheaven.org/

AZ Charitable TAX CREDIT!

Spirit Guide

Mark Farley December 18, 2023 0 Likes 103 Views

It’s the most wacky, wonderful, time of the year….

What’s with all the overworked clerks, tired employees, chaotic stores, hectic parking lots, snarled traffic, and frayed nerves all around.

Oh, wait…Its Christmas!!

I am SO THANKFUL for the internet and AMAZON!

The folks working in the stores have families too.

They are feeling the same stress and strain that we are trying to balance all the good of this season with needing to be 12 places at once.

Take a breath folks, try to treat others like you want to be treated and be the best example of Jesus that you can be.

Let them have that parking spot.

Remember it’s not the store clerk’s fault that the red sweater is no longer available in extra small because they sold out.

Eyes on the road while driving and not on the phone to see what the text message says.. …

Check your experience…

“Helping others is the foundation stone” Big Book pg. 97

Lord, let us control our tongues and tempers and look in our hearts to see the others are feeling the same pressures that we are, AMEN.

“So, I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.” Galatians 5:16

Have a blessed day Y’all!!

What if you had a person who coached and mentored you in building a better life?

Inspired 365 Life Coaching with Mark Farley!!

https://www.faiththroughworksfellowship.org/inspired-365-life-coaching

Want a one-on-one coach to get you out of where you are?

Email today and let’s chat to see if we can make up a plan for you to get you to where you want to be!

[email protected]

32 Years Ago Today

Mark Farley December 17, 2023 0 Likes 111 Views

32 years ago I was a broken man, hopelessly alcoholic and addicted to methamphetamine. In jail.. again… for my 10th DUI I was to be sent to prison. I was 30 years old and had estranged everyone from me in my life.

As I stared into the piece of tin that serves as a jailhouse mirror, I suddenly realized that I no longer knew this person staring back at me. I got on my knees and said the only prayer I could at the time, “God help me.”

Things began to change almost immediately.

My cellmate kept inviting me to the AA meetings and until that day I never wanted to attend. The H & I sponsored AA meeting started with a very short man who was not in jail jumping up on a table and shouting, “If you guys keep on doing what you are doing, you will keep getting what you are getting!” It was the shortest AA meeting I have ever attended because that was all I heard. He offered a Big Book to those of us “man enough to ask”, so I asked. I began reading the AA Big Book and attending the meetings.

After a few weeks, I went for my prison sentencing, but my Public Defender did not show up. 2 weeks later I went again to be sentenced and the Prosecutor did not show up.

It would be 6 more weeks in jail before I would be sentenced to prison.

I stayed active in AA and in the Christian fellowship Overcomers Outreach. My heart began to change. I finally owned my alcoholism; took responsibility for the wreckage it had caused me and others and became willing to accept the consequences of the prison time I had coming.

When I finally went to court to be sentenced, there was a different judge on the bench, and he shared a letter that was written on my behalf by an anonymous member of AA telling him I was changing and asking him to give me a chance at a rehab program instead of prison. The judge stopped the sentencing and asked me if I would like to spend 6 months at the Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center in Sacramento.

I knew that God had heard my cry for help and that I needed to keep following Him!

I willingly went to the Salvation Army. They loved me until I could learn to love myself. I threw myself into learning about God and became active in AA and in serving the homeless and addicted which has become my life mission. I entered their Adjutant Program and earned my Pastoral certificate. I was awarded a scholarship to go back to college and got my Human Services as well as my CADC counseling certificates for drugs and alcohol. I began running the Phase 1 recovery programs for Salvation Army ARC and helped to manage the homeless shelter.

Through my quest for lasting sobriety in AA, I met my beautiful angel Tami, who allowed this strange man with a ponytail who worked at the homeless shelter and rode a bicycle to fall in love with her and eventually marry her. 3 Years into our marriage, God loaned us His angel Kai to raise as our daughter!

For the past 32 years I have lived one day at a time looking to serve and help.

6 years ago I began to look at the damage that my excess weight was causing me and those who relied on me. I found help and learned that sugar was my new addiction along with my cravings for all the bad carbs in the junk food I surrounded myself with.

I met Bitten Jonsson who taught me about sugar and carb addiction. I have applied the 12 Steps from AA into my food addiction and now, 6 years later, not only have I lost over 120 pounds, but also have gained my life back and am the founder of a 12 Step Sugar and Carb addiction group called Sugar and Carb Addicts Anonymous. www.SCAA.club

God saved me from alcoholism and addiction and taught me how to be free through serving others.

I believe in and truly try to live what the Bible promises that it is through giving to others that we receive.

God has given me more than I ever deserved. The Big Book has taught me that Faith without works is dead. The least I can do is to try daily to pay Him back through serving others.

Because of AA and God, today I am a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a family member, and a friend to many. I have a home, a job, a ministry, and a founding partner of a nonprofit that helps others. AA taught me to be of humble service to others. From this suggestion I have become an ordained Pastor and a college graduate with an MBA in Business and Marketing.

Thank you, Jesus, for saving me!

Thank God for the Salvation Army, SCAA, and Alcoholics Anonymous!

Got Hope, need HOPE?

www.FaithThroughWorksFellowship.org

Have a blessed day Y’all!

Join me in looking at the things we face daily with passages from both the Big Book and Bible!

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=pastor+mark+farley&ref=nb_sb_noss

How about a daily dose of hope and inspired thought?

Change Your Mind

Mark Farley December 16, 2023 0 Likes 101 Views

Change your mind…

Have you ever noticed how much our minds tend to magnify the things that are fear driven?

It’s human nature for this to happen but it’s sad to see so many of us get caught up in the delusions that are created in our minds as we hold onto these thoughts and let them grow in size and strength.

Especially this time of year when it seems like we need to spend money, we don’t have to buy gifts for people who really don’t need them!

There is no need to become a prisoner of our fears.

We can break free of fear’s hold on us by simply changing our minds.

Try it next time you find yourself being held hostage by fear.

Ask the Holy Spirit (prayer) to remove the fear and replace it with the thought of helping someone else.

Give it a try!

Y
ou can do it and as always……

Check your experience! …

“At once, we commence to outgrow fear.” Big Book pg. 68

Lord let us use our faith to replace the fear that tries to “divert our minds, AMEN.

“…be made new in the attitude of your minds;” Ephesians 4:23

Have a blessed day Y’all!

Join me in looking at the things we face daily with passages from both the Big Book and Bible!

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=pastor+mark+farley&ref=nb_sb_noss

How about a daily dose of hope and inspired thought?

He Dropped His Blanket!

Mark Farley December 16, 2023 0 Likes 96 Views

He dropped his blanket…..

In the classic “Charlie Brown Christmas” cartoon / movie Linus comes on stage to recite the verses in Luke about the birth of Jesus.

He does something VERY OUT OF CHARACTER for him…

HE DROPS HIS BLANKET!!! (Google it!)

As he states the words “Fear Not”, he lets his blanket drop to the floor.

This is a great example of having a faith so big that it allows you to drop your security blanket and trust in the Lord.

This is my question for us all today.

What items, habits, or ideas that we hold as a security blanket to protect us from the world are we willing to drop in order to grow a stronger faith in Jesus?

Is it our pride, fear, hatred, closed minded ideas or maybe even our concrete opinions of people, places and things?..

Check your experience…

“When many hundreds of people are able to say that the consciousness of the Presence of God is today the most important fact of their lives, they present a powerful reason why one should have faith.” Big Book pg. 51

Lord, let us trade in the things we hold as security blankets for the everlasting faith in You, AMEN.

“The angel reassured them. “Fear Not” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.” Luke 2:10

Have a blessed day Y’all!

What if you had a person who coached and mentored you in building a better life?

Inspired 365 Life Coaching with Mark Farley!!

Copyright © 2024 Guys With God, LLC