About Stephen Nielsen

I'm an author, a self publisher, and a painting contractor. I live in beautiful Minnesota, USA . Welcome to my blog site.

Inspired By The Things That I Relate To

Posted on July 6, 2023 by Stephen Nielsen

I usually get a newspaper everyday before I go to breakfast. There isn’t much that I am interested in—except the comics and sports. For comics, Garfield is good—I can relate to his attitude, especially on Mondays. There is usually always something I like in the sports pages. It is so inspiring to read about players who are on the mend from an injury or from a slump. Today I read an article on the wrestler Gable Stevenson—how good he is doing. I can relate to him because I was a wrestler in high school, and I know what it takes to be a good wrestler. Then I also read about the Minnesota Twins baseball player Max Kepler, how he is coming back from a slump and about some very positive things Byron Buxton said about him.

Baseball it seems is mostly a mental game and thinking positively about ourselves. And it’s about the little things, like seeing the ball and hitting the ball…See the ball, hit the ball!

In many ways that’s life. It’s all about whether we see the ball of life clearly. If we don’t we will strike out every time. Life is also about picking ourselves up when we are down, and having the positive attitude and vision that we are going to get back in the game and do well.

And I love to see how all the players are doing better because they have been talking to each other and encouraging each other. And that is so necessary for all of us. No one is an island. We all need each other.

What it Means to Pray in Jesus’ Name

Posted on July 5, 2023 by Stephen Nielsen

Prayer A to Z

Just before the end of Jesus’ life on earth He began teaching His disciples to pray in His name. Before this time the concept was unheard of. Prayer was always to the Father but never in Jesus’ name. But all that changed. And it was not a teaching that was taught nonchalantly or casually. In fact, He repeated the teaching over and over again, as to emphasize its importance. Six times, recorded in the gospel of John, He taught the disciples to pray in His name. And each time the teaching was with the promise that they could pray for anything, or for whatever they wished, and their prayer would be answered (Jn. 14:13,14; 15:16; 16:23,24,26). If this was true then, and is still true today (which it is), then there is great power in the right use of His name. We certainly need to know how to pray in…

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According to His Lovingkindness

Posted on July 3, 2023 by Stephen Nielsen

Reflecting on Psalm 51:1, we see so clearly that the reason why David was so quick to ask God to forgive his great sin with Bathsheba and against Uriah, and ultimately against Him, was because he knew who God was. He knew the greatness of His compassion and love. Too often we linger so long in our sin, thinking that we don’t deserve forgiveness. We may be trying to punish ourselves for a while until we feel more deserving.

But David knew God. He knew the ever-readiness of His compassion. I like the way the NKJV says it:

Have mercy upon me, O God,

According to Your lovingkindness;

According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,

Blot out my transgressions.

NKJV

Here it is clear. God’s mercy, and our confession, must be “according to” His lovingkindness, “according to” the multitude of His tender mercies. God is always ready to forgive us. His compassion is always full. Whenever we are ready to ask for His forgiveness. He is ready to give it–in full.

Heron: Hiding in the weeds

Posted on June 30, 2023 by Stephen Nielsen

This big beautiful Grey Heron was hiding in the weeds. I barely saw him. I had to kind of sneak up closer and closer to get a good picture.

I’m sure he saw me.

These animal are so skittish.

I knew I had to be content with a picture like this–of him hiding in the weeds. Suddenly he flew off.

Why dost Thou stand afar off, O Lord?

Why dost Thou hide Thyself in times of trouble?

Psalm 10:1

The Meaning of Intercession – from Moses

Posted on June 29, 2023 by Stephen Nielsen

Prayer A to Z

Moses, like Abraham, was a great intercessor. He was the one whom the Lord spoke to face to face just as a man speaks to his friend.

Now when Moses was upon Mount Sinai receiving Gods laws, the people down below concluded that he had died since he had been gone so long. For this reason, they persuaded Aaron to make a golden calf; and they worshiped it, and sacrificed to it; and they corrupted themselves with alcohol and immoral activity. Here is the Scripture reference in Exodus 32:7-14:

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. 8 They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, ‘This is your god…

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Killdeer

Posted on June 28, 2023 by Stephen Nielsen

When I first saw this bird and was trying to get its picture, I thought it might be a Roadrunner because of the way it would run very fast on the road and in open spaces in the field. But I found that it is called a Killdeer.

According to Wikipedia, “The killdeer is a large plover found in the Americas. It gets its name from its shrill, two-syllable call, which is often heard. It was described and given its current scientific name in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae. Three subspecies are described.” Wikipedia

A Reprobate Mind

Posted on June 27, 2023 by Stephen Nielsen

Lately I have been wondering what is going on in some people’s minds—because of the things they do to themselves or the way they act (improperly). I think we may have a clue as to what brings on this kind of a mind by where it is talked about. Paul uses this word in Romans 1:28 and again in 2 Timothy 3:8. In both places he is addressing sin, out of control sin. And in Romans he addresses, in particular, homosexuality.

The Greek word, which is sometimes translated “depraved,” means “not passing the test.” It describes a mind that is useless or worthless and something that is discarded, like worthless metal. According to Wycliffe, it refers to a mind that is unapproved by God. It is a mind that will produce only that which is improper (things that are listed in Romans 1:29-31).

In the Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary, it is suggested that when men thought fit to cast out the knowledge of God in their mind, God gave them over to an outcast or worthless mind. John MacArthur suggests, similarly, that when men abandon God, He will abandon them.

I think that this situation will occur mostly in people who have corrupted themselves with sexual sin, because it is sexual sin that destroys a person at the deepest level like no other sin. It takes control of the whole person. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6:18, this sin goes against our own body. Satan loves to attack people and nations with sexual sin, and homosexual sin, because it will destroy from within.

As far as God giving up on people or giving them over to a reprobate mind, it may seem cruel and unloving to God; however, we have to remember that God will not force anyone to obey Him. He gives us all free will. He has warned us of sin and its corrupting nature. And He wants us to come to Him and trust Him; but He will not force us.

Again, a warning has come to us of the corrupting nature of sin, and especially sexual sin. And though God uses the word reprobate only in the context of out-of-control sin (like in Romans one), I think in the end all those who do not choose salvation by the Savior, will they not all be reprobates? For God will indeed say to them “I never knew you.” And He will say to them, “You rejected Me so I have rejected you.”

The Meaning of Intercession – From Abraham

Posted on June 23, 2023 by Stephen Nielsen

Prayer A to Z

Abraham was one of the first great intercessors. When God told him that He was going to destroy the city of Sodom, Abraham immediately became concerned for his cousin Lot, and for any others who were righteous in the city.

Genesis 18:23-33

And Abraham came near and said, “Wilt Thou indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 “Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; wilt Thou indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? 25 “Far be it from Thee to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from Thee! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?” 26 So the Lord said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I…

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God’s Beauty In The Very Small Things

Posted on June 22, 2023 by Stephen Nielsen

The very little flowers are so beautiful when seen close up.

A prairie flower called Spiderwart.

White Campion

Called Goat’s Beard,

Prickly Wild Rose

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? (Matt 6:28-30)