Outrageous Love Story with Gary Boyd

Outrageous Love Story with Gary Boyd A starving man who found food and wants others who are hungry to find that same food. Jesus Christ

01/11/2025

I was going to use this as a page for my devotionals and a prayer list but I have no control over what else is posted on here so I am not using this page at all and I suggest you not follow it.

09/18/2023

🎶 R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Find out what it means to me
R-E-S-P-E-C-T 🎶

“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭26‬ ‭ESV‬‬

In other words, when you pray, sometimes what we are trying to say is all jumbled up.
Either we use too many words or too few words. We say inappropriate things in an effort to comfort someone.
We groan and need God.
But through the Holy Spirit God hears our heart cry. He hears our pain. He hears our frustrations.

No matter what you say, God knows what you mean. And He knows what you need.

That’s one of the jobs of the Holy Spirit. He never gets the credit He deserves.

We say thank God many times a day.
We say thank you, Jesus.

But have you ever thanked the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit is the Rodney Dangerfield of the Trinity. He gets no respect.

Yet, it is the Holy Spirit that lives in us. He is the helper Jesus promised.

““But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.”
‭‭John‬ ‭15‬:‭26‬ ‭ESV‬‬

In fact Jesus knew that the Holy Spirit would do much more than He would. Or could.
When Jesus was here, He limited His essence by not being omnipresent. In other words, part of Jesus being fully God and fully man is that He was limited to His earthly body.

He gave that up to come to earth and submit to the Fathers will.
And He was soon ending His time as a human. So He prepared His disciples and followers for what would happen when He left.

“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.”
‭‭John‬ ‭16‬:‭7‬ ‭ESV‬‬

It’s funny. Jesus healed the lame, gave sight to the blind, fed 9,000 people on two different occasions. Raised people from the dead, and performed so many miracles that we could never read all that He did even if it was all recorded.

But how many people came to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior from His earthly ministry?

Estimates are that Jesus and His disciples and followers like Mary Magdeline and the Samaritan woman may have led as many as 5000 people to faith in Jesus.

The day of Pentecost came.

“When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
‭‭Acts‬ ‭2‬:‭1‬-‭4‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Wow! That sounds exciting. Actually it sounds much more exciting than when I became a Believer.
There were no tongues of fire.
I didn’t hear the rush of wind and start talking in a language I didn’t know.
I was never slain in the Spirit as they say.
Most people weren’t. In fact in all of scripture, it only happened here in Acts. And only once. It’s not something that we need to build our faith on.

The Holy Spirit at the day of Pentecost led over 3000 people to Jesus in one day.

“So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.”
‭‭Acts‬ ‭2‬:‭41‬ ‭ESV‬‬

And soon after that it is estimated that the church swelled to over ten thousand people.

The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin.
The Holy Spirit leads us to Jesus.
The Holy Spirit comforts us and whispers to us and helps us to pray.

Thank You, Holy Spirit.

Lord, we do thank You for the gift of the Holy Spirit and praise Him for the work He does in each one of us.

Today we pray for Ray as he struggles for each breath. We pray that Your will be done as You take care of your child.
We pray for my neighbor, Kathy, who got hit in her car and is trying to remember what happened.
We pray for Mike as he once again fights cancer.
And we pray for those that The Holy Spirit will open their minds and hearts to Jesus.
In whose Name we pray.

Romans 8:1
There ia therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

09/17/2023

🎶You can’t always get what you want. But if you try sometime, you just might find, you get what you need.🎶

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭18‬ ‭ESV‬‬

A friend of mine lays in his bed and fights for each breath that he takes. COPD. He knows Jesus, He loves Jesus. Why has Jesus forsaken him?

Another friend has battled, fought hard against cancer. It’s now back. In a different part of his body. He’s been through the wringer, physically and emotionally. Why has God forsaken him?

I have several friends whose mothers are fighting cancer. They are scared to lose their mothers. The also know Jesus, then why is Jesus not healing their mommas?
Why has He forsaken them?

The list goes on and on and on, like an Allman Brothers Band song in concert.

Our world is in turmoil, constant chaos.

The Apostle Paul knew that. So do we.

“For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bo***ge to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭19‬-‭21‬ ‭ESV‬‬

What is the revealing of the sons of God?
The second coming of Jesus Christ.
When He comes, He will bring with Him everyone who is in heaven. Everyone who is a true son or daughter of God.

Will you be there?

“For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭22‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Until now? Hey, Paul. It’s still groaning.
Earthquakes. Tornadoes. Avalanches. Hurricanes. Floods, droughts, extremes in weather.
Our earth is groaning due to sin.
And our solution? Make electric cars.

Our short sighted reaction? Make laws that punish poor people so the rich get even richer. Fancy Nancy in Washington DC needs another couple of million dollars this week.

And it’s on both sides of the aisle.

But God never tells us to wait on Washington DC to get it right.
He doesn’t expect fallen man to rescue our planet. We did not create it and quite frankly, we can’t fix it.

Unless we bow down to Greta Thornberg.

“And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭23‬ ‭ESV‬‬

This right here. We always seek to be happy and joyful and pain free.
We want new heavenly eternal bodies Even if we don’t want Jesus.

We want to live and be free once more.
Why has God forsaken us?

King David in the middle of a personal tragedy, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭22‬:‭1‬ ‭ESV‬‬

The man after God’s own heart felt that way.

So did Jesus in His humanity.

“And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?””
‭‭Mark‬ ‭15‬:‭34‬ ‭ESV‬‬

So in my life should I be surprised that I will also feel that way?

No but maybe I better temper that with His promise for me.

“For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭24‬ ‭ESV‬‬

I don’t hope for the meal set before me. It’s there.
I just hope it tastes as good as it looks. And I don’t have to wait long to find out.
We don’t either. Our hope in Jesus is coming to fruition. We are all going to face eternity. And once it’s here, once you enter it, what you had faith in, what you hoped for is done.

I hope you choose Jesus.

Lord, everyday there are so many people in need of prayer. You know each need and each person. The Bible says you know the number of hairs on our heads. And more importantly that You long for us to call You Father.
Today let someone see You and hold onto Jesus as their savior.
We ask for healing physically which is what we want, but what we need is spiritual healing. Allow us to know You more.

In Jesus Name

Romans 8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

09/15/2023

🎶 Tempted by the fruit of another,
Tempted but the truth is discovered.
What's been going on,
Now that you have gone.
There's no other.
Tempted by the fruit of another,
Tempted but the truth is discovered.🎶

“And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’””
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭3‬:‭2‬-‭3‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Am I repeating myself?
Didn’t I just use this verse yesterday?
Why, yes, yes I did.
But it’s worth looking at in a different light.

The woman is telling Satan the truth. That is what will happen if they touch the fruit of that tree.

Satan is persistent and always seems to have an answer.

“But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.””
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭3‬:‭4‬-‭5‬ ‭ESV‬‬

You know the rest of the story.
Eve sees the fruit is desirable and wants it.
Forbidden fruit in any form always seems tempting.

And when she took a bite, right in front of her husband and offered him a taste of the forbidden fruit, they died right there.

Spiritually. The death they suffered was a spiritual death. A death where they would no longer enjoy God walking through the garden with them. No more conversations with God.
And that spiritual death would affect all of mankind.

Our eyes have been “opened” ever since. We are tempted by the evil on all fronts. Our own evil desires which seem so desirable and the temptations placed before us by the devil and his demons.

He is a master at knowing what we want and pushing temptations toward us. We don’t really need the help, our thoughts and desires are also working overtime to “grab all the gusto” that life offers.

(Schlitz beer commercial slogan from the 60’s and 70’s for younger people.)

So what now? We are spiritually dead. Separated from God for all eternity.

But, wait! There’s more!

God had a plan all along.
Jesus. His son and fully God and fully man.

Emmanuel. God with us.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”
‭‭John‬ ‭5‬:‭24‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Through Jesus sacrifice our sins get erased. No punishment for our sins.

Here is what confuses me.

What in your life is worth eternity in hell?

Let’s pretend that the universe just banged into existence. And that nan crawled out of some primordial ooze. And this was just trillions of years of evolution.

What if that was, as fantastic as any fairy tale, actually true.
I will have lost nothing devoting my life and trusting Jesus.
Not one thing.

But what if you’re wrong. What if The Bible is true and all evidence truly points to that.

Time for truth. Time to quit pretending you know something because some intellectual decide to publish his own thesis on life.

A scientist at NASA was a follower of Jesus Christ. He was often put down and criticized for his beliefs.

One weekend, he spent the entire weekend recreating the office by placing each planet and star in the sky exactly as it was supposed to be.

That Monday his colleagues marveled at what was done.
Who did that ?

He smiled and told them that no one did that. It just appeared.

The only thing you lose when you become a follower of Jesus is your pride.

And judgment and punishment for your sin.

Believe me. It is worth it.

Lord, today I lift up my friend Ray. I know he is struggling right now and I pray that You would continue to hold and comfort Ray and Beverly as they walk through this valley.

I pray that each person will think about their eternity. That each one who is lost will ask questions and seek You.
We ask for healing today for all that are hurting.

In Jesus Name

Romans 8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

09/12/2023

🎶 You'd think that people would have had enough of silly love songs.
I look around me and I see it isn't so.
Some people want to fill the world with silly love songs.
And what's wrong with that?
I'd like to know.
'Cause here I go again.
I love you, I love you.
I love you, I love you. 🎶

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.”
‭‭1 John‬ ‭4‬:‭7‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Now we are referring to love in both the song and the scripture verse.
But are we talking about the very same thing?

Stupid question. Of course not. And no one would assume that. I hope.

As people comment on each post each day I try to tell them that I love them. Now obviously I’m not romantically in love with anyone other than my wife, but there are two distinct and different types of love that we experience. The romantic love is the Greek word Eros
which means romantic love or sexual desire. Erotica.

Philo is a Greek word that means brotherly love. We love as friends. It’s where Philadelphia gets its name. The city of brotherly love.
(Maybe that not a good example of love. They once booed Santa Clause.)

Now Philo love is real. It’s not a superficial love, but it isn’t the deeper agape love.

Agape love is the very best love you can give. It is the sacrificial love. It means to love without question or return. It is the love parents have for their children and grandchildren.

It means no matter what you do, I love you unconditionally.

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
‭‭1 John‬ ‭4‬:‭7‬-‭8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

God is love.
This verse is telling us that if we are truly children of God, if we have been born again, we will love what He loves. And in this case it’s other believers.

This is a very important distinction. We are to love with brotherly love everyone.
But the deeper more sacrificial love is for those who love Jesus.
In this case Family first.

So how can you tell if someone is truly a brother or sister in Christ?

“We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”
‭‭1 John‬ ‭4‬:‭6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

When someone shuts you down, dismisses your faith or avoids you, they are usually not followers of Jesus.

So how do you treat them?
With love. And kindness. And patience. And prayer.
Your prayers are powerful. God hears every one of them.

(Unless you’re Garth Brooks praying to “the man upstairs.”)
God is Holy. Set apart. Worthy of honor and praise.

But when we give to our church its first mission is to meet the needs of the saints. A saint is anyone who is a follower of Jesus. That’s it.
And we never become angels.
I don’t care how many bells you hear ringing, they’re just bells ringing. No Angel is getting their wings.

Love can change lives. Love for mankind can influence lost people to become saints. But our deepest love should be for those in the family of God. Those adopted through the blood of Jesus.

Father in heaven.
You know the needs today. You know the lost people that each of us are thinking about today. You know who will enter Your family and who will stubbornly refuse.
But we do not. We lift up those who are still rebelling against You.
We ask that You would draw them to Yourself. That they would be saved.
And we pray for the needs of our brothers and sisters in You. We pray this in Jesus Name.

Romans 8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus

09/11/2023

🎼 Where were you when the world stopped turning on that September day?
Were you in the yard with your wife and children
Or working on some stage in L.A.?

Did you stand there in shock
At the sight of that black smoke
Risin' against that blue sky?
Did you shout out in anger
In fear for your neighbor
Or did you just sit down and cry?🎼

“See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.”
‭‭Colossians‬ ‭2‬:‭8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Elementary, my dear Watson.

We are inundated by empty deceit.
In fact I know people who when presented with the truth of the gospel will believe any far fetched notion by man, no matter how fantastic it is rather than believe God. We live in a spiritual world where we fight against not only our own desires but a great foe that will do anything to keep us from God.

And they will believe it with an air of arrogance and superiority inferring that anyone who believes in the Bible is a simpleton.

But they will not even look at the claims of Christianity in the light of day.
“ Don’t bother me with that nonsense.”

The opposition to God and to Christians is unending. Satan hates Jews and Christians. The world hate us.

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭6‬:‭12‬ ‭ESV‬‬

22 years ago today, the enemy of our souls inspired a madman to attack our way of life. Our freedoms and our people. It was diabolical.

The enemy attacks us from every direction. Our government, our schools, our commerce, our churches.

In the aftermath of 911, churches and synagogues were filled to capacity. We looked for truth as well as justice. We needed comfort and understanding. How could the events of 911 have even happened to us?

The Bible is the only book that tells us that God loves us. And He does.

People quit going to churches. Church attendance has declined every year since then.
And then that same enemy came up with Covid, a pandemic that shut many churches down. Permanently.

But God still remains. He hasn’t changed. He knew it would happen.

That’s why Jesus came. That’s why He died. And if you want to prove once and for all that Jesus wasn’t Lord, isn’t God, then show us His body.

You can’t!
His tomb is empty. It was empty 3 days after He was crucified and had been empty for over 2000 years since then.

But would you rather believe the word of a man over God?
Why?

Father, I pray for my friends and the friends of my friends who have lost people in their lives.
They are believing the lies from the enemy and reject the love You offer.
Today I ask that Your Spirit would open eyes and soften hearts. That You would open their minds to Your truth. The only truth.
And we pray for our country today as we remember the tragedy of 911 and grieve those who were murdered that day by our enemy.

We pray in Jesus Name.

Romans 8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

09/02/2023

🎶Only the good for young!🎶

It was 60 years ago today that my mother passed away.
It was on a Monday. Labor Day to be exact. And we were living in Springfield IL.

I was this many years old. (One whole hand and two fingers.)

Pauline Boyd. Now I had three actual mothers.
Nancy, my biological mother that I never knew.
Polly, who adopted me.
And Regania who was my step mother.

We were at a Labor Day party at the O’Malley’s across the street from where we lived. We were all having a good time when I noticed that the adults were acting weird. It started to get dark in sun Some looked like they had been crying.
Some started paying more attention to my brother and me.
And Mom and Dad weren’t there anymore.

I asked where they were and they said that they had gone home and we were to wait until my Dad came to get us.

A while later, Mrs. O’Malley took my brother and I across the street to our house.
Now I was seven years old and had crossed that street in our very middle class subdivision for awhile now. What was going on?

As we entered our house, there was my Dad sitting in my Mom’s rocking chair.

It was the chair my mom used to rock my 4 year old brother, Rod, to sleep in.
It was the same chair she used to crush my pet turtle that I had let out of its cage.

My Dad had been crying.
My Dad didn’t cry.
My Dad was 38 years old and could do anything. But cry.
Yet here he was with tears running down his face.
He grabbed us and held us tight and told us that Mom went to heaven.

Rod asked when was she coming back?

I told Rod she’s never coming back. She’s gone forever.

“So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”
‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭5‬:‭6‬-‭8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

We would rather be at home with Lord.
Mom was at home with Lord.

There are a couple of things I remember about Mom.
First of all she taught me never to play behind her when she was rocking my brother to sleep.

I remember we had parakeets. And we lived in a modern three bedroom ranch with a big picture window flanked by two double hung windows that was popular in the late 50’s and early 60’s.
And she kept them clean. Sparkling clean. So clean in fact that while she was cleaning the bird cage, one of the parakeets took off for the open sky. The thud into the window was the last sound that parakeet ever made.

I remember riding in the back of our white 1960 Rambler station wagon.
No car seat.
No seat belt.
Just a chrome bar on the back of the seat to break my fall.
And it did. She got in an accident and I flew into that bar and opened my lip up pretty good. 8 stitches if I remember right.

But the one thing I remember more than anything was getting ready to take a nap and her laying next to me. She would read me stories of a children’s Bible as I would look up into the blue skies with fluffy clouds and wonder what heaven was like.

She believed in Jesus. She taught me to believe in Jesus. My

“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭22‬:‭6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

She did that. Or tried. She wasn’t here long enough to see what happened to me. She didn’t know that I believed her and I, too, trusted in Jesus.

She had been married once before she met my dad. She had a daughter that I found out about only a few months ago.
Her brother nor her sisters ever talked about her daughter or her first husband.

But no matter what, she knew Jesus. And she wanted her two sons to know Jesus.

So today she is celebrating 60 years in heaven. And in God’s time it seems like only yesterday.

Father, I thank You that You made a way for us to be with You for all eternity.
I thank You that Polly has been with You since she left us.
And I pray for each person reading this to rejoice that we have heaven to look forward to.

In Jesus Name

Romans 8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

09/01/2023

“He lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.”
‭‭Acts‬ ‭28‬:‭30‬-‭31‬ ‭ESV‬‬

I’ve been writing devotionals proclaiming the love and grace of God for over ten years.
I decided to add this page so that anyone can come and visit at any time.

I will post my morning musings here and here is where we will take prayer requests and pray for people together.

I welcome those who have accepted my invitation and thank you sincerely.

Gary.

Address

Harrison, TN

Website

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