Vernon T. Jones MTS, Spiritual Consultant, Author
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Scripture Reflection: Hearing What The Lord Speaks!

1/26/2017

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“Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.” Psalm 85: 8

God can speak to us in many varied ways. How the Lord speaks to you is probably different from how God communicates with others. It can also be noted that overtime how we are spoken to could also change. The messages can come during our prayer time, while worshiping with others, through our friends or family members, through events happening in the world around us, or on a walk; you name it. The Holy Spirit can deliver us messages and insights in so many fashions. The key part for us is to be faithful, and to turn our hearts toward God.

An example where God’s guidance came to me through other people was when we put my late wife, Judy, under Hospice care. She already had two surgeries to remove brain tumors and had radiation when the same dreaded tumor like symptoms returned. This time our options were limited, and chemotherapy would only slow the tumor’s growth and could cause side effects. We talked to doctors about what to do, and prayed about it.

My son, Kevin, said that you hate to see a loved one suffer, and thus we made the choice to not try anything else to prolong her life but rather would put her under Hospice care for her remaining days. If it was up to us, we may have tried to continue to do things to have her around with us longer, but in hindsight we did what was best for her. I firmly believe that God spoke through my son and other people to guide our family and me during that time to make this very difficult decision.

As you take part in this spiritual pilgrimage, may you be faithful and turn your hearts to the Lord and look for the many ways that God may be speaking to you about all areas of your life!


Holy Spirit, please help me to be open to the voice of God coming through you to me, and may I be receptive to where this voice is leading me! Amen. Vernon T.

Copyright © 2017 Vernon T. Jones, All Rights Reserved

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Scripture Reflection: God Does Not Reject Our Prayer!

1/19/2017

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“But truly God has listened; he has given heed to the words of my prayer. Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me.” Psalm 66: 19-20

The book of Psalms is full of places that note about the Lord hearing our prayers. In this passage the writer talks about how God does not reject our prayers. For any number of reasons some of us may feel uncomfortable praying. We may not want to pray for we think God would reject our prayer because, we think that it should be done in a certain way, or the words don’t flow very easily, or we may not feel worthy of praying to the Lord, or something from our past is blocking our inner spirit from reaching out. You can probably think of other things that may hold you or others back from praying.

However, from my understanding God is love, and as this passage notes, God’s steadfast love hasn’t been removed from us, and thus will not reject our prayer. That doesn’t mean that everything we pray about will come to past, but they are heard. If we can just focus on the fact that the Lord loves us no matter what we do, or how we think others see us, or how wonderful our words flow in prayer, that knowledge might help us. When we have doubts about prayer, if we can just start in some way or manner, no matter how small, God’s love and the Holy Spirit will help us in the process.

If you are challenged in your prayer life, please be encouraged to just start, and let God’s Spirit show you the next step. Also consider making prayer a routine for you and in that way it gets easier every day to begin and continue!


Loving Lord, help me to trust in the promise that you don’t reject my prayers, and may that fact help me to freely pray to you, with an open heart, mind, and soul! Amen. Vernon T.

Copyright © 2017 Vernon T. Jones, All Rights Reserved

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Reflection: Our Life Lens!

1/12/2017

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We all have a life lens that determines how we look at every aspect of our life. Our life lenses are influenced by the spiritual practices that we take apart in while striving for God’s kingdom in this present time. The focus of our lens is also developed by our life experiences; all of the things that we have been apart of, all of the people that have come into our lives, and all of the events that have happened around us, impact who we are, and how we see life.

For me, my life lens has been developed by my upbringing by a single Mom growing up on the east side of Youngstown Ohio. My first church community was Jerusalem Baptist church, which was made up of people who had come to Youngstown from the southern states to make a new and better life in the north.

My life lens was later influenced as I worked in a steel mill, went to college part time for eight years in order to earn my bachelor’s degree, married Judy, who was of the Catholic faith, which of course affected my spiritual growth. Her death years later, after a long battle with cancer, caused my life lens to change radically. My many moves around the country as I worked for different insurance companies gave me more experiences. Then joining a Lutheran church and eventually going to a Lutheran seminary and being married to a Lutheran pastor, Shirley, continues to change my life lens.

I give my life experiences to encourage each of you to think about all of the events both large and small, and all of the people that have come and gone into your lives and reflect upon how all of these situations have gotten you to where you are today. We are who we are today because of what has happened to us in the past, and how we look at life through our life lenses has been formed by these experiences. How we look at things that occur on a daily basis, how we spend our time and money, and how we react to the events that confront us are determined by our life lens.

Please be encouraged to either begin or continue to enhance taking part in the practices of prayer, Bible study, and reflection. These habits will give your life lens the ability to see things from a spiritual aspect versus a worldly one. This may help you to better deal with the many and varied issues of life!
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Lord of my life, help me to look at every aspect of my life through the spiritual lens of your kingdom versus the things of the world! Amen. Vernon T.

Copyright © 2017 Vernon T. Jones, All Rights Reserved
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The New Year

1/6/2017

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One of Shirley’s and my favorite spiritual writers is Henri Nouwen. He was a Catholic priest, now deceased, who was a very important writer in the last century. In his book “Bread for the Journey” for January 8 he writes about having light for the next step. As we begin a new year, we can become concerned about what this year holds for us. He notes that generally we only enough light for the coming hour or the following day.

He writes, “The art of living is to enjoy what we can see and not complain about what remains in the dark.” He goes on to say that when we can take the next step with faith, our life can be filled with joy. May you be able to trust the Lord about the future and live today with that faith. Blessings on your spiritual pilgrimage throughout the New Year! Vernon T.
Copyright © 2017 Vernon T. Jones, All Rights Reserved

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!

1/2/2017

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​HAPPY NEW YEAR!
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    Author

    Vernon T. Jones earned his Master of Theological Studies Degree from Trinity Lutheran Seminary after a lengthy insurance industry career. Jones has assisted people with incorporating into their faith journey the discipleship practices that are outlined in his upcoming book and his presentations. 

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