Don't Say You'll Pray If You WON'T!

Perhaps one of the most subtle things satan does to deceive us away from God, and from serving others with Godly integrity, is working to keep us from realizing the cost of NOT doing what we say we are going to do.  Let's take, for instance, the popular phrase, or commonly-used "sign-off", "I'll pray for you."  How many times do we hear that statement, in a "see-ya-later" kind of voice, and from someone closing a conversation with a fellow Christian brother or sister?  How many times do we make that statement ourselves, then go on about our day, week, and month, and not think about the commitment we had made, or even remember it, again?

Not long ago, Brenda and I attended a special ceremony to observe a change of leadership for a local organization we work with in ministry on occasion.  At the end of the ceremony, as we went through the receiving line, we waited to shake hands with one of the primary national directors over the local organization.  As the person ahead of us finished talking and prepared to move on down the line, he reached out his hand and closed by saying, "Sir, I'll be praying for you."  Brenda reached out, shook his hand next, and shared how grateful we were to see that he was able to be here for this special leadership transition, and added that we pray God bless him for his support.  Being that Brenda and I had been discussing the subject of what the gentleman had said ahead of us, the subject of this blog, I took the opportunity to have a little bit of fun with him, saying, "Brother, I won't say, 'I'll be praying for you' because I probably won't."  He looked at me and, I could see by the look on his face, he was briefly puzzled by my making that comment.  Within just seconds, I could see that a light went on, when, with a big smile on his face, he replied, "I'm glad, because I probably won't be praying for you either."  We both agreed that, when we hear someone telling someone else that they are going to be praying for them, the first thing we think is, "Lord, I hope with all of my heart that that person truly understands the crucial importance of not breaking a commitment or vow."

Jesus blessed us with wisdom concerning this in Luke 14:28-30, "For which of you, intending to build a tower, stitch not down first, and counts the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?  Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish."  Though we are not talking about the construction of a tower, we are discussing the crucial importance of making sure, before we ever commit to praying for someone, that we have taken the time to learn about the needs of that particular person so we are able to pray for them effectively.  Remember, good intentions will never make up for failure to follow through with our verbal commitment to others.

When we tell God or anyone else that we are going to do something, and then turn around and not fulfill that commitment, we not only inflict pain on the one we committed to, but we reveal the lack of integrity operating in our lives.  To any of the people who heard you commit, and then observe your subsequent failure to honor that commitment, it does not matter what your intentions were.  The result is the same as if you had deliberately misled them.

It is easy to say to someone that we are going to pray for them.  That person doesn't know one way or the other if we actually do what we promised them, or not.  On the other hand, however, God does know, ... every vow we make.

When Jesus teaches us of the crucial importance of counting the cost of whatever we commit to doing, He teaches us that it is vital that we calculate whether or not we can keep the vow, and do so before we have made the vow.  Why?  It is because, in the eyes of Jesus Christ, whatever we have done "even to the least of His brethren," whether we have kept our word or not, we have done it to Him, personally!  This is what we must be aware of, and ask The Lord to help us remember always, as Jesus says in Matthew 25:40, "And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."  A person who says one thing and does another is a detriment to God and to everyone around them!

It boils down to this: If you are going to tell someone that you will do something, you had better think it through very carefully before you make the commitment.  A broken vow is an offense that carries a very stiff sentence in the eyes of God.  Do not be deceived by the use of the word “vow".  This can be something as simple as our telling someone that we are going to pray for them, but we do not—or our telling someone that we will call, stop by, or do something else for them, then we do not.  This especially includes honoring our words concerning punctuality.  When we say we are going to be at a certain place at a certain time, we need to keep the commitment to the T (as in Time).  If we find we will not make it at the time we committed to, at the very least, we should let the others know as soon as we can.  Even our worship depends upon this.  “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him.  God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23-24)

There is no way around it.  Integrity must be the hallmark of our lives, in order for us to effectively model ourselves after God, and to verbally represent the Word of God to people!  We must speak the truth and live the truth.  Do not say you are going to do something, and then not follow through.  Whenever a person says one thing but does another, it is lying and will be judged as such.  Listen to the warning Jesus gives us concerning vows that are made in passing, “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.  For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” (Matthew 12:36-37)  We must make sure our yea means yea and our nay means nay.

We pray that this message encourages you, and reminds you to S-T-O-P and COUNT THE COST of what you say and how you follow through.  Make sure to ask yourself daily, "Have I made an account of prayers I've committed to today, and am I making sure I really mean whatever it is that I say?

THANK YOU for connecting with us today!  Also, we appreciate you downloading copies of this blog to share with others, and a copy to keep handy for yourself!   

 

Find many more messages based on real-life matters, like this one, in our published book called, "THE CRISIS OF ERODING INTEGRITY."  For more information or to place large-quantity orders, visit us online at the Toward The Mark website today.

We pray God bless you greatly as you have greatly blessed us and the entire Toward The Mark Family!

In Christ Jesus,

PS.  THANK YOU for following the Blog of TTM, Inc. and we INVITE YOU to...  follow and share these Scripture-based tools also as we “Press Toward the Mark…”:

~ "Keith Shealy & Toward The Mark" on Facebook

~ "Keith Shealy's "Between TheLines" Podcast on Libsyn

~ "Sharing the Secrets God Whispers to me" teaching messages on our website

CLICK HERE to make a tax-deductible contribution securely by PayPal.
Every gift you send helps, and we thank you for it!

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Toward The Mark, Inc., P.O. Box 1152, Yorktown, VA 23692-1152.

Thank you in advance for contributing to the fulfillment of the vision and mission of this ministry!  We pray God bless you, and return to you a 100-fold harvest for your generosity!

The Crisis of Eroding Integrity

Are you aware that there was actually a time in our nation's history when a man or woman's word was their bond?  When an agreement was made, the parties involved would simply shake hands and it was done.  I remember very clearly when I was around the age of seven watching my great grandfather negotiate a price to build a house for a man.

My grandfather went back and forth with the man for a while.  Finally, they came to an agreement.  The two of them shook hands, and off we went.  There was no need for lengthy and confusing contracts.  The transactions between people involved honest, because people simply lived their lives based on the honor system which was based on integrity.  When two people made an agreement, they took to heart what the verse of Matthew 5:37 says, "But let your communication be, Yea, yea or Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil."

Over the years I have had the privilege of spending time with many wonderful Christian leaders, men and women who have modeled for me and so many others just what it means to walk out a life of integrity in all situations.  They are passionate about truth and have "in-deed" given their lives to seeing God's perfect will and plan fulfilled in everything they do.  When they tell you they are going to do something, you can "take it to the bank"!

On the other hand, I have met people who are not so committed to living a life of integrity.  I have also heard heartbreaking stories of people who have been hurt by the compromise of a person whose tendency is to prefer style over substance.  Their practices, more often than not, include using God's name for the purpose of manipulating people and situations in order to have their own selfish wants and desires fulfilled.

Jesus warns us in Matthew 24:4-5 saying, "Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ (anointed); and shall deceive many."  Notice, Jesus didn't say these people would actually claim to be himself come in the flesh, but he was warning us about those who claim to be "anointed" but are not.  

Paul also warns us of such impostors in 2 Timothy 3:1-7 saying, "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.  For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."

Another similar problem faces the church today: immature believers that tend to use the name of Jesus Christ to justify doing or saying something they feel strongly about.  I don't say this to belittle the precious young ones in Christ among us but to make the point that much is being done in the name of our wonderful Lord that is wrong.  In my thirty-five years of ministry, I have never seen a time like now. I have personally witnessed even the so-called "mature" among us compromise their integrity on the altar of selfish convenience.  Jesus warns, "Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts; which devour widows' houses, and for a shew make long prayers: the same shall receive greater damnation."  (Luke 20:46)  There you go, if you want to talk about style over substance!

Jesus gives us a way to identify these folks in the following verses.  "These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved forever." (2 Peter 2:17)  "For every tree is known by his own fruit."  (Luke 6:44)  Just because someone says they're a Christian, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's true, and they are a Christian.  However, seeing the fruit of a person's life - where most of their personal time, talents, and treasures is spent - will stand as the true evidence of their being committed to diligently pursuing God and His ways, or still being committed to their old flesh nature instead.

If you have read or listened to even a few of the messages God has provided through this ministry of Toward The Mark, Inc, you have likely heard me say, with conviction and frequency, that, "Those who truly w-a-n-t Christ, truly pursue Him."  When we begin to seek Christ with our whole hearts, we also become committed to forsaking anything and anyone that comes to separate us from Him, and become committed to following Jesus Christ in every area of our lives and lifestyle.  As we learn about, and experience, Christ's Nature and see the love He has for us as His children, we will become more like Him and will have a desire to be totally and wholeheartedly transformed into His likeness.  With that in mind, if the extent of someone's commitment to Christ is simply attending a church service or two each week, that just "won't cut it" for them for long if they truly w-a-n-t to be transformed into Christ's image.  An old country preacher once said, "Sittin' in a church pew, for a Sunday or mid-week service, makes you a Christian, just about as much as sittin' in a garage for a day makes you a car."

If what we say doesn't match up with what we do, what people see that we do will always be more important than what we say.  "Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works." (James 2:18)  As long as we live, our actions will always speak louder than our words.  

Paul hit the nail on the head when he said, "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come."  (2 Timothy 3:1)  Perilous times have arrived.  It is clear that we are in the last days and the "peril" has come.  In the last seventy years alone, we have seen our means of communication progress from archaic methods to the highly technical and very sophisticated systems of today.  Satellite, fiber optic cable, and world-wide internet communication systems have come to be used by the devil and his minions for dumping his deceptive agenda into our homes around the clock, making it easy to continually flood our eyes and ears with what is working to erode away our integrity.  The assault on everything that is good is raging around us and, if there has ever been a time when we need to focus our wholehearted attention on God, it is NOW!

"And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, (to indulge one's appetites excessively) and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and [so] that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man." (Luke 21:34)

"But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer." (1 Peter 4:7)

This time we are living in is NO time for compromise!  In fact, the evidence is shows... Our Lord Jesus Christ's return is very soon.

THANK YOU for staying connected with us, and for following our blog every month throughout the year!  We appreciate you and pray God's greatest blessing on you and your family!  In Christ Jesus,

Re-read and Pass it on to everyone you know who hasn't given their heart and life to Christ, or to those who just need encouraged:  The_Crisis_of_Eroding_Integrity

To Show GOD BIG in a World that Sees Him small…  sums up the reason Keith stepped out in faith to focus on reaching the lost and strengthening believers everywhere, through Toward The Mark, Inc.  Keith and Brenda's prayer is that you will be encouraged and edified by the Secrets from God's Word that Keith recounts in our written and recorded products.  The complete collection of original podcasts, music, blogs, books, CDs, and other resources of Toward The Mark, Inc. are made possible by the prayer and financial contributions of the TTM Support Family.  We'd like to welcome you onboard TODAY!

We INVITE YOU to...  take advantage of our other Scripture-based tools to help as “We Press Toward the Mark…” of becoming "one" with our Heavenly Father:

~ "Keith Shealy & Toward The Mark" on Facebook

~  Keith Shealy's "Between The Lines" Podcast on Libsyn

~ "Sharing with you the Secrets God Whispers to me" teachings on our website 

CLICK HERE to make a secure tax-deductible contribution to help Toward The Mark, Inc.  *Every gift you send helps, and we thank you for it!

Mail tax-deductible check donations made out to "Toward The Mark, Inc." to: P.O. Box 1152, Yorktown, VA 23692-1152.

It's the Greatest Miracle You'll Ever See--when Christ Redeems your Shattered Dream!

       From the young age of 8 years old, I was passionately consumed with football.  I would play every chance I got, whether with a team for practice, in organized team games, or for fun in a field with friends.  I loved the sport so much that, some nights, I fell asleep with my football in my arms.  My mom would tell me how she would come in my room and take the ball out of my bed while I slept.  I even dreamed about football more than anything else, hoping and dreaming to, one day, be able to play on a college team.

When I got to college, I went through the grueling program to try out for the team and, by the grace of God, I got through all the cuts, and made a position on the team roster.  The entire process, for me, was terribly difficult - struggling to get enough air in my lungs during uphill runs, taking body blows from guys stronger than me and twice my size, and staying pin-point focused on giving 110% to getting my body into better shape - something that seemed to require much more effort for me than it did for other players.  What I didn't know at the time, and found out only in very recent years, was that I had underdeveloped lungs and asthma from the time I was born.  I'm glad now that I didn't know this back then, when my heart was stayed on fulfilling my childhood dream, even if throwing up blood and fighting to overcome oxygen deprivation would be an endless cost I would have to pay.

During the course of football season as a freshman, I endured a concussion and various injuries, none of which were uncommon for players at the college level.  Then, I got what I thought was a pulled muscle in my lower back.  Instead of getting better as I expected, it kept getting worse.  It got really bad in the end, during the last few practices and games.  The pain was excruciating and, every time it would swell, the trainer would put me in the ice barrel and have me sit there while he would shovel ice over my back.  I was constantly having to go in there.  The good news was, we finished the year with an undefeated record, won the final game 83 to 3, and were awarded the national college champion- ship title for our division.  We were elated and having a blast!  The bad news news was, after I went to the hospital and had various medical tests and x-rays, it turned out that I had been playing with a broken back.  I couldn't believe it when I saw the film from the MRI and heard the doctor say, "Keith, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but, if you suit up again to play football, there's a good chance that your next collision in the game may lead you to never walk again.  Son, your football career is over."  All of a sudden, I was confronted with a heartbreaking reality that the game I loved more than anything else in life, at the time, was no longer an option for me.  I immediately left the hospital, went back to the empty football stadium, walked onto the middle of the field, and collapsed in tears.  My hopes and dreams of playing in the next season of college were just, suddenly, gone.

I decided not to continue in college.  So, I packed up all of my things and drove back to where I lived during high school.  I remember I just felt numb after that, for a long time.

      After going through that season of depression, realizing how easily our entire identity can unexpectedly be stripped from us when we become wrapped up in one specific profession, I accepted the fact that I needed to let go of my shattered dream and refocus.  It was then that I realized how important it is to have a "back-up profession" just in case of a situation like I now found myself in.  For me, I was a drummer, and playing rock-n-roll music was the one thing I loved, next to football.  So I got together with some buddies I had played with in bands during high school, and I threw all of my passion into building on my music career... my second love.

As the result of my playing in local clubs, parties, etc. with a few DC-area rock bands over that next year, I began to develop a driving passion to do whatever it would take for me to progress to the next level in music, and earn a place in a full-time "touring" rock band.  I didn't know it at the time, but my music career, along with all that I had already been through, is what God would eventually use as the platform for my ministry.

After winning a spot with a full-time secular rock band, it didn't take me but a few years of being on the road until, I became disillusioned by that dead-end way of life.  One night, when I finally had a "gut full" of the rock-n-roll lifestyle and everything that went with it, I went to my hotel room instead of going to where the rest of the band members were partying, next door.  That was the night that I fell on my face before God, and I prayed and asked Jesus Christ into my heart to be the Lord and Savior of my life.  I had prayed for salvation as a boy, when I was eight years old, but this time I was praying to commit my whole life, and everything in me, to Christ that night.  Then, I prayed for a second request that I just K-N-E-W was so big that it would be impossible, even for God, to fulfill.  I asked to be the drummer of a "British Christian Rock band."  Ever since I was a kid, more than any other music, I loved rock-n-roll music that popular British Rock musicians and bands where known for!  I wanted to represent Christ in my music and, although I never heard of any "Christian Rock" band before, let alone "British Christian Rock" band, my dream gig would be to join a group just like that.

As a result of my "impossible" prayer request, I experienced a series of miracles that led me to the first-ever British Christian Rock group to come to America, "The Alwyn Wall Band" from London, England.  God did it!  He answered my impossible prayer request... and p-e-r-f-e-c-t-l-y.

Playing music and praising God on the road with Alwyn and the rest of the guys was a tremendous privilege and joy; we became like family, a band of Brothers in Christ, and always on the go.  Over the next year and a half of our touring the country, I began to have a strong desire to put down some roots.  We were meeting one tight-knit church group after another, joining them just long enough to play a concert or two, then we were hitting the road again to go to the next city and state.  I began to have the desire to belong to a Christian community and church family I could call my own.

What God was about to do next would redeem all of my constant moving from city to city, my playing music for all kinds of crowds (many who would never grace the building of a church), and my living in hotel rooms in locations where I had no ties.  He was preparing me to, soon, move from city to city to help Pastors establish new churches.  It all would soon come together like a well-made plan, despite me and as only God can.

Long story short, the passports, that Alwyn and the others had, were just months from expiring, meaning they would have to return to England or apply for American citizenship.  They would have no choice but to plan for their return home.  At that same proximity of time, I received a request to perform a founding role in a new church plant, that would lead to another new church plant, then another, and a fourth one, all of which would mean moving to four different cities within an 11-year period.

Each time I accepted an invitation, I gave up jobs, friends, physicians, vehicle mechanics, and many other things that I had to work very hard to establish each time at each location.  Every move, I would wonder if this one would be my last.

In 1991, all the moves, meetings, developing new friends and community support, and giving everything I had to help build the new churches began to weigh heavily on me.  I was growing more fatigued each day and, if you have ever suffered from fatigue, you know that it can evolve rapidly into debilitating depression if you aren't careful.  It takes a whole lot, sometime, to keep it in check and under control.

As a result of the intensity of what I was going through, I remember so clearly being overcome with it all, and laying in the floor, calling out to God for clarity.

It was then that I heard Him whisper to me saying, "Open your Bible to the maps that are in the back of the book."  When I did that, He whispered to me, "Now go to the map that says 'Paul's journey of evangelism'."  When I saw the map marking all of the places where Paul had gone to, for the sake of the Gospel of Christ, I began to weep.  I was immediately overcome with God's peace!  For the first time, I was made aware -by God Himself- that my life's path was laid out just as He had directed, even through those times when I wondered.  God had been leading me, all the way, on a journey of evangelism - just as He had done with Paul 2000 years ago.

Prophesy!

Just about a month after God provided me with His revelation about my life journey, He led me here to Hampton Roads, Virginia where He would bless me with something I had never been able to enjoy before - laying down "roots."  Finally, I had a home, a place where I would build long-term friendship circles, meet new folks who came to town to visit my community, find great contractors, mechanics, doctors, and all of the rest of what it takes to make a place "home."

Confirmation!

Just weeks after I began to settle into my new "home", I attended a prayer meeting with a new pastor friend, and several other Christian brothers I was getting to know.  We had been in prayer for about half an hour when my pastor friend raised up, looked over at me, and said that God had just given him a vision that he was supposed to share with me in the meeting, right then.  Of course, when someone says something like that to you, especially someone who you have recently met and have barely gotten to know, you tend to get a little uneasy.  However, knowing that I had not shared anything of my past travels, participation in church plants, or anything else of my history with him, and discerning that he was a wonderful and trustworthy man of God, I agreed that it was okay to share it.  The vision God gave him is one I think about often, and it went like this...

My pastor friend said that he was hovering above a hot, arid, windy desert.  When he looked straight down on the desert below him, he saw a fellow with a shovel digging a ditch about six feet wide and five feet deep.  He said it was amazing to watch as the man was diligently digging one shovel-full of sand after another, tossing each one up onto the sides of the ditch.  He went on to say that he watched this for quite a while before he saw a 3-foot-deep wall of water filling in the ditch behind the man, and following him at a distance of about 10 feet behind him as he dug.  He continued by saying how he began to notice the banks on both sides of the ditch gradually soaking up the water as it filled in behind the man digging.

The pastor said that, all of a sudden, he was being raised up even higher into the air, allowing him to have an even better "bird's-eye view" of the desert.  As soon as he looked down from this new height, he said that the ditch he had been watching the man dig went on continuously for miles and miles, curving and turning in a way that it didn't have any orderly fashion, or resemblance of form or definitive direction.  It was just "snaking" all across the desert, nonstop.  He said he also noticed that there were very few straight sections the man dug along the way but it was curved, all over the place.

What he said next was glorious!  He asked me, "Do you remember the water that was filling in behind the man as he dug?"  I said, "Yes."  He said, "Well, as the banks of the ditch became saturated with the gently, but constantly, flowing water it was soaking up, those banks began to yield countless plants, beautiful fruit trees, colorful bushes, and super-healthy vegetation of all kinds - all of them containing nourishment and healing that people needed as they lived there.  Most of the plants that I saw growing, with my own eyes, were varieties of plant life that were not familiar to me as anything I recognized or had ever seen anywhere on earth before.  They were growing and spreading all around.  All the while, every single plant was being fed by the pure water that filled the ditch as the man dug."

The next thing the pastor told me was how he saw people, looking like they were dying of thirst and malnutrition, begin to come from out of nowhere and start running to the banks of the ditch.  Their faces began to have expressions of joy, peace, and happiness.  "The scene was absolutely beautiful beyond words," he said.  The desert began filling up with the nourishing fruit and vegetable plants, and lots of healthy vegetation, and trees that gave shade to allow everyone who came to get out of the hot, scorching sun.

As all of this was happening, the pastor said he watched everyone as they got to the trees and water, and was struck by how they began laughing, skipping, and praising God!  Then, he said, "I felt myself beginning to descend from the heights where I had been.  As I was floating further from the sky, going gently toward the ground, I was also drawing closer to where the man was as he was digging.  His back was all I could see as he was digging, facing away from me.  When I got about ten feet from the man's back, all at once, he stood up and turned around.  That's when I saw that, Keith... IT WAS YOU!"

      The reason we are sharing this message, is in hopes that, something we have gone through, or are going through now, will encourage you to continue to persevere and "press Toward The Mark."  There's no coincidence that we've named this ministry Toward The Mark, Inc., based on the Scripture passage in Philippians 3.  This life on earth is a race, not a wedding dress room.  Keep running!  We want to emphasize to you, today, to KEEP ON GOING!  There's nothing worth you giving up.  Keep fighting!  Stay on the battlefield and in the fight!  Philippians 3:13-14, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.“

We would like to close with these words from Paul, from 2 Timothy 4:5-8, “But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.  For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.  I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:  Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.“

Thank you for staying connected with us, and following our blog every month throughout the year!  We appreciate you and pray you enjoy a wonderfully blessed week!  IN Christ Jesus,

Read and Re-read Blog:  It's the GREATEST MIRACLE You'll Ever See

To Show GOD BIG in a World that Sees Him small…  sums up the reason Keith stepped out in faith to focus on reaching the lost and strengthening believers everywhere, through Toward The Mark, Inc.  Keith and Brenda's prayer is that you will be encouraged and edified by the Secrets from God's Word that Keith recounts in our written and recorded products.  The complete collection of original podcasts, music, blogs, books, CDs, and other resources of Toward The Mark, Inc. are made possible by the prayer and financial contributions of the TTM Support Family.  We'd like to welcome you onboard TODAY!

We INVITE YOU to...  take advantage of our other Scripture-based tools to help as “We Press Toward the Mark…” of becoming "one" with our Heavenly Father:

~ "Keith Shealy & Toward The Mark" on Facebook

~  Keith Shealy's "Between The Lines" Podcast on Libsyn

~ "Sharing with you the Secrets God Whispers to me" teachings on our website 

CLICK HERE to make a secure tax-deductible contribution to help Toward The Mark, Inc. 
*Every gift you send helps, and we thank you for it!

Mail tax-deductible check donations made out to "Toward The Mark, Inc." to: P.O. Box 1152, Yorktown, VA 23692-1152.