It's time to catch-up

SteveO is feeling a bit better and has done some more unassisted walking....Yeah!

With everything SteveO has been through he has not failed to call me EVERY SINGLE DAY to give me his thoughts and share his quiet time moments with Jesus for this, supposedly, daily blog. Now I could use every excuse possible for not sharing these with you each day but I won't BUT I will tell you how the Lord has used SteveO's obedience and perseverance to keep me close to the Lord. You see we all can find excuses to put off hangin' out with the Lord or to minimize that time because of our hectic schedule...., what about His schedule? He created us, knit us together in our mother's womb, knows each hair on our head and loves us enough to send His Son to die a tortuous way and defeat death in order to wash us clean of our sins as if they never happened.

That being said, REJOICE, because we have total victory if we have a relationship with Jesus! He is The Way, The Truth and The Life so let's hang out with Him and I am sure we will fall deeper in love with Him! So, to catch up with the days that have slipped, here are 5 days worth of SteveO's DAILY blogs.

Mark 1:10-11 - "As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: 'You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.'"

Jesus models everything for us and here He is getting baptized. Not because He needed the affirmation of who He is but because we need that affirmation of who we are in Him. We are God's sons and daughters and through Jesus the Lord is well pleased with us. The words "torn open" remind us of when the temple curtain is "torn" at the crucifixion of Jesus symbolizing our direct access to the Lord because of the sacrifice of Jesus. The other thing to notice is that the "trinity" is united in one place for all to see and experience - The Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three parts, one God for us!

Luke 3:16 - "John answered them all, 'I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.'"

SteveO was led to another baptism Scripture. What blows us away is that Jesus tells us that John the Baptist was the greatest among men yet John makes it clear that he is unworthy to even untie the thongs of the sandals of Jesus. Jesus, if we really know Him, humbles us all because why should He love us the way He does? Why would He be crucified for me and my sins? Why is death defeated for me? Love never fails! We get baptized to publicly show that Jesus washes us clean of our sin, He forgives us when we go under the water then we come up and take that first breath we are a new creation, born-again, given a new heart to love Jesus first and foremost and our neighbor as ourself. It is all possible because of the Holy Spirit of Jesus that resides in us when we accept Jesus as our Savior...., that is total victory!

John 5:24 - "'I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.'"

These words spoken by Jesus is a promise He will not break. There is no condemnation in Christ and our old life is dead and The Life we have is Jesus. He is our hope, He is our foundation, He is with us to the very end of the age. If evil is trying to convince you otherwise, stop, take control over evil by claiming victory in Jesus...try it the evil will flee!

Psalm 16:1-6 - "Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge. I said to the Lord, 'You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.' As for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight. The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods. I will not pour out their libations of blood or take up their names on my lips. Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance."

SteveO has told us that when he is feeling down he turns to the psalms. The psalms are full of King David's pouring out of his heart to the Lord. Sometimes they start off sounding a bit like complaining but by their end they are full of praise for the Lord who is bigger than all of our touble and He will see us through trouble if we really lean on Him! SteveO knows that his lot is secure in Jesus, he knows that though his physical weakness makes things difficult God loves him and that means he has a delightful inheritance....guaranteed!

Psalm 140:6-8 - "O Lord, I say to you, 'You are my God.' Hear, O Lord, my cry for mercy. O Sovereign Lord, my strong deliverer, who shields my head in the day of battle - do not let their plans succeed, or they will become proud."

This world is full of people who are focused directly on themselves. We all get that way from time to time. We see the news or hear about things that are wrong and injust and it seems that so much of this evil is planned. We can cry out to the Lord as David does in this psalm. Cry out for the evil plans not to succeed, cry out for mercy BUT KNOWING we have total victory because the Lord is our strong deliverer and He does shield our heads in the battle. Sometimes appearances to our human eyes are not at all what God sees, that's why He is God and we are not....we need to have faith and trust in Him!!

Yeah, we are officially caught up with SteveO's daily blog. Please keep him in your prayers and stay tuned as we have a God who makes all things possible!

Pray for SteveO

I heard his voice just a few minutes ago. It is Sunday morning and my heart is quite heavy as I heard SteveO talk to me I know he is hurting today.

For those of you who have not heard about SteveO there is an extensive background in a blog early in June. A quick review is that SteveO's brain tumor was found to have cancer in it. He has been cancer free for approx. 14 years. The right side of his body has been paralyzed since his brain operation 14 years ago but he gets around just fine. Now here recently he started having lots more seizures, they tested him found the cancer had returned and put him through a procedure called the "gamma-knife." Since that procedure his seizures have been less but he is in pain with head pressure and is quite weak, which really bugs him. In the midst of all of this he turned 45, he has a wife and son that have been through all of this with him and some great friends that love him.

SteveO is a big part of Total Victory Ministries and he was to do the daily blog. Since his recent developments I do the blog per SteveO's phone calls. The intention of this blog is to reveal how Total Victory is possible with Jesus and SteveO just gives his thoughts, prayers, Scripture readings and, basically, shares what he and the Lord spoke about during his quiet time with Him!

To know ths man is in pain, uncomfortable, and frustrated is tough for us around him because we love him so much. Yes, we cannot explain why SteveO has to go through this but I will tell you that lots of people in the medical world have been touched by the Lord through SteveO's actions, words and prayers! The other thing that SteveO reminds us all of is that God loves him more than we can think or imagine, he reminds us that if Jesus could bear the tortuous cross for him then he knows that with Jesus he can get through anything. SteveO is the living example of Total Victory!

Today's quiet time with the Lord led him to Isaiah 9:6 -

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

This promise was given to us by the Lord hundreds of years before it happened through the prophet Isaiah. It is talking about the coming of Jesus the Christ. Read the Bible and you will experience life changing things. God's word is true, He never breaks His promises, Jesus died for our sins and He defeated death and in Him we have total victory!

I am a slacker

Yes, it has been a couple of days since my last blog but here it is. SteveO kind of had a rough couple of days experiencing a few seizures but the great news is that he was able to walk without assistance! He actually made it to the mail box and back which is a huge, cool thing....praise You Lord!!!!

This quiet time reflection from SteveO actually happened a couple of days ago but I felt that instead of skipping it and getting caught up, God's timing is perfect so someone out there probably needs this.

It is Jesus speaking to the Pharisees, (the religion police back then, who were more concerned with how they were perceived as they lived out the laws and were afraid of Jesus because He was jeopardizing their gig).

John 8:19-25

"Then they asked him, 'Where is your father?' 'You do not know me or my Father,' Jesus replied. 'If you knew me, you would know my Father also.' He spoke these words while teaching in the temple area near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his time had not yet come."

"Once more Jesus said to them, 'I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.'"

"This made the Jews ask, 'Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, 'Where I go, you cannot come?'"

"But he continued, 'You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins.'"

"'Who are yoiu?' they asked.

"'Just what I have been claiming all along,' Jesus replied."

The Bible is God-breathed. It is the foundation of truth. It is the best place to go to get to know Jesus..., check it out!

Pray on and God bless!!!

His Wounds

The phone message from SteveO was one of great urgency. He wanted to make sure I got this message to pass it along to you all. In hangin' out with the Lord, SteveO felt comforted, humbled and very thankful for the grace and mercy God has given and showed him. It was awesome that God led SteveO to Isaiah 53.

So here is Isaiah 53:5 --

"But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed."

These words were inspired by the Lord and written by the prophet Isaiah well before Jesus did all of these things for me and you!

In today's society, we who follow Jesus and know Him to be The Way are sometimes unsure of how we should share Him with others. We need to know that the Bible is The Word of God, it has never been proved wrong. We need to acknowledge that many, many people drift through life looking for and trying to understand truth. We also need to accept that our time on this earth is short and knowing The Truth means knowing where you are going.

Please, if you know The Truth share Him with others. If you don't know The Truth, send us a comment...,we'll share.

No Matter What

I say "Thank You Lord, for using SteveO to bring us words inspired by You!"

In SteveO's quiet time he felt he was to share some words from a devotional he has....

"No matter what decisions we face there is cause for optimism for the future. Many people around the world suffer under oppressive governments. When access to God's word is denied people live in hopelessness. Political oppression, economic instability, and social limitations work together to sap public and private morals. People seldom smile, store fronts lack color and even clothing is drab. Everything can appear grey and bleak when people feel they are without possibilities, but when God's news of Jesus is available to people, both young and old, it will bring a gleam to their eye and put a spring in their step in spite of otherwise unchanged circumstances."

Pray on for SteveO, rejoice in your Total Victory and God bless!!

T-shirts can be inspirational

SteveO is still not quite up to physically doing the blog but his drive in getting it done is as strong as ever! I am hugely blessed by doing this blog as the words and attitude of SteveO are inspiring, thought-provoking, and Christ-centered.

SteveO was in his quiet time with the Lord and was prompted to recall a t-shirt he has. I think this t-shirt is the reason we can wear a t-shirt with a smiling face on it.....

"Jesus sweat blood over the paths that lay before Him. He could have escaped His brutal execution at anytime, but He didn't. He stayed there for you!"

Wow, thank you Lord!!

Pray on for SteveO, give thanks to the Lord in all things and Do Not Let evil Try To Steal The Kwoledge That You Have TOTAL VICTORY!

Trust who?

So, SteveO tells me his legs just are not gaining strength the way he thinks they should, his head still has a pressure headache and he is gets tired if he does even a little work. Then he said, "Yeah, I can't figure it out, but I know the Great Physician knows and I trust Him."

It reminded me of Proverbs 3:5

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."

Boy we all know that life is full of twists and turns. If we want our paths to be straightened then we need to trust in the Lord. Why is it that we can read His word, praise Him, pray to Him and see Him do things in our midst but when it comes to trusting Him with all our heart we have a tough time?

We have total victory in Christ - Trust Him!

Be Still

SteveO called late last night cause he had to get this blog to me so I could get it out to you all. Though SteveO is going through some very traumatic health issues he is a great example of perseverance, obedience, integrity and love!

SteveO reminded me to remind all of you that God loves you and that is an amazing thing to know! We need to honor Him! We need to be in His word if we want to get to know Him more, we need to meditate on His word and sit in silence at His feet and as we do we will feel joy, we will want to praise Him, we will sense the Holy awe and reverence, we will feel His unconditional love and we will hear Him.

From the Lord to SteveO to all of you -

Psalm 46:10

"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."

Let's all pray on and rejoice because He is God!

Short and Sweet

SteveO has this hanging on the wall in his house. Another great friend was visiting and praying with SteveO. At the end of the visit SteveO said, "I just don't know what to post for my blog today." Then the friend pointed to the wall and SteveO said, "Ah, THAT"S IT!"

How right on is this?

Good morning,
This is God!
I will be handling all of your problems today~I will not need your help!
So, have a Good Day.

Pray on and know there is Total Victory!

Psalm for and from SteveO

I spoke with SteveO for a little while and he had 3 seizures through the night but they were cut short by using a technique the doctors told him about that works in conjunction with the implant that he has to minimize them as well. He told me the 3 seizures were in his mouth and never went any further.

He also reported that since the "gamma-knife" procedure he has kind of an inner cranial pressure that he feels from the left-side of his head to the top and, at this point, he still can't seem to get rid of it. SteveO also told me that he experiences a fogginess in his brain from time to time but thinks it might be mild seizures. He went on to say, "God is my grace and I lean on Him very much and He is my rock."

As we wrapped up our visit SteveO said, "If Jesus could go through all of that pain when He was crucified for me and my sins then, really, I have nothing to complain about." He then sweetly, confidently and excitedly told me what words the Lord has given him lately to comfort, encourage and strengthen his relationship with his Creator AND he said make sure to put this on the blog for everyone.

Show me your ways, O LORD,
teach me your paths;
guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long.

You can find these words to all of us in a Bible, Psalm 25. The words in the Bible are God-breathed and they are alive, it is where you will find total victory today.

SteveO Sunday

Hello Everyone -

I just spoke with SteveO's mom and he is recovering well from the "gamma-knife" procedure. He has not had a seizure since the procedure (Friday, June 8) which is a huge blessing but this mornig he is very tired and is sleeping in a bit.

It was great to hear his mother speak about SteveO and how she loves him. Then we encouraged each other in the Lord as we both commented how we know that God loves us more than we love each other and how if it weren't for the foundation of hope we have in Him we don't know what we would do.

It is off to church for me and my family to praise our Savior, give thanks to our Redeemer, and be comforted by our Friend! Life has twists, turns, ups, downs, good and bad but make no mistake His words are true and never been broken so reach out to Him and live a life of total victory!

SteveO 4

Yes, I know it is Saturday, June 9 but still cathcing up with all of this. On Friday, June 8, SteveO's "gamma-knife" procedure went well. He went through it fine and was resting last night when I checked.

We all come to a crossroads at some point. Where we go from there is crucial. Check it out Jer. 6:16.

Pray on and celebrate Total Victory!

SteveO 2

Though it is Saturday, June 9, I am playing catch up with my reporting of SteveO and his blog input. This is actually from June 7, 2007.

SteveO called to tell me he read something that he wanted to share with all of you.

- Trusting God has been described as a sort of spiritual super glue. It doesn't take very much of it to make a big difference!

Either you are glued to God or not. How about you?

Pray on for SteveO and God bless!!

SteveO 1

Total Victory - What does that mean to you?

Here at totalvictorytoday.com we are blessed to have a strong, devoted group that is focused on using all forms of media to entertain, reveal the Truth and show people the Way to experience the Life of total victory. The team member that is the director of this blog is a guy we call SteveO.

In the future SteveO will be writing this blog himself but currently I am doing it with direct input from SteveO via telephone calls and face to face visits. The focus of this blog is to encourage people in their daily life by reminding them that they have a purpose, that God doesn't make mistakes, that He gives us a way to get to know Him through His word, that no matter what the circumstances look like to us He is the Creator and loves each of us more than anything we can fully comprehend, (grab a Bible and check-out John 3:16).

That all being said, I want to give you some background on SteveO. He is 45 years old, has a wife and son and is, at this very moment, preparing to go through a procedure called the "gamma-knife." The procedure is designed to focus approx. 201 beams of intense, light on one spot for a certain amount of time in order to kill and/or stunt a growing tumor/cancer. After a specialized MRI, SteveO will have a half of a football helmet looking apparatus screwed into his head, (he will be numbed), and then for approx. 30-45 minutes he will need to be as still as possible as the "gamma-knife" does it's thing. Our prayer is that the Lord will use this procedure to kill the growing cancerous tumor that has returned to SteveO's brain.

Back in December of 1991, SteveO was a guy riding a wave of success, according to the world's standards, with a thriving, profitable business, a nice home/ranch, a strong marriage and a young son. It was in the month of December of 1991 that SteveO was diagnosed with a brain tumor and wasn't given a whole lot of hope for any more life or any more life that he was used to.

In May of 1992 at UCLA SteveO survived a brain surgery that removed the core of the tumor but the "fingers" that had grown out of the core were left. The surgery was a success but the recovery was slow, painful and as time revealed the right side of SteveO's very athletic, very strong body was and would remain largely paralyzed and simple tasks like talking and eating had to be relearned.

During the course of recovery SteveO endured physical pain and the emotional pain of learning that his business had been deviously taken from him by trusted associates and the income that sustained his family was now gone so besides his wife and son having to go through his illness they would all have to endure the process of relocating as well.

By October of 1992 SteveO was at the bottom. His once strong body and entrepreneurial mind could not get he or his family out of this fix. Some people from a church had come by to visit from time to time and it was one of those times when SteveO found The Way, met The Truth and began to experience The Life! He asked Jesus to be his Lord and Savior, his Redeemer, his Friend, his All and All! And Jesus who loves us all beyond what we can think or imagine said "YES!"

SteveO will tell you that evil does not like when we know Jesus. Evil will do what it can to convince that Jesus is not real, is not there, did not die for our sins, did not defeat death by rising from the grave, is not seated at the right hand of the Father and is not coming back. Evil deceives and tries to cloud our vision. SteveO will tell you that on a couple of occassions evil fooled him too.

Still in recovery mode at his home SteveO was fooled into feeling defeated and deceived into thinking his family would be better off in all kinds of ways if he was gone. SteveO tried taking his own life a couple of times but in both cases someone discovered what he was doing and was able to stop him, (thak you Lord). Those church representatives sat with, prayed with and read with SteveO and his family. SteveO was able to call on Jesus to defeat evil's deceiving schemes, he learned that Jesus wanted a love-relationship with him, he clung to the promises of Jesus knowing that he would never be alone again and he became so full of joy that he began to speak to others of Jesus and actually began to radiate/shine wth the light of Christ.

15 years have passed. SteveO and his family live in a quaint home surrounded by animals of all sorts. He repairs sprinklers, digs holes and other "honey-do's," but since his right side still, for the most part, fails him, his left arm, hand and teeth work exceedingly well together. We call his left hand "the claw" because of it's tremendous strength and useability. He cannot drive but the man gets around.

So many folks of all ages, individually and in group settings, have heard SteveO's gravelly voice, (because of the surgery and because of a special implant he has that reduces the amount and severity of the seizures he has), tell of how blessed he is to know that Jesus loves him and his family and how he knows that the ups and downs of his life are to be used to point people to his Creator.

Well, it was just a few weeks ago now when the seizures became worse and as SteveO told us "they felt different." After many tests we got the news that the cancer was back. This was about the same time that we had felt led to begin Total Victory Ministries and that SteveO would help with the web site and do the blogging.

SteveO's right side is even weaker now and he has to be assisted to get around. When we were in the hospital and I was holding SteveO's head in my hands and praying in his ear for the Lord to calm his body during an intense seizure God reminded me that He loves SteveO more than we do and he wants us all to shine His light wherever He puts us. The Lord underscored this as SteveO was coming out of the seizure. SteveO looked up and noticed a new nurse and began asking about her life and in just a few seconds we learned that her brother battles seizures as the result of a severe head injury and when SteveO heard this he pointed at us in the room, including himself, and assured the nurse we would begin praying for her brother. SteveO was being the lamp on a stand in the midst of his seizure, (at this point the seizures are quite painful, SteveO told me once that from 1-10 in pain they were pegging the 10), shining the light of Christ to this nurse. Yes, God loves SteveO more than any of us AND He loves us the same.

During his stay in the hospital SteveO shared the Lord's joy with lots of people. I would come in and when nurses, physical therapists, doctors, orderlies, maitenance workers or whomever found out I was a friend they would light up and tell me about how wonderful SteveO is and how they are praying for him and how he would be praying for them.

A couple of days before the "gamma-knife" procedure SteveO wanted to make sure that I would pass along what he had read and felt God impressing on him to share on the blog so here you go --

From the Lord through SteveO to all of us on June 6, 2007

-- The more intimately we know God through His word, the more resolute and more successful we can be in the face of evil.


SteveO knows he has Total Victory Today because he knows The Way, The Truth and The Life, he has Jesus. Do you?



Stay tuned for more, pray on for SteveO and God bless!!

It's all new

It's all new

Stepping away from my post as director of adult ministries at Fallbrook Pres. and following where I feel I am supposed to be and developing Total Victory Ministries is exciting, nerve-racking, faith-building and a wee bit tiring. Today, the all-new Total Victory Today blog is up and the beginnings of totalvictorytoday.com will be up in the next several minutes.... I hope.

Total Victory Ministries is to use all forms of media to entertain, reveal the Truth and show people the Way to experience the Life of Total Victory!

One of the initial projects is producing Crossroads TV. It is a television program the whole family could watch. Think of it as a faith-based Tonight Show. Fun, stupid comedy, man on the street segments, music, and personal stories that always reveal the Truth and show people the Way to experience the Life of Total Victory! We have done one show and it aired nationally on the then PAX network. Be looking for it in local areas and check it out on totalvictorytoday.com and/or crossroadstv.net.

Someone from our staff will be checking and posting this blog, hopefully, daily. This should be a place to share the amazing things the Lord has done in and through our lives and yours. A place to discuss Scripture passages. A place to ask questions and get answers based on the Truth. A place to discover and fall deeper in love with Jesus!

Keep us in your prayers, let us know how we can pray for you, God bless and know you have Total Victory Today!