Month: August 2014

What should we say…


Christians tend to get tongue-tied when they are telling others about Jesus and it does happen to pastors as well. When Paul and Silas when to the Berean Jews, they accepted the gospel with gladness:

10That very night the believers sent Paul and Silas to Berea. When they arrived there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. 11And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth. 12As a result, many Jews believed, as did many of the prominent Greek women and men. (Acts 17: 10-12)

The way that they accepted and searched the Scriptures is exactly the way that we should be every day with the Word of God. The more frequently you read and study the Bible, more of it will get into your mind and you won’t have to memorize it. It will just be there waiting to be used. It will also give you a greater understanding of God and His ways to “search the scriptures” because in doing so, you will be learning about God more and more.

Should we be more forceful or pushy with our faith, trying to convert anyone that we can? Absolutely not! Yes, we need to be able to tell others and defend the reason for our faith in what we believe and Who we believe in, but being zealous for our faith to the extreme is not necessary. Jesus wasn’t that way and we don’t need to be either. All that we need to do is tell others about why we believe in Jesus and why, the Holy Spirit will take that seed and make it grow.

God’s Word doesn’t come back to Him void of the purpose for which it was sent out. It always accomplishes that which He wills for it to do. Can we be better witnesses? Yes, with the help of Jesus and the Spirit of Truth. Why can’t we do it on our own strength? Because doing it on your own is not the way that it is done! If that were the case, Jesus wouldn’t have needed to come and die on the cross. In our own strength, we could keep the Law and work our way toward salvation, but we can’t!

We are too weak to be able to resist the temptations of daily living without the Holy Spirit in our lives and Jesus’ righteousness is the Only righteousness that is able to cover our sins. God loves us enough to know all of these things about us, yet He still sent His Son to die for us so that we will be able to come into His presence.

I am not saying that people can’t be morally good and do some worthy and good things even without knowing Jesus because they can. It is because of the Law that God wrote into our being that we know right from wrong and also we learned it from our parents and grandparents. So, yes, even people who believe in other gods or no god at all can do good things…morally right things even. The problem comes when you think that your “good works” are good enough to cover your sins and get you into Heaven, because they are not.

God is perfectly Holy and since He is, do you think that you can just walk up to His house and let yourself in? Do you think that you could do this at any residence of someone that you don’t even know? Of course you couldn’t and you wouldn’t let anyone into your house either if you did not know them. That is only a tiny part of why God can’t and won’t allow you to “work” your way into Heaven. He has given it to you as a gift and it is available to everyone in the same way, all that you need to do is accept it and believe it. That is it.

Life ‘on the outside’ is scary


Normally, I write something in the morning to put here but this post struck a note within me and I hope that it touches your heart too.

GodGirl's avatarIt's a God thing...

In the 1994 movie The Shawshank Redemption, a character named Red (played by Morgan Freeman) speaks to new inmate Heywood (William Sadler) about a prisoner who’s been serving there a long time…

“The man’s been in here fifty years, Heywood. Fifty years! This is all he knows. In here, he’s an important man. He’s an educated man. Outside, he’s nothin’! Just a used-up con with arthritis in both hands. Couldn’t even get a library card if he applied. You see what I’m saying?
These walls are funny. First you hate ’em, then you get used to ’em. Enough time passes… you get so you depend on them.
They send you here for life, and that’s exactly what they take. The part that counts, anyway.”

ShawshankRedemptionMoviePoster

The film is a fascinating insight into the impact of imprisonment. It shows how, even when ‘free’, some inmates prefer their old life. They’re so…

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He is light of the world!


In John chapter one in verses one through five it says:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”

John was speaking of Jesus Himself Who came into our world as the Son of God to bring light to the world, and yet the world still doesn’t want to perceive that light. It seems that more and more people are turning away and rejecting Him and the message that was brought through Him, yet this too was foretold. People during this time will decide to follow others or their own beliefs, whatever they might be. It is reported in the news every day about some who are claiming to be Jesus. Some have been in the news this year, some last year, but there will be many more false Christs. They lead others astray with them believing in the lies being told, and yet some of them have great followings, why?

The time is coming soon that people will see a leader who claims to be someone who he is not, yet millions will believe in him. Only, the one that people will see will not be the returning Jesus, but an anti-Christ. Someone who will unite the world and its religions under his rule and for a time everyone will be at peace.

Jesus is the only One who can bring true and lasting peace to each of us and to the world and He will return, but when He returns there will be no denying it that it really is Him! Believe in Him and in His Word and ask Him to come into your heart and change your life! Asking Jesus into your heart is the beginning of your life, your eternal life in Him.

Why do so many people clamor and fight against Christianity? Because He is the Truth and the Life from God the Father and people don’t want to hear the truth nor believe it. Why? Because people want to have a “god” of their own making, whether they go to church or whether they are believers or not. They don’t want to truly believe in the God of the Bible? Because the Truth that is in it is too hard for many. They try to mold their “god” in the image of man, and not believe in the One Who created them and the entire universe because their minds…our minds can’t conceive of a God Who truly loves each of us and has from the beginning of time itself!

The Truth is in the Bible, in the Word and in Jesus. Read, pray and learn of the One Who has always loved you and wants to know you and for you to know Him. Give your heart to Jesus and the deception that is coming into the world will be easy for you to resist..if you give your heart to Him. Learn

God’s creation is beautiful!


Have you ever noticed a butterfly or a hummingbird? How wonderfully made they are and the beauty in their creation and God made them that way. Just as He made each of us beautiful in our own right and also as He intended for us to be. Adding to our bodies or taking away from them, doesn’t really change us because the person that each of us really is happens to be the one that God sees. The one that our soul or spirit is inside our hearts, not the one that is on the surface for the world to see.

Also, when we decide to become a Christian by asking Jesus to come into our hearts, the change is miraculous and on-going…until we reach our perfect home and place in Him which is in Heaven.

You know, there are times that we all see and feel things differently from day-to-day, but creation is still the same. It is all around us and we are part of it but most people tend to ignore it and take it for granted. Why? Because the sun comes up and goes down and the moon rises at night and sets in the morning. Everything that is going on around us has been going on for hundreds, if not thousands of years in one form or another. Granted, the newest technology might not have been there, but even in the days of pharaoh they had messengers to take messages across the kingdom, even if it wasn’t instant like it is today.

Your life today, regardless of whether you believe in Jesus or not, is in God’s hands. If you have felt His calling on your life or your heart and have not answered Him, why not? Just because some teacher or philosopher tells you that “God doesn’t exist, He is just a way for primitive man to make sense of his world”, don’t believe that! If you wish to, I can’t stop you. But, the point is this: Jesus came  and died for your sins, whether you wanted it or not! The only way to get to Heaven is to ask Jesus to come into your life and your heart and cleanse you and make you whole.

Some people might ask me, “What do you mean, “make me whole”? Well, you know that little feeling that you have had like something was missing and you couldn’t quite figure out what it was? It is Jesus. That empty feeling inside that you have had…some of you for a long time, is the place where He is supposed to be. Ask Him to complete your transformation into His image and bring His grace and goodness into your life. Because if you don’t, that empty feeling won’t go away and it might feel even bigger at times. If you reject His call on your life long enough, He will just let you go on with your life. Jesus doesn’t push or force you to do anything, He wants and needs for you to come willingly to Him and ask Him to come in with you.

God has loved you from the beginning of time because He has known each of us from the beginning. He knows what we had for lunch two years ago last Friday and He knows when you will die. There is nothing hidden from Him, no matter how dark the place where you “hide” might be. He loves you and is waiting for you to decide to come with Him on the rest of your journey. The trail that He travels on is not very wide, but He is able to take care of you all along the way, all that He asks is that you follow Him. Don’t step off the path, just follow Him. Please consider your life not just as you are now but in the eternal life that you can have with Him in Heaven.

Violence is not the answer


I am a pastor and a Christian and I happen to be caucasian, but beside the fact that the person who was shot was African-american, what good is going to come out of this violence in Missouri? If the kid who got shot was white, would there be such violence and rioting going on? Yes, there would have been some crying and maybe a lawsuit, but what good is going to come out of the days of violence that is going on now?

I have to ask, “What would Jesus do in this situation?”

I know that my culture is different and my history is different, but what is the point to all of the fires and looting and shootings or whatever else is going on up there? Will this ease the mother’s pain? It won’t bring the young man back, but it will polarize the country yet again over a racial issue that shouldn’t be an issue at all. Not today! Stirring up a nest of hornets is not something which anyone would rationally do, and stirring up racial anger and hatred doesn’t accomplish anything except cause more hatred and anger.

There is no rational reason for any of this, except to gain publicity for some people and cause more pain for others. Seek God and His answers for this, not an answer that would thrill Satan himself! The anger and violence that is being shown in the news looks more like some of his doing than righteous anger that some are calling it.

“Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness”, this should be the cry behind those seeking justice. It shouldn’t sound like a call to war, which is what it looks like. I am praying for a peaceful solution to this and all of you should be too.

We are more than conquerors


We are MORE than conquerors through Christ, no matter what this world throws at us! In Ephesians 1:16-21 says this in the Amplified Bible:

“I do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. 17. [For I always pray to] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] knowledge of Him, 18 By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones), 19 And [so that you can know and understand] what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength, 20 Which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His [own] right hand in the heavenly [places], 21 Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named [above every title that can be conferred], not only in this age and in this world, but also in the age and the world which are to come.”

God has given to each of us as believers, the victory through His power and through Christ who also conquered this world and the one who is in this world! You might say, “Victory over what?”!

Victory over your circumstances, whether they are involving money, loss of a job or a loved one, depression, alcoholism, drugs, illness, whatever it may be. Paul wrote the scripture above to the Ephesians because that is what he prayed for them to experience in their lives, not just some of the time but every day! I am not saying that God will heal all of your sickness or your addictions overnight, but He will comfort you and be there with you through the process of getting over them and through the healing process.

Sometimes God will heal you or me when we claim that healing through faith in Him and His power in our lives. But, Satan is going to try to derail your faith and stop any victory that you gain over his demonic powers which enslaved you to that illness or addiction. He will tell you that it isn’t possible, that God doesn’t care about you and that God won’t do anything for you that you can’t do on your own. Those are lies from the master of lies!!

God does love you. He does care about you and your problems and He will make a way for you to get through them! If you have given your heart and your life to Jesus and asked Him to come into your life and change your life into what He sees in you, then you can make it through all of the things that are going on, no matter how bad they are! It may require that you are killed by someone who is not a Christian, but you are the conqueror because as a Christian you have a sure victory through Christ and a place..an everlasting home in Heaven with Jesus!

We see and hear every day that more bad things are happening in the world because of hatred and violence in places from America to the Middle East to Africa, but these are ‘birth pains” of a world that is coming to a close. Look up and pray, expecting Jesus to come because He will. Your salvation and redemption draws closer every day!

Pottery or clay?


Have you become hard as fired pottery or are you still able to be changed like clay? In God’s hands we are as clay, in that we are being changed and molded into the likeness of Jesus. This is the way that your life as a Christian is supposed to be, but do we allow God the control in our lives to make us into what we should be? I don’t mean that God will make you something that you cannot be, because He knows what you can be and what you can do! He can mold you into the perfect instrument that can do exactly what you are intended to do and to be!

Will He create in you something that you shouldn’t be? Of course not! God is the Perfect Potter because He made us in His image and He wants us to do His will so why can’t we do this? It is mostly because we have our own free will and we can choose to be and do His will or not. Why on earth would God allow us to do that? Because, if it is not our choice to be His and do His will then we are not showing our love for Him. If He forced us to do His will, then we would be no more than mindless beings that have to do His will regardless. How would your life be if you had no choice in what you did? How would you feel about it? No one in the world would like that at all nor would they enjoy it to any extent, that is why God gave us free will.

He gave the angels free will to choose as well, which is why there was a rebellion in Heaven so long ago. God never intended for creation, mankind or angel, to be required to blindly do His will. He wanted each of us to choose and to be able to choose, because by choosing we are showing our love for Him just as He showed His love for us in the grace and mercy that He gives to us each day.

What about Christianity?


What is wrong with this idea?

At some point in history, a man comes along which does a lot of good things and teaches others to do so as well. Is it possible that we misunderstood his message? Have we dismissed him as being a good man or a prophet, instead of being the Son of God?

The answer to all of these questions is: YES!!

Why do we look at this Person in history as such a bad influence on society? It has been said that those who believe in Him are dumber and not as in touch with today as those who don’t. Also, that “Christians” are clinging to a crutch that weakens them and society. Most of the scientists of the past couple of centuries WERE Christians! They were looking for a way to prove God’s existence and His majesty in the world around them, not tear His influence out of the pages of history! I choose to believe in God and in His Son, if that offends you FINE. It is just MY belief, if you don’t want to believe in Him then that is your choice.

The thing about the argument that God doesn’t exist is that nobody can prove it, just as they can’t actually prove how planet’s form or evolution itself. Yes, there are fossils in the ground, yes it supposedly takes “millions or billions of years” to do these things like making a planet or evolving from a single cell into a whale or any other creature. Theory is good and I accept them even though I don’t agree with them. Trying to disprove a theory is like running into a brick wall, nothing gets done except a lot of bruised and hurt feelings.

The thing is…you can’t disprove God either. When the time comes, all men will know that He is God and will acknowledge it, whether they believe it or not. You will not be forced into believing it but you will bow to Him, just as Satan will. It seems to upset some people a lot about Christian beliefs even when they claim that they don’t believe in what Christians believe. Why should it bother you so much that my beliefs are not the same as yours? I don’t get in your face because of it!

I don’t care what beliefs that you have as long as you can leave me alone to worship as I please, then I will do the same for you. I will pray for you and those that you are trying to change to your side, but I am not going to get in your face about it. It is a fact that God loves you and everyone else just as much as He loves me and causing a fight or a war over it won’t change it. Before we get into the evil discussion I will just say that unless there was good in the world, nobody would know what evil was in the first place.

God did not create evil. It existed and came into existence because of the ability of angels ability to choose whether to serve God or not. Pride began to lift them up and  they wanted more and didn’t want to be servants of God any longer. Satan wanted to be equal with God and I doubt that if  he had attained that goal, he wouldn’t have been satisfied with it. Now that he knows that he doesn’t have long to deceive humanity, he is doing as much damage as possible to the Earth and to humanity as he can. Through wars, disease, weather, “global warming”, you name it and Satan will use it, if it will turn people away from God or make them blame Him for the problems in the world today.

The love of God and His grace is the only blessing that we have that is keeping it from getting any worse right now. Our world will be in much worse shape when the leader comes along that brings “peace and safety” to the Middle East, because it will only last for a few years and then his true nature will show itself to the world.

Problems today


Tracy Eldridge's avatarA blog about living well and successful today

What kind of problems are we experiencing today? At home, in the good old USA, it’s the same old stuff. Nobody is satisfied with their lives and they want something that everyone around them has, only they don’t want to work for it or have to pay for it. The rest of the world seems to be, at least in the Middle East, trying to kill everyone around them because they don’t have the same religious beliefs. Still, not much new. So, what can we do to make things better? Individually, not much actually, but if we combine our efforts with prayer and some help from God then maybe the world just might change a little.

It won’t happen overnight, but eventually it will. After all, it seems that everyone has been waiting for decades for the so-called “age of Aquarius” to begin, what is a few more days or…

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When you are down


1623771_736809902997332_1536594980_nThe times that I have been down in my life and not realized what I was going through, I don’t think that I could count them. I was very likely depressed more than I thought but I just thought that I was having a bad day. In truth, I was having a bad day but it also involved being at school or being with my family which really didn’t help much and sometimes made it worse.

They tried to help cheer me up or make me laugh. It worked sometimes, but more often than not it didn’t and it just compounded the problem. Family members, Mom, grandmother and grandfather and friends from school all would try to “help” in their own ways but the depression was still there, sometimes it was less cumbersome than before but often I would just lie and tell them that I was OK, and we would get on with the day.

True, that was not the right way to handle it but I didn’t know that at the time and neither did you. The point that I am making here is not one to bring up old habits or memories from this past week or in your life. My point on this site is to point you to the One person Who can help heal the dark areas of your mind and bring you back into the light of day. He won’t force you to worship Him and I won’t bring up the sinful life that we have all lived, because you know what you have done or what you may be doing today.

God loves you so much that He allowed His Son to give His life on a cross in order to take the penalty for your sins, regardless of how bad you think that you are. He came so that you can have an abundant life, one that is full of purpose and hope, not depression and thoughts of death and despair. I have had them myself, but I have conquered them through Jesus and His strength not on my own.

Give your life and REAL purpose, follow Jesus and do what the other disciples did…make disciples of others, become His disciple not because you are required to but because you are grateful that you have the chance. God has a place for you in eternity, and all that you or I have to do to get there is to believe in the saving power of Jesus and what He did for all of us on that cross.