Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
1 John 3:16 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/1jn.3.16.KJV
Month: October 2018
What are you doing for God’s kingdom?
Do you just live your life day to day and never think about it? Why would you do that?
God has given you so much in this life, why not give something back? Our lives could be so much more fulfilled and fulfilling if we would take His message with us every day! So, what is holding you back?
There are some reasons why many of us don’t live our lives as we could. Some of those reasons have a lot to do with feeling rejected or being looked at as a freak or a Christian.
So what’s wrong with that?
God can use us as His representatives just as He did with the disciples. Granted, nearly all of them were martyred while taking His message to the world, but they went to be with the Lord! Wouldn’t a trip to heaven be better than a trip to Mexico? No crime, no death and no disease for eternity! No place on Earth can beat that!
We are here to be His people and to do His will until our lives are finished. If your ideas or your “job” is better than that and has better benefits I’d like to know what you do for a living? While it is true that we have to be taken to Heaven to enjoy eternal retirement from the problems of this life, I don’t really see a problem with that.
Seek Him in your life and give your heart to HIm because He is the ultimate Boss that you could ever have.
Just a reminder…
Don’t forget Who made the Earth, the ocean and the Moon too! God did all of this so we would know Him.
Hold fast to your faith!
Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
Hebrews 10:23 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/heb.10.23.KJV
A message of freedom
Jesus came to set the whole world free from the bondage of sin, and yet today people are still seeking to discredit the church and the Bible and even disbelieve in God Himself. Even when there are proofs all around them of God’s majesty and His love toward us. Scientists have proven this with the fact that our solar system is so perfectly balanced in gravity and in the distances of the planets from the Sun.
Yet, there are many in the world who don’t want to see God’s Hand of Design in these things. Even the astronomers and other scientists who can calculate the intricate details which hold our solar system and our galaxy together. They may recognize that without a Designer to put these things together, most of the universe would just fly apart but they don’t want to admit that there is a Creator like the Bible says.
Our freedom from sin and its consequences came to us by the price which was paid by the Son of God and His reward of eternal life is with Him and for those who believe. Yet, most of the world rejects His teaching or even the fact that He existed at all. Why? Because the world doesn’t like the very idea of absolute Truth which is found in the Bible! It is not because the Bible teaches that there is only one way, one path to eternity. It is because the path that is True comes from Judea and from the Jewish people in Israel. Every war and skirmish and terrorist action in the past forty years which has happened in the Middle East is a reflection of this.
In reality, it is a family squabble which has been going on since the time of Abraham. His two sons have been at odds with and at war with each other in some fashion for this whole time. If you watch the news much, the whole world is focused on the conflict in the Middle East in some form or fashion. God is keeping His attention on Israel and on those who bless them or those who curse them in any way. But, the world doesn’t see it this way.
Unless you are a student of the Bible and look at the news through that lens, most of the prophecy about this time is lost. Much of the world doesn’t look at current events and see them as the fulfillment of God’s Word, but those of us who do see a very different picture from what most of the news media tells us. I realize that there will be a few who will read this and ask “Why is this so important now?”; it is important because we are very close to that time which Jesus called “the end of the age”.
Our time here is growing shorter and life will not get any easier for anyone, Christian, Jew, Muslim or any other religion in the world. The birth pains which Jesus spoke of include all of the things which we are experiencing even now and they will only grow more powerful as the time gets closer. When Jesus sends for His church and it is taken up, these wars and famines and other problems will only get worse from that point on until the Tribulation is finished.
Beware that no man deceives you about Who the Christ is during this time, because if they are saying that he is in the desert or in the mountains, don’t believe it. Jesus will return physically to the Earth at the end of the Tribulation and He will do so riding a white horse from the heavens, not on the ground until He stands on the Mount of Olives once more.
Keep yourself centered in the love of God
But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
Jude 1:20-21 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/jud.1.20-21.KJV
Are you expecting Him?
In the world today many people are not looking for Jesus’ return. It seems that many people have all but given up on His return, even though it is promised. Most of the signs which Jesus told His disciples about have already happened and yet people, mainly Christians, just don’t believe that He is coming back in their lifetime. God’s Word is Truth and since Jesus cannot sin and tell His disciples and by extension us a lie so, therefore, He is coming back. When? I have no idea but it will happen.
The ten virgins were waiting for their bridegroom to come yet half of them weren’t ready when He showed up. Is that going to happen this time as well? Will only half of those who claim to be Christians be taken up when the dead in Christ arise? Nobody knows the answer to that question except God. We will not be given that answer because it will happen in a moment, in the twinkle of an eye. Nothing is impossible with God.
The expectation is the key because when the lame man was healed at the Beautiful gate, he was expecting something from Peter and John. Although he was expecting money, he got a healing. He was expecting to get something and he was likely surprised by what he received from Peter and John. Even though the healing came through the name of Jesus of Nazareth, the man was in an expectant state so he received something because of it.
We, in today’s church, don’t expect enough it seems because our faith is focused elsewhere. We are looking toward our jobs or the government or some other person or vocation which will provide for us. We still don’t put our faith, our expectancy in the only Person Who could provide for us which is Jesus the Christ, the Son of God. We can’t see Him or think of Him as a Person that could provide because we’ve never seen miracles happen. But…they do happen today.
The miracles which God performs today are not dramatic enough to draw much attention but they happen. Cancer shrinks and goes away without much treatment or even any treatment at all. Babies are born with no problems to hinder them in life and although this doesn’t seem to be a miracle it really is. I would venture to say that we are all a recipient of God’s protection in many ways which we may not see at all. But His angels are there protecting us on the road and in shopping malls more often than we think or even imagine.
So, do miraculous things happen today? I think they do. Very likely more than anyone would believe or imagine. It is our belief and faith in Him or possibly His hand guiding us which brings His actions to bear in our life each and every day. His guiding hand in our decisions every day may be what keeps each of us alive in situations where we may not have recognized as being dangerous.
Don’t discount His Presence in your daily life because even though you can’t see His hand or His Presence with your normal eyes, He is always nearby. So make sure of the places you go and the things which you do, because of your need to remember that Jesus is there in the life of a Christian every step and every hour of the day. Think about His Presence which is with you regardless of where you go each and every day.
I have plans for you!
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord , thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
Jeremiah 29:11 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/jer.29.11.KJV
Can you…..
God can!
Do you feel broken?
I do, sometimes. There are days when I feel broken to the point of being depressed. Then there are days when I feel as if I can’t reach out to God. He feels distant, and it makes the day feel empty and cold. The only redeeming knowledge that I can bring to the day is that God is always near me. But, even in knowing this sometimes I can’t shake the feeling of being alone, even when I know I am not.
Many of us feel this way but we don’t know what to do about it. Brokenness is the feeling of being…well not whole. It doesn’t have to be caused by any specific thing or person, it just happens. It happens to people who aren’t Christians as well but their lives are already in a state of being broken anyway. Because there is Someone missing in their lives. It is the absence of the Holy Spirit and Jesus in your life which causes us to feel broken before we become Christians.
We search and seek all kinds of stimulants and sometimes people to take the place in our life which feels empty. The problem is that nobody on Earth can fill that space and no amount of money or drugs or alcohol or sex can fill it either. The drugs and alcohol may give you a whole feeling for a while, but it eventually wears off and the hole feels bigger somehow. It is a vicious cycle which Satan lures us into before we accept Jesus as our Savior.
After we accept Him it is still Satan who makes us feel worthless or alone and even depressed and that is when we feel broken and without God. We need to remember that He is always with us regardless of the situation we are in or even how far we feel from Him. God never loses sight of you nor does He let you out of His hand. When you have given your heart to Jesus for real, not some emotional experience, you can never be taken away from Him. You may walk away from the church and you may stop reading your Bible for a time but He is still near you and only a prayer away from your side.
God mends us when we are broken and when He does this we are made more whole than we were before. God has never made a mistake and nothing ever catches Him by surprise. Don’t think that just because you may have made a mistake or thought something or even did something wrong, that God won’t take you and make you better than you were.
Even when your idea of being broken seems to be too bad for anyone to fix, God can. He can take a murderer like Moses or a Pharisee like Saul, who hunted down Christians to be put in jail or stoned, and He can make them into men who were changed into His most useful servants. God can make a universe out of nothing, what can He do with you?
The Living Message of Christ 