Let His message fill you…
Author: Tracy Eldridge
This my witness for my Lord and Savior on the web. I pray that you find these posts useful in your search for Jesus.
http://thelivingmessage.com
When the death angel came…
Profound wisdom
Don’t read the title and think that is how I feel about the words that God gives me because I really don’t feel that way. I just know that there is no way that I could come up with the words and the sermons that I preach at my little church without His input by the Holy Spirit. If that makes me a fanatic or a “crazy Christian” then I totally own that.
God created the Earth and the entire cosmos out of nothing and I do believe every word in His account of creation. Because God is the embodiment of Love which we can’t comprehend and everything which has breath praises Him in some way every day. My post today is not a very big one or even a very profound one but if you think about it…it makes sense.
God created man, Adam, from the ground and formed him with His hands. Then God blew the Breath of Life into Adam and he became a living soul. Look at two words, which I have found this by a friend of mine on Facebook: EARTH and HEART. Spelled with the same letters but only the H moves. Now here are two more words which God uses in the Bible to get us to “be still and know that I AM God”…LISTEN and SILENT, again same letters different arrangement.
God tells us to listen and be still (silent) to hear and know that He is God. The Earth is our home and it is the heart that God judges and looks at in order to know you. Simple but powerful wisdom contained in similar words with the same letters just arranged differently. How awesome is our God?
Where two or more are gathered…
God really loves you!
I found this on my Facebook page and I thought that more people should read this today so they will know that God loves each one of them.
The boy put his winter clothes on for the cold and told his father:
“Ok dad I’m ready”
His Dad, the pastor, said: “Ready for what?”
“Dad, it’s time to go outside and distribute our flyers.”
Dad replied: “Son, it’s very cold outside and it’s drizzling.”
The child looked surprised at his father and said: “But dad, people need to know about God even on rainy days.”
Dad replied, “Son, I’m not going outside in this weather.”
With despair, the child said: “Dad, can I go alone? Please!”
His father waited for a moment and then said: “Son, you can go. Here’s the flyers, be careful.”
“Thank you dad!”
And with this, the son went out into the rain. The 11-Year-old walked all the streets of the village, handing out the flyers to the people he saw.
After 2 hours walking in the rain and in the cold and with his last flyer in his hand, he stopped in a corner to see if he saw someone to give the flyer too, but the streets were totally deserted. Then he turned to the first house he saw, walked to the front door, touched the bell several times and waited, but no one came out.
Finally the boy turned to leave, but something stopped him. The child turned back to the door and began to touch the bell and pound the door strongly with his knuckles. He kept waiting. Finally the door was opened gently.
A lady came out with a very sad look and gently asked:
“What can I do for you, son?
With radiant eyes and a bright smile the child said:
“Lady, I’m sorry if I upset you, but I just want to tell you that God really loves you and that I came to give you my last flyer, which talks about God and His great love
The boy then gave her the flyer.
She just said, “Thank you, son, God bless you!”
Well, next Sunday morning, the pastor was in the pulpit and when the service began he asked:
“Someone has a testimony or something they want to share?”
Gently, in the back row of the church, an older lady stood up. When she started talking, a radiant and glorious look sprouted from her eyes:
“Nobody in this church knows me. I have never been here, even last Sunday I was not Christian.
My husband died a while ago leaving me totally alone in this world. Last Sunday was a particularly cold and rainy day, and it was also in my heart; that on that day I came to the end of the road, since I had no hope and didn’t want to live anymore.
Then I took a chair and a rope and went up to the attic of my house. I tied and one end of the rope to the rafters of the roof; then I climbed onto the chair and put the other end of the rope around my neck.
I then stood on the chair, so alone and heartbroken, I was about to throw myself off the chair, when suddenly I heard the loud sound of the door being knocked.
So I thought: “I’ll wait for a minute and whoever it is will go”
I waited and waited, but the door knocking was getting louder and louder every time. It got so loud that I couldn’t ignore it anymore.
So I wondered, who could it be?
No one ever comes close to my door or come to visit me!
I released the rope from my neck and went to the door, while the bell was still ringing and the door was still being knocked on.
When I opened the door, I couldn’t believe what my eyes saw, in front of my door was the most radiant and angelic child I’ve ever seen.
He’s smile, ohhh, I can never describe it! The words that came out of his mouth made my heart, dead so long ago, come back to life, when he said with the VOICE OF CHERUB: “Lady, I just want to tell you that God really loves you”
“When the little angel disappeared between the cold and the rain, I closed my door and read every word of the flyer.
Then I went to the attic to remove the chair and rope.
I didn’t need them anymore. As you see. Now I am a happy daughter of the King.
As the direction of the boy, when he left, was to this church, I came personally say thank you to that little angel of God who came just in time and, in fact, to rescue my life from an eternity in hell. And replaced it with an eternity in God’s presence. “
Everyone cried in the church.
The Pastor came down from the pulpit to the first bench of the front, where the little angel was sitting; he took his son in his arms and cried uncontrollably.
Share each other’s burden
Me, you and Jesus
Paul wrote something very poignant in Galatians 2:20, it says 20. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless, I live, yet not I but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
There is so much wisdom contained in this verse and it applies to every person who believes in Jesus as their Savior and lives it every day. Yet many of us don’t really think about how we are supposed to go about this. What does “crucified with Christ” mean exactly? How can I learn to live daily with Christ living inside my heart? Do I really have the faith that it takes to live like this? The process of living a crucified life is not just accepting Him as your Savior but living His life, His way by the faith that He has given us to believe in Him for our salvation. It truly isn’t as simple as it sounds.
In Luke 9:23, Jesus told His disciples this very principle. It says If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Still a bit confusing, right? Following Christ is what we as Christians are supposed to do but what does “deny himself/herself” mean, especially in today’s world?
Being “crucified with Christ” and “denying” yourself are mostly the same thing. So what exactly does Jesus mean by this? When we are saved, genuinely saved, the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts and changes us from the inside. But…our old nature is still present and there will be a struggle from day one over which side will “rule the day” in a manner of speaking. Starting your day with prayer and reading of God’s Word is the best way to start your day, every day. But, then there are days for each of us which has many interruptions in them such as work, school, errands, etc.
You get the idea. Denying your self is referring to the person that you were before your salvation and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit which makes a permanent change in your spiritual and your daily life. Some people may find that denying their “old self” is a bit too hard to do but if you just read God’s Word and pray about His work on you, whether it is in the morning or evening, the habit of denial of self will become easier. But doing this has to become a habit and it strengthens your faith and whether you think so or not, it will make your Christian life better. I didn’t say it would make it easier because the devil will keep on bringing up your sins and he knows exactly how to do it.
He will be whispering in your ear (mind) about all of the things that you were doing and enjoying before you gave your heart to Jesus. This will likely happen almost every day, sometimes more than once a day. You will need to be grounded in God’s Word so you will have the faith and the Word to be able to send your temptations and the tempter packing.
I know that many of you don’t really want to take the time to read the Bible on a daily basis but it helps a lot when it comes to resisting temptations that will come. There is no guarantee of any sort which says that Satan will not tempt you unless you don’t belong to Jesus in the first place. Why would he bother if you don’t belong to God in the first place? Even if you have spent most of your life in the church but you have never asked Jesus to come into your heart and save you, Satan doesn’t need to try to make you fail at being a Christian because you aren’t one anyway.
Is it possible for someone to be in the church that long and never give their heart to Jesus? Unfortunately, it is possible. There are many who have grown up in the church from the time they could walk until adulthood but they have never felt the need or the conviction to seek Him as their Savior. Taking up your cross, as Jesus said, is part of being a Christian. Living your life with Him and denying your old self so you won’t be tempted or at least you won’t fall for the schemes of Satan to cause you to fall into temptation.
Living this way is not something that just happens when you accept Jesus as your Savior. You have to learn His wisdom from the Bible and practice it each time a temptation comes along. Most of us aren’t told this bit of information before we accept Jesus or afterward. We are expected to learn it but if you don’t know what you need to learn how can you go about it? Read John’s gospel and the book of Romans because they are the foundation of your Christian life. Both of these books have good information on how to walk with Him and learn from His Word.
Love your neighbor
The times in which we live…
If the church around the world, regardless of the denomination, would collectively kneel and pray in this manner I believe there would be a revival everywhere. There are so many who are passionate about other religions, why aren’t Christians passionate enough to at least pray? I realize that we should not be zealous in our Christianity to the point of being obnoxious, in-your-face and dangerous but we could at least tell others that God loves them!
God’s love came to Earth in the body of Jesus Christ to conquer death, hell and the grave for each person who will believe. He is coming back one day, I believe sooner than anyone thinks, and He is coming back as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords! Jesus is coming back as the Lion of Judah, not as the carpenter from Nazareth!
There is another disturbing trend that I found out about recently. It has to do with the second coming of Jesus as well, but it seems that many pastors and Christians think that we can have an impact on the timing of His return. While spreading the gospel is important to God and the church as well, I don’t believe that our part in doing so will speed up His return. In today’s world the gospel can reach nearly the whole world just because of the Internet and its influence around the world. Granted, access to it is not universal or in every country everywhere but there are also countries where evangelism is not allowed for Christians to come and tell others about Jesus.
Pray for the world to come to know Jesus. Repent of your own sinful thoughts and actions and try your best to live a life pleasing to the Lord by your faith in Jesus. Read God’s Word each day, not just weekly or when you feel the need for God’s help. He loves you and He sent Jesus to pay for your sins and mine so you should get to know Him better while there is still time.
Two are better than one
