Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
2 Corinthians 12:10 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/2co.12.10.KJV
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
Be changed by Him
When we come to church and worship Him we are supposed to be changed in our heart.
“Why? I like my life the way it is!” Ok, so why do you have trouble at home or at work or at school? Are you more concerned about what you have or how you feel or how others are treating you than you are about those who are hurting around you? I realize that our culture today tells us that we are important and that our lives matter and that our personal ideas about the truth are ours and nobody should tell us any different. But…you know what that kind of thinking does to you and your relationships and to your life?
It gives us an “I” problem. It causes us to think more about our ideas and our things our lives. It causes us to concentrate more on what is good for me.
When you feel the Holy Spirit of God touching your life and your heart, He opens it up to the possibilities of being a part of a much bigger crowd. One that is part of God’s family and a crowd which is made up of people who are just like you. Some of them may be darker in skin tone or have a funny sounding name, but God has touched each of them and changed their heart so that we are part of His family. It doesn’t matter how much money you have or how much your car or truck cost or any of that material life which is so valued in the world today.
God LOVES you! If you have felt or maybe you are feeling His touch in your heart today, don’t turn away from Him. Turn your eyes toward Jesus and ask Him to come into your life and change your life into a life which will make a HUGE difference in the world around you. He can do that and He will do it because He knows that you are the only person who can reach that man or woman down the road. You are the only one who can explain God’s plan of salvation to them or maybe to someone you work with.
Your life can be so different from the life that others lead with their “I” problems and their “me and mine” problems. Their life is centered on themselves and on what they can get or have. The problem with doing this is that your circle of friends doesn’t get very big when you live this way. Nobody wants to be around a selfish person who only thinks of themselves!
We are encouraged to be outgoing even when we don’t feel like it. When Jesus is in your heart and is a part of your daily life, you are open to the world and not just in a box or a cage by yourself. Its no fun living like that even when you have convinced yourself that you like it that way!
Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all of the things which you need will be provided in your life. Notice that this promise speaks of your needs not your desires or your wants. God will provide for you by the riches of Jesus Christ in Heaven, not of those things which are luxuries in this world, but your needs.
Be changed in His image. We are made in the image of God, but since the fall in the Garden, mankind has had a spirit of rebellion in their hearts from birth. Give your heart to Jesus and follow Him in all of your ways, conforming to the likeness of Jesus so that your ways and your life will be a reflection of Him rather than your desires and your ideas.
Encourage each other
Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad.
Proverbs 12:25 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/pro.12.25.KJV
Freedom from depravity
The Christian faith gives believers the grace they don’t deserve but so desperately need. The depravity of humankind is obvious, especially today. Our faith grants us , as believer’s, a direct relationship with God, whom we can approach with freedom. Once you understand the value of your salvation you understand how tightly the relationship needs to be held onto. Many people today think that Christianity deprives you of fun and having a life but that is not true.
God’s rules, the Ten Commandments, are guidelines for us to live by and after you have given your heart to Jesus and have begun following Him in your life they are easy to follow. Why? Because your relationship with Jesus is more important to you than your old life and your old ways. This is why believers need to treat their salvation as their most valuable asset.
I know the word “depravity” sounds offensive but think about all of the sex trafficking and child slaves that are kidnapped for perverts around the world. If that isn’t depravity I don’t know what is! Our world is under the control and rule of Satan and his agents so much of our world is part of his world. Granted, God allows him to do this and He is in control by limiting what he can do and how far he can go but it is still our adversary that is in charge on Earth.
God has always been in control of him and has placed limits on what he can do and what is not allowed by God. We see some of these things as either God is not in control or He is a mean and hateful God. He is nothing like that at all! If God were not in control I imagine that Satan and his cohorts would’ve made sure that mankind would likely wipe himself from the Earth long before now.
We should seek out God and learn about Him and His love for us, because there is no other way you can learn of Him if you don’t seek Him for yourself. God provided a way for your sins to be wiped clean so that you could interact with Him and be in Heaven one day as a redeemed child of God.
Remember, God has always had a plan for each of us and yet we try to live as if He doesn’t exist at all. He hung the stars in space and placed all of them in their places so that their light shines on us and we behold His glory by His creation. I ask that you give your life to Him while there is still time to do so. Seek Him out for your salvation, learn about Him by studying His Word and listening to Bible teaching and preaching. Because there is no better way to know someone than to read their letters.
What is the message?
This could be a long message.
The Bible is the message of salvation from the beginning to the end! The seed of the woman was promised to crush the head of the serpent in Genesis. The Rock which gave Life-giving water to the Israelites in the desert was a type of Christ. The Pillar of cloud by day and the Pillar of fire by night was God watching over His people. Moses was a type of Christ as well since he prophesied and said that God would raise up a Prophet like him in time to redeem His people. The Passover lamb was a type and representation of Christ.
I could go on with the types and representation of a Redeemer in each book of the Bible, but the Message of the Bible is that we can’t save ourselves! We are flawed in our religion and in our own righteousness because we try to make “god” in our image and make “our god” into one who allows us more freedom than we could get from God Himself. God gave us freedom in all forms especially with regard to our choices. We can choose to follow Him or not. There is no pattern or way for us to gain His grace or His forgiveness other than through Jesus and our belief in Him.
Jesus (Yeshua) came and paid the price for our sins so that we would not have to, but you only get to enjoy the benefits of being a Christian if you believe in Him. John’s gospel says it best and you already know the verse, John 3:16-18:
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
It is your heartfelt belief in Jesus as the Son of God and as your Savior which grants you forgiveness for your sins and entrance into eternity. God is not going to throw you into hell because of your sins, at least that won’t be the only reason. It will be your lack of belief in Jesus as your Savior which condemns you. Yet, today, many do not want to hear about Jesus and salvation through Him. Why?
Because they would have to admit that the Bible must be true in order to believe in Him and most are not willing to believe in the absolute Truth found in God’s Word. Many people, in fact, most people in the world want to create their own version of the truth which fits their ideas and not the ones found in the Bible. Why do they feel this way about God’s Word? Because if they admit that any part of it is true then they have to accept that ALL of it is true as well.
God’s Word is the Truth and, like it or not, there is only one Truth found there: Jesus is the only begotten Son of God and He is the only way to Heaven. Belief in Him and following Him for the rest of your life is the only way to enter into eternity with Him.
The Lord is always near to those who seek Him.
The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.
Psalms 145:18 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/psa.145.18.KJV
Little things
How many times do little things get in the way of relationships? Sometimes the things which get in the way are so small until you barely know what they were. But they still make a dent in other people’s feelings. Sometimes the dent is bigger than you think and sometimes the damage takes a real toll on the relationship. Occasionally, the damage causes a rift or a split in the relationship.
Then what do you do?
You repent, say “I’m sorry” for the fortieth time, and move on. Each day…every day we go through times which will test our patience and our faith in God sometimes. But each day we must determine for ourselves to walk with God that day, then do it again tomorrow, and again the next day. This is what Jesus meant about taking up our cross each day and following Him.
The cross you have to bear is sometimes a difficult one. It could be a disease or a financial hardship or maybe an ailing parent or child or it could be depression or any number of other things which we all face at some point. Why bring this up if these are little things in God’s eyes but in our life they can be pretty big at times?
Because each of us has these “problems”, regardless of the size of them or the weight that they carry. Nobody is immune to the trials of life regardless of what they may be! Each of us has to live through them but we should remember that we don’t live through them alone. God is always beside us and ready to help us with strength for our spirit and for our struggles.
Jesus said, “I will be with you, until the end of the age“; I know, its a paraphrase of His words, but He meant what He said. God doesn’t mince words and He doesn’t lie about anything. When He said this He meant it! The “age” He was speaking of is the one we are in now, the church age, and if you have been paying attention to any news you will know that people are not paying much attention to the church or the message which we preach.
Your sin debt has been paid! Everyone’s sin debt has been paid, but most don’t want to believe that it has been nor do they want to believe in the One Who paid it for them. God loves each person individually and deeply! He is not a vengful God nor is He an angry God, He is a loving God Who wants to know you better.
Give Him a chance to know you and for you to get to know Him. I promise, you won’t regret it.
The Lord is My Rock
The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
Psalms 18:2 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/psa.18.2.KJV
God does not forget your work for Him
For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
Hebrews 6:10 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/heb.6.10.KJV
God’s way
Is there any other way? Yes, you can choose to follow your own path or the one which the world places in front of you. Sometimes we will find a path which gives us all of the goodies that the world values but it still leaves us empty. No matter which way we turn in the world, trying to find the path to real and lasting happiness, that path never intersects with the one we are on. We may find some happiness with our job or our family for a time, as long as we don’t use them as our “god” to make our way in this world.
The problem really comes full circle if we do deify some part of our career or our family because there is no lasting satisfaction in doing this. No amount of success in this world, financial or otherwise, can take the place of giving our lives to Jesus and repenting of making our lives a mess otherwise. There are no quick fixes and no amount of “good deeds” by giving lots of money or time to a worthy cause will ever save your soul. Any “good” thing done outside of God’s love and without Jesus as our motivation is useless in eternity.
The only eternity which we will see if we try to do it our way and not God’s way is the absence of God in hell for eternity. I know this sounds totally against the world’s way of looking at our good deeds but God’s way of doing things doesn’t match up with the way the world looks at it. God’s way of doing things goes completely against our logic sometimes.
Consider when God called Gideon to fight an army with a group of soldiers that only numbered about 300.
Here is the text of the choosing of Gideon’s army:
Gideon’s Army of Three Hundred
1Early in the morning Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the men with him camped beside the spring of Harod. And the camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh.
2The LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many people for Me to deliver Midian into their hands, lest Israel glorify themselves over Me, saying, ‘My own hand has delivered me.’ 3Now, therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people: ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’”
So twenty-two thousand of them turned back, but ten thousand remained.
4Then the LORD said to Gideon, “There are still too many people. Take them down to the water, and I will sift them for you there. If I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go. But if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.”
5So Gideon brought the people down to the water, and the LORD said to him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues like a dog from those who kneel to drink.” 6And the number of those who lapped the water with their hands to their mouths was three hundred men; all the others knelt to drink.
7Then the LORD said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men who lapped the water I will save you and deliver the Midianites into your hands. But all the others are to go home.”
With all of the men with him, Gideon and Israel would look at the victory as their victory and not the Lord’s victory. This is why God had him to limit his army so that the glory of the battle would be given to the Lord.
God can use you as you are to accomplish much in His Kingdom and for His glory. You don’t need a seminary degree or a fantastic car or an expensive suit! John the Baptist preached in a coat of woven camel’s hair and he was the forerunner of our Lord Jesus!
