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

Do you think you could impress God?


Have you ever considered trying to impress God? I haven’t but, the only possible way that we could do it would be to become more like Jesus. Humble and being a servant to others, not with your “accomplishments” or with prideful boasting, and with humility. Those are the qualities that would impress God about you and me. Why would that impress God you may ask?

Because humans like us are not made to be humble. It is not easy for us to be humble and not prideful, especially when we have done something to be proud of. We want someone to reward us, to be proud of us and we want to be recognized. We don’t have the true ability to be humble until we are born again into God’s family. You may know some people who are humble but I would bet that they are Christians.

Luke 18:9-17

9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
15 And they brought unto him also infants, that he would touch them: but when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them.
16 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
17 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.

Jesus tells us in these situations that the man who is humble, who knows that he is a sinner and who comes to God confessing his guilt and asking for mercy and God’s forgiveness is the one who will be justified and forgiven. Why?

Because of his humility and his humble way of coming before God. He didn’t come before God as if he was God’s equal or acting like God was lucky to have him in his house! He came before his Creator, knowing that he was the created and that he had nothing to give to God except for his repentance and his life. God accepted him, just as He did with the offering of Abel so long ago.

When I wrote this, I don’t intend to give the impression that we have to be humble to the point of allowing people to walk over us. Humility and meekness are not to be confused with weakness. Being humble is part of your character that is evident when you don’t brag and boast about things. Humility doesn’t have to boast. Just as someone with a Corvette doesn’t have to race people to know that they could beat them in a race. It would take an extraordinary car to win against a Corvette don’t you think?

Now, I don’t mean to say that people who buy a Corvette are humble. Most of the people who buy one are not, they want to be seen, they want to let everyone to know that they have the means to get this car. It is very likely that the Pharisee would’ve been the one who owned the Corvette. The publican was usually a tax collector and he may have had more money than the Pharisee, but I would bet that he had a donkey or a used car, if you want to make it a bit more modern. He wasn’t flashy nor was he one who boasted about what he had or who he was, he just knew he was a sinner and he knew he needed God’s forgiveness.

This next story is something that you may recognize someone who you have met at some point in your life. I read this on a website that I use for sermon ideas and I think it applies here as well:

There was a very lost, wicked, and rebellious man who decided it would be good for business if he went down to the church and joined it. He was an adulterer, an alcoholic, and had never been a member of a church in his life.

But when he went down to place membership, he gave public testimony to the church that there was no sin in his life, and that he had grown up in the church, and they readily accepted him as a member.

When he went home he told his wife what he had done, and his wife, a very godly lady, exploded. She condemned him for being a hypocrite, and demanded that he go back to the church the next week and confess what he really was. Well, God used his wife to really break him, and he took it to heart.

The next Sunday he went back to the church, walked down to the front again, and this time confessed to the church all of his sins. He told them he was dishonest, an alcoholic, an adulterer, and that he was sorry. They revoked his membership on the spot.

He walked out of the church that day scratching his head and muttered to himself: “These church folks are really strange. I told a lie and they took me in; and when I told the truth they kicked me out!”

How about that? Would a church today do something like that? Some would and some would accept him and forgive him when he came and told them the truth.

What about you? Would you forgive him for lying to you and your church?

Sometimes we want to believe the best about people when we meet them and then when we find out that our perception was wrong, we feel hurt and angry. Where would we be if God felt hurt and angry when people reject Him and His Son? Thankfully, God is much more patient with us than we are with each other, Amen?

If there is anything in your life that needs to be brought to God’s attention, be like the publican and bring it before God. Ask forgiveness and confess whatever it may be so that you can walk out and be at ease and at peace because you have taken that pain or whatever it may be and you have given it to God. Then, give yourself to God and decide that from this point on…from today forward you are going to walk in humble obedience to God and listen to Him as you pray and study His Word.

Amen.

Easy answer…


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We all need to shine so all of the world can see Jesus shining in our life!

If you will obey…


Have you thought about being a Christian? Are you a Christian in practice and not just on Sunday morning or Saturday or Wednesday night, depending upon when your church meets for services? God seeks people of faith who will obey His commandments and seek Him in all things. Why do I say this? Because God said so!

He told the Israelites to go into the Promised land and destroy utterly all of the pagan nations and people who lived there. Why? Because God knew that they would entice His people to “check out” their religion and their gods, and they would turn away from Him. Which is exactly what happened. But, before they crossed into that land, Moses gave them a sermon on obedience and the rewards that come with it.

I am not going to print the whole text of it but you can read it here. God told them through Moses that if they would obey Him and keep their belief and their faith in Him, that He would bless them mightily but He also said that if they did not obey, there would be consequences.

If you have ever read the Bible, particularly Exodus and Deuteronomy, you know what happened. They would obey for a time, then they would begin to follow the practices of those around them because they didn’t follow God’s command. It is like watching a child of two or three when you tell them not to do something and you go to leave the room and immediately they move toward the very thing you told them to leave alone. Like the cookie jar or some other treat which tastes so good, but you have told them not to eat more than one.

This happened all through the wilderness and it was the very reason why they had to wander for forty years. They refused to obey God or listen to His wisdom. He had told them that He would drive out the people ahead of them if they would obey Him and they were afraid. Only two men out of the twelve would go into the promised land and they were the ones ready to go because the Lord said that He would be with them and fight for them. They were Caleb and Joshua.

All of the others died in the wilderness from the age of twenty on up except for those two men. Caleb took his land away from those who were there when he was 80 years of age. Joshua led the rest of Israel into battle many times and he was 80 when they crossed the Jordan into the Promised land. After his death, the people forgot about how God had provided for them and they began to follow their own ways of living and to follow the religions of people who were living there, just as God had told them not to do.

Even when Israel demanded a king be placed over them, even the king didn’t obey God when he went up against another ruler. The very first battle that Saul fought after being crowned King, he disobeyed God’s decree. He had been told by the prophet Samuel to wait and he, Samuel, would come and pray for their victory over the Philistines. When Samuel delayed in coming, after seven days Saul put the priest’s ephod on himself and offered burnt offerings to God because his troops were afraid.

It is at this point that God told Samuel to find a King from among the people who had a heart like His. He went to a man named Jesse and chose David and anointed him to be King, but he wasn’t crowned King until after Saul had ruled for a long time.

The point that I am making here is that God requires obedience not sacrifices or outward shows of our loyalty. God doesn’t require a burnt offering but He does require our obedience to Him, but it usually is our pride which causes us to do our own thing and try to serve Him in our own way. If we would just learn from the failures of Israel in the Old Testament we could and would be so much more effective in our lives and in serving God today.

Life…


Life is a breath and a heartbeat,

It is also a time to remember.

How much you have learned

And what you may have forgotten.

 

Life is a baby’s laugh, a beautiful sunrise,

It is also the dew in the morning and a

Cool breeze in the day. Life, what does it mean?

 

It is your day beginning with a prayer,

It is you going through the day in an

Attitude of prayer and it is that day ending with

Thanksgiving to God for that day.

 

Life…what does it really mean? Time enough

To do the task for which you were born, and

To realize that you are not in charge. God is.

 

It is God who gives you each breath, each heartbeat

And the ability to take each step in your journey. So,

Where does your life take you? 

 

Seek out the Creator and give your life to Him,

So that He can give you an eternity to know why

Your life was important.

Do you truly KNOW God?


I know that none of us have met Him in person. We won’t do that until we die and stand before Him. But, did you know that you could know God? Yes, we all can if we will seek Him out in the Bible.

I can almost hear people saying “I have read the Bible through many times and I am not going to claim that I know God!”. Why not? He reveals Himself in many ways, not just through His Word but by all of nature that you see around you every day. In the Old Testament God reveals Himself as a loving and patient God Who loves His Creation which includes you and me and all other people in this world.

Yes, there are parts of the Old Testament where God tells Israel as a group to slaughter all of those in the Promised Land where they are going to live. How does this show His love and compassion? Because, those that He told them to kill worshiped demons and idols and they sacrifice their children to their “gods”! God wants that influence taken out of the land that they are to live in because it will influence their children. This is why He tells us to teach our children from the Bible. We are to teach our children its wisdom so that they will know God and not be influenced to “try” some other religion.

Can you know God by reading His Word? I would say so. If you read some letters from your Dad or your grandfather who loved your mother or grandmother, even if you had never met them, you would know that they loved her and wanted to be with her! That is what many of the books in the Old Testament are like, they are like love letters to Israel and its people from God. They are also meant for us as Gentiles too. When Jesus referred to the Scriptures He was speaking of the Old Testament because that was all they had at the time.

The most important thing to remember about God’s Word is that it is True. The entire book from Genesis to Revelation, but especially the Old Testament. Why do I say it like this? Because, in the Old Testament, God was trying to get Israel to worship Him and Him only, not some piece of wood carved in the image of a cow or a snake, or even a man.

God caused all of the miracles which freed the nation of Israel from Egypt, and they still questioned Him. The still couldn’t or wouldn’t believe in Him, even with water from a rock, walking on dry ground through the sea, the supply of enough food for all of them during 40 years in the wilderness. Would it take all of that for us to believe in Him today?

Possibly. We are just as stiff-necked as they were and we don’t believe in Him today, at least much of the world doesn’t. Most of the population worships their ancestors or the stars or a moon-god, some even believe that when they die they will become a god. It isn’t hard to see that even with miracles for proof, many people today would still choose to not believe in Him. What a shame.

It takes a small amount of something called faith to believe in a God Who truly loves us. One Who cares for each of us, whether we know Him yet or not. He has used fishermen, murderers, thieves, and a shepherd boy to fulfill His work in times past. I think that He could use us too.

Faith…do you have enough?


When we are saved and we are accepted into the family of God, we are granted a measure of faith. Even though many of us feel as if we don’t have enough faith, it is because we aren’t using our faith in our lives. It isn’t that we don’t have enough, because Jesus said if you have as little faith as a mustard seed, you can do all things and more BUT you have to use your faith in order for it to work!

Faith is like money in that regard. We are given a measure of faith when we become Christians but if it is not used then it just sits there and eventually it gets dimmer and less effectual than it could be. Just as with money, you can have thousands of dollars but until you use it for either paying bills or investing it in something to make it grow, it just sits there doing nothing.

Being a Christian takes faith, which today seems to be in short supply in all areas of life but especially in the church. The church is where you come to worship God and learn of Him and His Son, Jesus, but it is only a building until the people, who make up the church, come in and begin to worship and praise God. If there is no spirit of praise, no spirit of God coming with those who come to the church, then the gathering is just a group of people listening to a speech.

Sadly, in America today many churches are in that shape. The fire of the Holy Spirit has gone out or it is smoldering at a point that it couldn’t be brought to a flame without a fuel being poured on it, like gasoline or alcohol. Our churches and the people of America have come to this point because even though over seventy percent of people in America claim to be Christians…once you get to the point of proof like attendance and Bible study on a regular schedule, the figure drops drastically to around fifteen or maybe twenty percent.

We have walked away from God, turned our backs on Him and decided that we would have to take care of our own problems without any help from Him. Our independent spirit at work and at home is killing the church and many people are celebrating. God will not strive with us forever, He will take His hands and His blessing away from our country and then we will find out exactly what it feels like to be without God. I have prayed that day would never come, but it seems that it is happening right now.

Pray for our nation and our leaders because they need God in their lives and our nation needs Him in many other areas too.

When things go wrong…


I don’t have to ask about this one, because we all have had days or weeks where things have gone wrong in some way or another. The reason that I am writing this is to encourage those who have been impacted by the hurricane on the East coast. I can hear many people saying “They don’t need encouragement, they need money and help getting their lives back together”.
mygodisawesome
While that is true, they do need to look toward God Who is the Creator and the Provider of all that they need. Some may be asking where was God when the storm hit? The answer is, if you are a Christian, He was there with you all through the storm.

Some people may ask why didn’t God push the storm out to sea instead of causing so much damage? Because we need to grow and become strong, just like trees do. If the wind doesn’t blow while a tree is growing, the roots will not become strong enough to hold it upright and it will fall. Everything that we go through in life either makes us weak, reveals our weakness or makes us stronger. Disease can make us weak, the Holy Spirit reveals to us where our weakness really is and when we realize this and pray for God to give us the strength to get through it…He will.

Many times I have gotten to a point in my life where I felt that nothing that I did or said was making a difference in my life or anyone else’s life. It is at this point that Satan will target your faith, especially if your faith has cracks in it and is not complete and whole in Jesus. He will knock a piece of it loose and start chipping away at your faith, your foundation. This is when you begin to doubt your self and God too. I have even asked God to just take my life and end my existence here because I am no good to His Kingdom, BUT God knows better!!

God can see beyond your weakness and beyond your pity party and He knows what you can do and what you will do, that is why He has never answered my prayer for Him to take my life. Your life and mine are part of His design and we all have a purpose in His Kingdom. What we do with that purpose and with our life is dependent upon our faith and our willingness to obey Him and His calling.

Do you know what He is calling you to do or what He has called you to do? Have you answered that call or are you ignoring it, hoping that He will call you for something that you like better? Our calling is our life in Him regardless of the size of the calling or the ministry that we are being called into. Have you accepted your call from God and determined to follow the path laid before you for His glory?

I urge you to do so, because the church, the body of Christ, needs all of its members to work and to do His work until He comes. Regardless of the doctrine you follow or the denomination that you worship in, whether it is Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, or Catholic, if your heart belongs to Jesus then you are part of His body, the church.

Love, where did it come from?


I know, there are going to be people wondering about my sanity now. Trust me, I know where I am going with this.

The honest answer to that question is very simple: It came from God! He wouldn’t have made our world the way that He did if He didn’t love us, all of us! God made the universe itself so that we could look out and see what an awesome God we serve! Why am I putting so many exclamation marks in these sentences? Because the point that I am making needs to be emphasized so people will notice it.

God put all of the planets together in our solar system in the order that they are because of His love for us. How or rather why do I say this? Because Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus are all out past the asteroid belt and they scoop up or influence any comet or other body so our planet doesn’t get slammed like the moon or Mercury.

I know that our planet has been hit in the past by meteors which have done some serious damage, but not to the extent of wiping humanity off the face of the Earth. Love came to us through the acts and the intent of God because He loved us before He created Earth. In His Word there are many references to His love for us and we should be able to see it in everything around us every day! If you can’t then there is something wrong.

Why do I say this? It is because of the questions and the angry outbursts which will come after this hurricane. So many people killed and put out of their homes by a storm which moved so slow, couldn’t God stop it? Yes, He could have, but what will come out of this storm? People helping people who have been made homeless, people helping those who are injured by the debris or by walls falling, food and shelter will be given and provided by people who didn’t have to do anything but they were moved with compassion to do something.

What is it that makes us be compassionate in times like this? It is because we are made in the image of God, all of us can see the needs of those who need help and if we can help, we should. Satan has a temporary claim on the rulership of this world, but his time is growing shorter by the day. He knows this and he is trying to cause as much pain and suffering in this world as he can. Not so much to punish us, but to make people question whether God cares for us or not!

God loves us, all of us. It is because of His love that many of us are still here, and those who have been killed by these storms or earthquakes or wars are casualties of Satan’s hatred for humanity! Give your life to Jesus and follow Him because when you look at the signs all around us and the prophecies in God’s Word, you can see that there isn’t much time left for this world before He comes! Amen.

What are the names for God?


The references above came from the website of the BlueletterBible.org

Why am I listing all of the names found in the Old Testament for God and His Name? Because it is needed and necessary in today’s environment and in our culture, not only because of where the world is in Prophecy but because there are so many who just need Him!

Truly, we all need Him in our lives but do you seek Him? Have you sought Him out in your trials and in your life? He is there, regardless of what you hear from people who don’t believe in Him. He hears your prayers and He will answer if you have given your life to Him. He will also answer if you repent of your sins and turn back to Him, asking Him to be your Lord and Savior.

God is a provider and a Protector and He is our Creator, we should honor Him in all that we do and in how we live every day! Being a Christian is getting harder because people don’t want to hear about Jesus anymore. The few that do want to hear are the ones that we need to be speaking to and God will lead them to you or you to them whichever is the best way. He will also give you the words to say so that they can come to know Him.

Don’t turn away from God, because He has never turned away from you! Get to know Him while you have the time.

So much discord…


Passing blame on every person, and on every religion which we don’t believe in is totally wrong! Having issues with different denominations and different religions is not the way to bring about peace. Can we do anything which will bring our world peace? In all honesty, no we can’t, at least not of our own volition and strength. There are too many variables, too much bigotry and hatred and too much pride for us to bring about peace in this world and in this time which we are living in. It is possible in individual communities, even cities, for us to bring people together and put aside our prejudice and pride, but even that would take many people who would sit down and agree. In today’s climate, this peace would only last for at most a week. Which is a sad commentary on us and our country.

All of the animosity and bickering that is going on inside the church and in our nation, as well as in our homes is causing us to be people who really don’t look much like our Savior at all! Where did all of the bitterness and hatred come from? Most of it came from the influence of Satan in our culture and in the church itself. Anytime that he can cause a crack in the Christian church, even when it is from only one member, he will do it. Because, just as in pottery, a small crack will eventually become wider and deeper and it will soon have an effect on the whole church.

It doesn’t matter if the crack in the church comes from one denomination or another, it can spread eventually to other churches. Why does this happen? How does it happen? In small ways, a little at a time, with a word or two here and there, it eventually spreads. Then, the people who make up the church begin moving to other churches or just not coming to church at all. Eventually, one church will die because of lack of people to keep it going. Then the next church will begin losing members, and the community itself is beginning to lose their faith in God.

Satan has this all figured out. Get one or two people in a church to disagree and cause some feelings to be hurt, it doesn’t matter whether it involves the preacher or not, but if it does that’s even better. Eventually, the “problem” will escalate to a point where the church will vote to find another pastor. It doesn’t matter how big the “problem” actually is, it will grow. I pray that this doesn’t happen in my church and I ask my readers to pray for me as well.