In the path…

There are many people who are in the path of Hurricane Ida and all of us should be praying for their safety. We also need to pray for the workers who will be trying to rescue people afterward since New Orleans is getting hit hard by the amount of rain that they are getting. Pray for those who will be taking care of everyone as well.

This storm was not a surprise to us and it was not sent as punishment from God. It is simply a storm that we have to get through one day at a time and one more prayer at a time. God knows what is happening here and not one thing that is happening is a surprise to Him at all. He foretold all of the diseases and wars and everything that has happened in the past up until today. God loves us and we should love Him because if you are reading this, He has brought you here for a reason. God gives me the words to put here so that you can see them and know that He loves you and He wants the best for you.

All that you need to do is repent of your sins, believe that He paid the price for those sins and ask Him to be your Savior. Then live your life as if you are walking side by side with Him because in Truth, you are! God said that He would never leave us nor forsake us and Jesus told His disciples that He would not lose one person that the Father draws to Him. Remember that when you feel alone and afraid, God is closer than your next breath.

Our Savior and our God can do anything. All that we need to do is believe it and keep our eyes on Jesus for every good outcome that comes into our lives. Keep your eyes focused on Jesus when you have a bad day or some other problem crops up because He will be with you through those times as well. Don’t do like Peter did when he was walking on the water toward Jesus because he took his eyes off of Jesus and looked at the water and the waves driven by the wind and he began to sink. Then he cried, “Lord, save me!“.

That prayer of only three words is all that you need to come to Jesus. When you are overwhelmed and afraid and know that you need Jesus as your Savior…don’t forget to say them: Lord, save me.

Knowledge comes from God

7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 1:7 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/pro.1.7.KJV

Consider the dash…

On gravestones, there is something that seems out of place. Some have a favorite Bible verse plus the name and the birth date and the date of a person’s death. Some don’t have anything beyond the person’s name and the date of their birth and the date of death. The one thing that seems out of place and without much explanation is the dash. It is hardly noticed because it is placed between the years on the stone. It essentially represents our life. From birth to death this “dash” is where everything in this person’s life has happened.

They grew up as a child and went through school, got married, and had some children (maybe) and along the way, they worked at a job. They could’ve gone on a mission or to church most Sundays, but unless we knew them there is no reference to this.

The dash between the dates of your birth and your death is all that is left here on your grave to give evidence of your life. The real evidence of your life is your children and your spouse and possibly some friends that you made along the way. But what does the dash mean? It signifies your life. As Solomon said in the book of Ecclesiastes “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity”.

Anything and everything that we have done in this life is meaningless unless we have done most of our work during our life for God and His Kingdom. I don’t mean that you have to be a pastor but living your life daily as a Christian does count for something. Even if the dash doesn’t show it. So what happens on the dash? Your life! Every person’s life is different so only their family and friends would know what belongs in that space. God, of course, knows exactly what happened and why.

The dash of your life looks short and it is, just as your life is short in comparison to eternity. Even if you live to be over one hundred years old, eternity is unending. God’s Kingdom is in eternity and it had no beginning and it doesn’t have an end just as God had always been existing in that realm. That is why our lives are referred to as a wave on the sea or a puff of smoke because our life is like the snap of your fingers. Earthly life only lasts as long as God allows it to. The end of your life is known to God but thankfully not to us.

We are not guaranteed tomorrow so seek the Lord while He can be found on this side of life because once you pass into the next life, your eternity is determined by your choice. Follow Jesus and be useful to Him in this life and in the next.

Are you seeking Him?

Many people today seem to be seeking Him. They are asking questions about Him and the life that they would have with Jesus in their lives. But…are they seeking Him to be their Savior? Asking questions and reading books about Him from other authors and preachers who write about Him is a step in the right direction. But what are you getting from them? Second-hand information mostly. Possibly even their interpretation of Who He is. You aren’t getting the Truth or at least not all of it.

Reading the Bible, God’s Word, on the subject of His Word which is the Savior, Jesus Christ! I know…many people say that the information on Jesus is only found in the New Testament so why should I read the Old Testament? Because every book of God’s Word has a reference to or a type of Jesus Christ in it somewhere. From Genesis, He is referred to as the Seed of the woman and the Angel of the Lord to Exodus where the type is the “bread” from Heaven, manna, or the Rock which gave its living water to the Israelites in the wilderness. Those are just two or three references to the Christ Who is to come.

Moses was a “type” of Christ, Joseph was a “type” of Christ so there are many references that allude to a Savior in the very beginning of the Bible. Actually, every book of the Bible has some reference to Him in it somewhere.

When you seek Him, don’t just read or pray about Him or what your need might be. Seek Him earnestly in His Word, pray while you are reading it, and ask Him to reveal Himself to you. When you feel Him touch your heart and you will know when it happens, you will want Him as your Savior because you will feel it in your heart. You will realize that you are a sinner who needs a Savior, otherwise, you will be going to hell.

God loves each of us but He is not pleased with our sinful lives unless we have accepted Jesus as our Savior. If we have done that then the sins that we have confessed and asked His forgiveness for are wiped away. When the Holy Spirit comes into your heart and Jesus takes your sin away, it is gone. I’m not saying that you won’t sin again, but the guilt from your previous sins is taken away. Although, Satan will bring them back to your memory later to taunt you with them. God has put them all behind Him as far away as the East is from the West.

Life with Jesus in your heart is not an easy road to travel, especially today, but He will give you the strength to get through the troubles and trials which will come. Give your life to Him because He has already given His life for yours.

Find your peace in Him

33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. John 16:33 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/jhn.16.33.KJV

God gives us blessings!

19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah. Psalm 68:19 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/psa.68.19.KJV

Be humble…

4 By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honour, and life. Proverbs 22:4 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/pro.22.4.KJV

Days…

There are days that I feel fine, then there are some days that I feel like not getting out of bed. Even Jesus had days that He dreaded but He knew that His mission and purpose was to fulfill the will and purpose of His Father. That is the what we, as Christians, should wake up to each day. Sure there are days that feel like a struggle from the moment you wake up, even before your feet hit the floor but God can give you the strength to get through this day and maybe tomorrow too.

He knows where your life ends and on what day that will be and He has planned for it. Have you?

Most of us live our lives as if we are going to live forever here on this Earth but that isn’t so. We prepare for retirement and many years into our future when we don’t even know what tomorrow holds. Only God knows what is going to happen even five minutes from now. We can’t see into the future even that far and that is enough to make me glad that He can see it and He has planned for it.

I was reading Jonathan Edward’s “Sinners in the hands of an angry God”, his sermon that sparked an awakening of religious fervor in colonial America. The words that he used and the length of his sermon would’ve angered many people today considering the fact that it was about four hours long or more at a time when air conditioning wasn’t a thing. He told of God being angry with us to the point of our lives being compared to hanging from a moldy rope over a boiling pot of flaming oil (his description of hell). Is God angry with us enough to threaten us with this kind of punishment? He is if we don’t choose to give our lives to Jesus and repent of our sinful ways. It is our sins that take us into that pit of hell. It is our decision to reject Jesus as our Savior that sends us to that place. God doesn’t want to send us there but when we reject Jesus we are placing our life and our future on the side of Satan.

Our days are numbered and only God knows how many we will have. Some of us may live a long life and some of us may not see tomorrow morning so make sure of your salvation before the night comes. You might wake up in His Presence and you will need Jesus as your advocate and Savior when you do.

Are we all guilty?

Every human after the fall is guilty of the same sin that Adam was guilty of. The sin of disobedience. Those of us who have chosen not to believe in Jesus for your salvation have disobeyed the call of God. If you have felt the call of God in your heart, it doesn’t matter if it was at church or a radio program or on the TV, then you should answer that call. Some people will answer and ask Jesus into their hearts and some will refuse.

So…are we guilty or not? Yes, we are all guilty of being sinners before we come to Jesus for our salvation. Can we be redeemed? Yes, even for the most heinous crimes imaginable and for the least crimes as well. Every sin, no matter how small, is equal in God’s sight! Sometimes we look at these things, meaning sins, with the wrong outlook. Stealing a pen is still stealing. Looking at a woman/girl with lust in your heart/mind is still adultery even if you never touch her. Your mind can conjure up all sorts of imaginings that you may not even be physically capable of doing sexually but it is still a sin in your mind. Our minds are the places where everything that we do and say or imagine comes to pass. That is why we should “capture every thought and bring it under the control of the Holy Spirit“.

Do we do this as Christians? Many times we don’t do it immediately so we have to ask Jesus to forgive us and give us the strength to capture it quicker when it happens again. It will happen because not one of us is perfectly able to do this. Jesus did but He was totally submitted to His Father’s will for His life and there isn’t a person on Earth capable of doing that today. Some may think that they can do it but they are being deceived by Satan.

Each of the Ten Commandments has been broken by preachers, teachers, carpenters and shepherds all over this world. It doesn’t matter what your occupation is but if you consider yourself a Christian and your heart has been changed to the point that you don’t do the things that you used to do…you will still fail in some way. We are human. Yes our heart belongs to Jesus and we read and study God’s Word but our mind can be tricked so easily into thinking something or imagining something that we shouldn’t. It takes prayer, every day, and seeking Him more than just once or twice a week to be successful in your walk with Jesus.

I pray that whoever reads this short message will seek Him out and give their heart to Jesus. Ask Him to come into your life and change you so that your life will be useful to Him from that point on. Then your eternity is secure and your life can be more than it has ever been or even more than you could imagine.

You are chosen!

Each person who has given their lives to Jesus Christ was chosen to be saved by God. Have you ever felt His touch on your heart at a church service or while listening to a sermon on television? If you have felt that at any time in your life…that was when God let your heart know that you have been chosen. Why were you chosen? Because God has something for you to do and it is something that only you can do! There is someone that only you can reach for Him or maybe it is a ministry that He has given you and it is one that only you can accomplish.

God chooses the time of your calling and the way that you are called because He knows you better than you know yourself. He knows when your life will end but He also knows that you can do so many things for His Kingdom. There is some person, maybe a child or a grandchild, that only you can reach…only you can touch their life and cause them to seek out Jesus for their Savior. Why would they do this? Usually it is because of something that you do or say or maybe how you live your life. If God calls you to be a preacher or a teacher in the church then it could be something that you say to someone in your congregation or your class or even how you live your life. It is your testimony that can let people know Who your Savior is.

Each person who has given their lives to Jesus over the past two thousand years was chosen for a specific talent that each of them brought to God’s Kingdom. Some were chosen because of their influence on those around them. Some were chosen because of the message that they would be responsible for and where that message would go. But each of us was chosen because God loves each of us and He calls us to be His messengers to one another. Make sure of your place in His Kingdom while there is time to do so.