Category: A new life in Christ

Life…as we know it


Has anyone considered how much our world is changing? Almost every day there is a new “variant” of the coronavirus and somehow it is even more contagious than the last one! There are more problems and storms and heat waves happening all around us…but this was foretold in the Bible so we shouldn’t be surprised (if we believe His Word). Yes, life is changing rapidly. It is very hard to keep up with all of the changes sometimes. It even makes the days and months seem to go by faster.

God has never given up on humanity but much of humanity has given up on Him. His Word has been ridiculed and taken out of most education systems. Prayer has been forbidden in public places and in schools. It is a wonder to me that He hasn’t turned away from us sooner but His patience and His love show up in unexpected ways every day. We feel it when we wake up and when we see a bird fly over. We know He controls the future when a baby is born into the world. God has a purpose for each of us and it is up to us to find it in His Word.

God gives each of us a talent that we are to use for His Kingdom and His glory because He created us for Himself. Just as He walked in the Garden with Adam and Eve, He walks with us each day if our heart belongs to Him. That doesn’t mean that He turns away from those who don’t believe in Him for their salvation but He does patiently wait for us to seek Him and ask Him for that relationship to be ours. Some of us were created to be leaders in the church and some were created to be helpers and teachers and all sorts of other jobs that are needed. Prayer warriors are part of His Kingdom and they are the ones that pray every day for those who are sick or hurting or in pain or for whatever reason. All of us are important to Him, believer and non-believer alike.

The time to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ is now because the time of the church age is growing short. If you haven’t felt His call in your heart I would suggest that you seek Him soon. If you have felt His touch in your heart, then truly seek Him out…soon. Why? Because on the day that the church is taken up, you surely don’t want to be left here to go through the Tribulation.

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Love the Lord…


Amen

When you feel down…


Read the book of Psalms! Nearly every one of them is an uplifting praise of God’s wonderful love for you. True, there are some that are a bit dreary or sad but when depression got to me a few years ago Psalms got me through the days and weeks until I was out and feeling better. No medication and no psychologist trying to take all of my money that I don’t have to give away!

God created you so pray to Him when things aren’t going the way that you want them to. He knows what you need and why but He still likes to hear it from your own heart. Don’t blame Him for things going wrong because most of the time that is Satan trying to get you to do exactly that! Satan wants to drive a wedge between you and God and make you feel bad about your life. It isn’t God that is causing bad things but He will walk with you through them until the Sun comes out and life is good again!

God doesn’t leave you when you are in the valley’s. He may be silent for a time to let you feel sad or angry or hurt or even depressed but He is as close as a prayer and He will take you through the bad times. Philippians 4:19 says: “My God will supply all of your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus”

He is a loving God and Creator and His love for you is boundless. All that you need to do is answer His call in your heart when you feel it. Give your heart to Jesus and He will make you a new Creation through the Holy Spirit’s work in your heart. You will never be the same when you have done this and you will be a Christian in heart and mind!

Amen

God or Myth?


There is a very popular television series which has been on the airways for more than fifty years. Most people and much of our technology today have been influenced by the imagination of its creator and the inventions or ideas postulated in its many movies and different series. You have likely figured out the title of this television show. It is Star Trek and all of its spin-offs. I won’t go into all of the different technological ideas that came from the show but many were directly responsible for much of our everyday technology. Granted, we don’t have phasers or matter transporters, but many scientists and engineers found their inspiration for their careers on this show. 

This show and its creator have also had a profound effect on religion or the lack of it in the future, in our future right now. Our country has been pushing for a humanistic religion since the 1960s and the push is becoming stronger today. Many young people and some in our government believe that we can bring about peace and prosperity through our intellect and our wisdom. If they would look at history this has proven to be false every time. But they look at all of the technology that we have and say that our wisdom and technology can accomplish this. 

It might for a while. But look at the conflicts going on all over the world and tell me that our wisdom can stop the killing of women and children. Tell me that technology can fix poverty and hunger and starvation. The “wisdom” of humanity cannot bring an end to all of this regardless of the amount of money or technology that is used in pursuit of this goal. Corruption always finds a way to siphon those resources from those in need to those in power with no explanation for where the “resources” went.

The sinful nature of mankind will not go away because of technology. The only fix for our world and its problems is Jesus Christ. In the series, Star Trek, any mention of the Bible or the “myth” of the Bible is rebuffed by “Vulcan logic” or the inherent goodness of humanity when poverty and disease are eradicated. If anyone looks at the history of Earth it shows quite clearly that humanity doesn’t have this “inherent goodness” in their collective genome. Of course, it makes for a hopeful future and a future to aspire to but our past doesn’t show much promise for it.

God’s Word tells us that our future is ahead of us in His Kingdom and that is the future that I am holding onto. It will come to pass because God’s Word doesn’t return to Him without effect and void. Every prophecy that was uttered in the Bible has come true. The only prophecies which remain are the church being taken up to Heaven and the Tribulation itself and the physical return of Jesus Christ to rule as King from Jerusalem. One day I will see Him, my Redeemer, face to face.

Dear Friend,


How are you today? I know that some of my friends are feeling sick. Some are overwhelmed by their circumstances. Some don’t know what to do with all of the blessings that they have and feel guilty about them as well. Some don’t feel that they have anything to give but in God’s Kingdom all of you matter! All of you have something that can make a difference in someone’s life.

Do you know what your gift is? I’m not speaking of money, although some are blessed with that too. I’m speaking of life lessons for the most part. Sometimes it is hard to get those lessons across to others. Sometimes they don’t want to hear them and many times they may not take those lessons of advice to heart and put them to use. Why? Because they have a better education than you or I do or they see our advice as being from someone who doesn’t know the struggle that they are going through.

The thing is simply that God does know everything that you have been through. You might not know God as your Savior yet but sometimes those trials are what will bring you to the point of knowing God and knowing that you need Him. Each of us is blessed in the specific way that we have been working toward. Some of us have abilities and even wisdom that has come from Him that we don’t use or may not even know that we have.

We can’t see our abilities because of our distance from God and His Wisdom and His Word. Sometimes we read and study God’s Word but we are thinking of our business or something else in our life. Reading and studying God’s Word is something that takes dedicated study. Not just opening your Bible while you attend church services, but actually studying it like you did in school to pass a test. That is how you get to know God and His Wisdom that will take you through life so you can help others. What do you mean that I have to help others? Because Jesus did it. We are supposed to be and do what He did and more.

Now how am I supposed to do that? He was and is the Son of God, I can’t walk on water or heal people or feed thousands from a sack lunch! There was some bit of wisdom that my grandfather gave me and my grandmother too: Can’t never could. You are living with doubt about who you are in Christ and what He has given you to be. If you doubt anything, Biblical truth or any other truth, it will not happen! If a football team goes into the game thinking “We can’t win”, they won’t win regardless of how hard they try. We defeat our own dreams and abilities even before we begin if we start with a defeated mind!

I’m not advocating “positive thinking” but study of the Bible, quitting smoking, having a successful career in business, or even passing a test have to begin with a mind that is set on DOING and not failing! If you want God to save you, pursue Him…especially when you feel His hand of conviction on you. If you want to graduate with honors go after that goal with everything you have. Living the Christian life cannot be done by us alone but with the Holy Spirit in our heart and our determination to learn more about Him every day we can do it and live it so that others will see our life and will want the life with Christ that we have.

Do not be troubled


Amen

Forgive


Ephesians 4:32: 32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

Do you think about this? Does forgiveness cross your mind when someone else does something against you? Forgiveness is not natural for us. Asking for forgiveness is something that we do, as Christians. Even asking for forgiveness is not natural for humanity because we don’t see our flaws or our sins until the Holy Spirit shows you what you have done or said. Believe me, it is hard to catch those thoughts and sometimes the actions, if we let the thought stay long enough, because thoughts become sinful action if you allow it to take root in your mind.

It doesn’t take long. Only a few seconds and sometimes, just that fast, you will act on that thought. Sometimes, the words will spill out of your mouth before you can get them back. Once they are out there is no remedy for the hurt and pain that is caused except to ask forgiveness from the one you have wronged. Sometimes asking for forgiveness can be a slippery slope if you try to do so too soon. The pain and the hurt feelings are too raw for someone to even think about forgiving you. You may want to patch things up quickly but sometimes that could be the worst decision to make.

Forgiveness is something that is completely foreign to most in our society today. Living today with our world the way it is hard to do unless you are a Christian. Even if you are a Christian, it is hard to forgive sometimes but through the work of the Holy Spirit we can. Jesus came to provide the way for us to be reconciled with God through His blood, all we have to do is accept His sacrifice for us and repent of our sins and then follow Him and we will be in His family.

Give Him praise and thanksgiving


Amen

Not many but one…


People today have accepted a lie. The culture of the world around us believes that Jesus is just one of many ways to eternal life in heaven. People want to “choose their pathway” believing “ that it will lead them to God. You have only two choices. Live according to the Word of God and believing in Jesus Christ or choose not to believe. Those are the pathways that you have to choose from and there are only 2.

There have never been “many ways” to salvation. God was the way to salvation in the Old Testament and it was through faith in Him that those who wanted eternity found it. Their faith and belief in His Promises was the key to eternity, now we have faith and belief in Jesus Christ that brings salvation and forgiveness to all who will believe in Him. So, the concept of more than one way to heaven breaks down to whom you follow as your Savior. Whether it is Jesus or Buddha or Mohammad or someone else or no one else, that is your choice. 

God does not force salvation on anyone. You will either choose to follow Jesus when the Holy Spirit convicts you of your sin or you won’t. Today, many people seem to think that Christians are narrow-minded or exclusive and not modern enough to be in the 21st century. The Bible addresses all of the problems that any “self-help” book does and it gives you the advice to beat your depression, anxiety, feelings of helplessness through the power of prayer and belief in God’s restorative and healing power. 

Is the Bible relevant in the 21st century? Yes, it is and its message is needed more today than ever before. It is the inerrant Word of God. Does it upset people with its exclusive ways and teachings? Yes, but if you follow the guidelines of this book you will be healthier and happier than most of the people around you. God loves you and He cares about every part of your life, not just your spiritual life. Consider that He knows when a sparrow falls to the ground, so if He cares about all of His creation enough to be mindful of birds, don’t you think that mankind is even more important since we are made in His Image?

Remember the fact that all of us have an eternity that comes after this life. Where we spend that eternity is up to us. Choose to follow Jesus and live with Him in eternity or choose some other “way” and end up in hell. It is a very fine line that we are balanced on during our life and the choice that we make about our eternity when we feel convicted of our need for salvation is an eternal one. Make a choice that you will be able to truly live abundantly with rather than being bound in hell.

God is able!


He will supply all of your needs!