Category: Abide in Him

Are you worried?


Anxiety and worry is the contemplation of your future without God in it. Who would do this in this day and time? But, worry and anxiety cause much stress and disease in the day that we live in today. Jesus said that we should not worry, leave your worries with God and He will take care of you. Yet, do we believe it? Really?

Pleanuts-worry-cartoonWith all of the self-help books being sold by “Christian” writers who make many thousands of dollars because of our anxiety, I don’t think we leave our worries and anxiety with God. Can we become more or less worrisome? I suppose it is because of our own pride, we want to be the fixer of the problem, we want to take the anxiety away from our family…but can we? Is it possible for one of us to actually do that thing?

In today’s society, no matter where you might live, money is the one blessing that can take away most of our worries and our anxieties. With the exception of diseases like cancer or deadly infections, money actually can take away our problems. In some ways, money can help with those diseases or infections because if you have enough you can find the best doctors and the best care, no matter how far you have to go to get it.

Contemplation of a day without God in it is a day which I would not want to live through. We need God in our lives every day, every night and at all times.

Denis Lyle, a Baptist pastor in Belfast, Northern Ireland, tells the story of a tourist who visited a beautiful mansion on a lovely lakeshore in Switzerland. The house was spotless and surrounded by well-kept gardens connected by tidy pathways. There wasn’t a weed in sight.

“How long have you been caretaker here?” the tourist asked the gardener. “I’ve been here twenty years.”

“And during that time, how often has the owner of the property been in residence?” The gardener smiled. “He has been here only four times.”

“And to think,” the visitor exclaimed, “all these years you’ve kept this house and garden in such superb condition. You tend it as if you expect him to come tomorrow.”

“Oh no,” replied the gardener, “I look after them as if I expect him to come today.” Denis Lyle, Countdown to Apocalypse (Belfast; Ambassador Books, 1999), 21.

All of us who are watching for our Lord’s return should live our lives as if He were coming today! Yet, most of the Christian world doesn’t. Many of them pray and read a little Scripture and some of them do this on a daily schedule, but the majority of people who claim to be Christians don’t. Why do you think that is with all of the things going on around the world today?

I think that instead of being anxious or worrying about our Lord’s return, we have become apathetic about it. Why? Because there have been many people in the past few hundred years who claimed that Jesus was returning on this date and time and it didn’t happen. Too many people get the idea that they know because of signs and seasons and the trials which are being felt in some churches that God is going to send for His church on a certain date or time. Of course, the problem with this is that only God knows when that day and hour is, we do not.

Truly, we are not supposed to be anxious about His coming or the rapture of the church, just be ready! Yes, it could happen tomorrow or it might be next year or maybe in six months, but live your life as a Christian in light of the nearness of His coming so that He does find you working or telling others about Him.

Who is driving?


Have you ever seen those bumper stickers which say something like this: Jesus is my co-pilot? Do you realize what that even means? In a Christian’s life, Jesus is not supposed to be the co-pilot, He is supposed to be THE Pilot! The problem is that we have a very hard time when it comes to giving God or Jesus control over every area of our life. Most of us walk around or drive around with a prayer on our minds or maybe a Bible verse on a sticky note on the console to remind us that we are supposed to be like Jesus.

WalkingwithJesusThe problem with that is that God is not and doesn’t want to be your second, He wants to be first in all that you are and in everything that you do, no matter how small you think it might be. Our lives are small compared to the majesty and glory of our sinless God, but He wants to be part of your daily life, not just someone that you call on in a time of crisis. God loves you deeply or He wouldn’t have given His Son’s life for you and every person on Earth! While it is true that Jesus didn’t stay dead, thankfully, the shedding of His blood was part of the sacrifice which had to be given in order to bring salvation to all who will believe in Him!

No, God doesn’t want to be your co-pilot, He wants to be the driver of your everyday life. Yet, many people stick Him in a place which only gives us a little taste of being a Christian. We visit Him in church on Sunday and Wednesday nights, but we leave Him in the church when we leave. We take a memory of Him with us on the way to work on Monday, but by Thursday we have forgotten that He is there anyway.

We should ride along with Him each day, no matter what may be going on in our lives. He came to the Garden and walked with Adam every day, Adam could probably see His feet in the grass or see His back as they walked along. Could we have that kind of relationship with God? I don’t think we will see any part of Him until we meet Him face to face in Heaven, but I am looking forward to it.

Why do I bring this type of walk with our Lord up now? Because I don’t think that this type of relationship is being taught in Sunday school. God does want a relationship with us that is much more than a once or twice a week visit. He wants to be a part of your life and mine every single day, from the time you wake up until you go to sleep at night. Some people may find this weird, but ever since I accepted the calling of being a preacher I have tried to live my life with Him in it every day. Some days I fail at it pretty badly and some days it goes along pretty smoothly.

The only person Who ever walked with Him perfectly was Jesus, so we are not expected to be perfect just strive toward that goal. Will you fall down or fail at this? Yes, it is very likely but He will help you up and then you can begin again. You don’t lose your salvation just because you trip and fall or give over to a temptation which comes your way. God is not going to kick you out just because you tripped up today or last week because He loves you!

Be not conformed to this world


Why not, you might ask?

All of the wonders of this world are ours to enjoy, so why should I just ignore them? Because, if you have given your life to Jesus then you are not part of this world. You belong to Him. But, Jesus did not say that we couldn’t enjoy the world with all of its wondrous beauty. He meant for us to stay away from the worldly pleasures of drinking and using drugs and the sin that those can lead you into.

LoveOfChristBe not conformed to this world is an admonishment against following the crowd and doing what everyone else seems to be doing. Walk your path through life with Jesus by your side and realize that once you have given your heart to Him, He is always near you regardless of where you go. Jesus is the potter and we are the clay and we are to allow Him to mold us and make us into an image which closely resembles Him in almost all respects.

Why should you follow Him this closely? Because He died to save your soul and if you truly are a Christian you will want to be near Him and take Him everywhere with you. He died in order that you might be set free from sin and its deception in this life and to give you access to an eternal life which we cannot imagine or comprehend from where we are now. There have been a few people who have been blessed with visions or even a spiritual trip to Heaven for a little while and when they come back to finish their life here…they can’t explain nor describe the colors or sounds that they heard and saw there!

I think the little boy, who died for a few minutes in the book Heaven is Real, saw the people in his family so that he could come back and tell us that our life up in Heaven will be unbelievable to people here unless we can make sense out of Heaven. He did make sense of it because Jesus wanted him to know and be able to give hope to people when he came back.

God loves you so deeply that He sent Jesus to die for your sins and everyone else’s sins too. He may not call every person on the planet to get to know Him, but He loves you just the same. If you diligently and earnestly seek Him in the Bible and by prayer, I don’t believe that God would refuse your prayer of repentance and request to allow Jesus into your heart and life.

Does God know which of us will ask Jesus into their heart? I am sure He does or He isn’t God! Does He know which of us will actually accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior? Yes, again if He doesn’t know that, then HE isn’t God! God doesn’t say that He will refuse you when you pray earnestly and mean every word of your prayer. But, if you pray in a manner which is just a mockery of God and essentially laughing in His face then He will not listen to that prayer.

The Bible does say, “be not deceived, God is not mocked” because whatsoever a man sows in his life, that is what he will reap. God is the Creator of ALL, and He is terrible when He is angry so I wouldn’t recommend that you try His patience or His anger. He loves us deeply, far more than we can imagine or comprehend, so please ask Him into your life before it is too late. After you die, there will be no second chances.

What is necessary today?


As Christians, we are told all kinds of laws and petitions and such that we should follow and adhere to in our walk with Jesus..but are they necessary? In the church, as it was beginning in the first century, the people were selling much or almost all of what they had and used it to support the church and its people. Those who were members of that early church who had much sold it and gave to those who had little so that all were blessed.

Concerning tithes, they were giving far above the ten percent which Abraham gave in the Old Testament. The reason for their generosity was based not on numbers but upon the grace which they, and us, have received from God through Jesus. There is no way that any of us could possibly pay back what the grace from God is worth and frankly, we shouldn’t try to. Not even the richest person in the world has enough to cover that debt.

Yet, Jesus paid for all of our sins in His death on the cross and His resurrection after three days. There is no accounting which could possibly figure the amount which all of humanity owes Him. The only way to even begin to pay it forward in a way is to give your life to Jesus and follow Him. Doing His work while you have the time and the ability in this life. Your lifetime of service won’t be enough to pay Him back but it is the least that you…no, it is the least that all of us who are Christians can do and should!

ARealDaddyIn America today, we have a man problem. There aren’t many of them around. Being born a male is something that you cannot choose or change, regardless of what the doctors tell you. Being a man…a father…or a daddy is something that you become, but you have to choose to BE one of them. Being a man is the same as being a Daddy to your kids, any male means that you can father many children if that is what you feel is the thing to do. But…being a man and a Daddy takes special care and preparation in your childhood and your teenage years. There is no manual for us to read, it is an on the job learning or apprenticeship which makes you a man and a Daddy.

The Bible is our instruction manual which gives us all of the wisdom and knowledge about being men and being a Daddy. You can’t get that knowledge from your mom or your grandmother, you can only learn it from your Dad or maybe your grandfather. I had a wonderful grandfather. His dad died when he was a young boy, so he did the best he could in raising my mother and he helped to raise me as well. I didn’t agree with his “old-fashioned” ideas when I was growing up, but I suppose I wouldn’t have agreed with my Dad either if he had been around.

So…what is necessary today in America and around the world? Men who will teach their children the right way to live, by God’s Word and by the wisdom contained in it. There are no self-help books out there that are better or more useful than the Bible and that’s a fact. If you have trouble understanding it, ask God to show you what the meaning of His Word. Be a Christian and give your heart and your life to Jesus so that you can be an example which bears even a slight resemblance to Jesus so that your children, boys or girls, can have something to aspire toward in their life.

Don’t give up on life just because you aren’t a millionaire if you are a child of God through the grace of Jesus Christ our Savior you are rich. It may not be the riches which the world recognizes, but it will give your life and the lives of your family a much stronger foundation on which to live your life until Jesus returns.

 

What kind of Christian are you?


Do you practice your beliefs on a daily basis or do you just do so on Sunday at church? There are some people who actually practice “sometimes Christianity”, meaning that they are Christians sometimes such as when they attend church or functions at the church. But, they don’t practice being a Christian at work or away from the church. Are you a real believing Christian if you do this?

Was your life and your heart changed when you accepted Jesus as your Savior? If you believe that it was changed, did you change along with it? If your life didn’t change, then are you certain that your heart was changed?

I am not asking these questions to be accusing of anyone because I wondered these things myself after I accepted Jesus. The change in your life is not like getting a smack on your head with a bat, it is gradual but if you don’t follow the leading of the Holy Spirit you can upset the apple cart in a manner of speaking. How do I know this? Because I did exactly that at first. I upset the apple cart and after a while, I was back doing the same things as before.

It isn’t shameful but when you become a Christian you do need some coaching or mentoring for a while. Going it alone is not the recommended way of walking with Jesus daily.

You need to begin to study God’s Word, not just reading it. Prayerfully study it, get into the scripture with Jesus and actually ask Him to explain things that you don’t understand. If possible, get with your pastor or someone that you know is a Christian to help you understand God’s Word and His meaning. Why do I say this? Because it is too easy for Satan to whisper in your mind when you are new to faith in Jesus and he will make you believe things about what you read which aren’t the truth.

God does want you to learn from His Word but you need to be listening to Him talk and not your own thoughts and ideas. Pray about what you are reading, read His Word out loud if need be. Get a set of CD’s or mp3’s which have the entire Bible on them so you can listen to it being read to you, then pray about what you are hearing. God will reveal exactly what He wants you to know from His Word at the time that you need to hear it and understand it.

God will not lead you to a place where He doesn’t want you to be. Your life with Jesus is important because He wouldn’t have called you into His family unless He had something for you to do. God knows that you are the only person who can do what He has called you to do, and nobody else can accomplish it.

All of us who are Christians have a calling from God. It may be to teach a Sunday school class or be an usher at church, it might be for us to be a preacher or a missionary telling people in far-away places about Jesus. It might also be that you can help out at a shelter for the homeless or for Veterans. Whatever you do, even if you do it at your regular job, do it for the glory of God and let people know that you belong to Him!

Don’t be a “pew Christian”, one that is only a Christian in church and not very different from the rest of the world when you aren’t in church. That is being a false Christian or a Christian on the surface alone. Make sure of your beliefs and your position in Jesus because when your life ends here, anything that is just superficial won’t help you when you stand for your judgment.

Are you a disciple?


This question has haunted me ever since I gave my life to Jesus and I still struggle to answer it. The Bible calls us “saints” although I don’t feel like I fit that description either. I was called into the ministry almost seven years ago, so I actually identify with the description of a disciple more than any other. What about you?

In many ways the first time I felt a call from God was about thirty-six years ago and at that time I wasn’t ready at all! I hadn’t been reading my Bible and I only attended church services a few times during the year. I felt that I wasn’t worthy to be called into any kind of ministry so I did what Jonah did…I ran away from that calling. I ignored it for many years.

Then, I got a call from a preacher who had been teaching a Bible study in a small church close to home. He told me that he needed me to fill in for him on Sunday (He called me on a Wednesday or Thursday, I really don’t remember). Anyway, I didn’t have much time to prepare. I was scared to death. I didn’t like speeches nor standing in front of a crowd to speak and you have to do that every week if you are a preacher.

God got me through that sermon, even though it only lasted about 8 or 10 minutes! I am still preaching there and today I can speak for about thirty minutes, sometimes a bit more. Why am I telling this? Because, as shy as I was in high school none of my classmates would think that I would ever do something like this! But, I have been there for six years and nine months so far. I pray that my sermons are doing some good for the Lord.

That is why I come here to “preach”. I don’t have to stand in front of people and I can write what the Spirit gives me to say so that others might come to know Jesus as their Savior. God loves each of you so much that He sent His Son to take the punishment that you and I should have been given. In many ways, you can see in the news today what is happening in our world with all of the murders and shootings and all of the wars and terrorist bombings going on. All of this is due to people who have made God fit their image of Who He is and what He demands of them.

God doesn’t demand anything besides your obedience once you have given your heart to Jesus and decide to follow His example in your daily life. Living your life through Jesus example is the best way to live because only He could fulfill the Law and the Ten Commandments perfectly. Please seek Him out while you have breath and time to do so because there is no second chance when you leave this life for eternity.

Romans 6:22-23 says this:   22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Passing the baton


In racing, passing the baton means that you are handing off something to signify that another person will run a part of the race while you rest for a bit. In life or a family owned business sometimes the responsibility for a family member or the business is passed to the next in line to take over. But, sometimes they don’t want the responsibility or the business, then what do you do?

You can try to sell the business to an interested third-party as is or you can liquidate it and just get out of the business altogether. But, what if it is an aging parent who needs to be taken care of? You can’t just shove them off into some home and forget about them, can you? Unfortunately, many older Americans are treated this way and it is sad.

thereasonforourproblemsMany times it is because the family doesn’t live nearby but often it is because of carelessness and callous feelings toward whichever parent it may be. Whichever it may be, the way we treat our elders will be the way that we are treated when we reach their age or possibly worse. God loves us and expects us to take care of those aged members of society because they raised most of the generation which replaces them!

Why won’t our society care for those who can’t take care of themselves? In today’s world, it is likely because we think that we don’t have time. Many of us take up so much time with work and social gatherings until even our immediate family life suffers because of it. Some cultures do revere the aged population in their country, but today even those are suffering from neglect.

Do I have a solution for this problem?

Sadly…no there isn’t a solution for the entire world which takes care of our aging population, the homeless, those who suffer from PTSD caused by war abroad or a war-like situation in the home. The only cure for any of this will come when Jesus returns to rule our world for one thousand years!

Are you ready for His return? Will you be ready when He calls the “dead in Christ to rise“? There are few who are ready even now. Our country has long cast itself as a Christian nation and many people do claim to be Christians, but there are so many churches closing their doors because nobody is attending church anymore. So why are people leaving the church?

Some believe that it is because of young people and their attitude of “whatever”. It could be that the church hasn’t done enough outreach to their communities or it may be that our country itself is the reason. We have pushed God and the worship of Him into a corner and told them (us) to sit down and be quiet! Silencing the body of Christ here while making other ideas and religions more acceptable. Because as long as we don’t mention Jesus and the love of God for mankind and tell people that the only way to heaven is through belief in Jesus then we are accepted.

But that is not what Jesus told His disciples to do and that includes us! What would the general population think if the courts were suddenly shut down and crime ran completely unchecked in our country? There would be chaos and nobody would be safe. That is essentially what they want the church to do, sit in your church and worship but be quiet when you come out and just leave us alone!

Please pray for our country and the world to come to their senses and realize that they need God in their lives! Jesus is the only Savior that we have and if you don’t or won’t follow Him then the alternative eternity for those will be in hell.

Cliche’


Life is not supposed to be lived while spouting cliche’s almost all of the time. When someone asks you how you feel, don’t tell them “I’m fine” because you know it isn’t true. At least not the way you mean it. I have been in doctor’s offices and heard friends meeting in the waiting room. They ask each other how they are doing and those words are the first that I hear from either of them, “I’m fine”.

NO, they are NOT fine! If they were they wouldn’t be in the waiting room to see the doctor! You know as well as I do that people do this all of the time. We are lying to our friends and we are lying to God as well! Why do I put it that way? Because, if your life is fine then you don’t have any problems, none. Your family is doing great, all of your bills are paid and your credit score is 800!

NOBODY is that perfect!!

Life doesn’t work that way! You know it and I do as well.

God loves you and the only place where life will truly be perfect is when you and I get to Heaven. There won’t be any cell phones or clocks, no disease, and no lottery or sweepstakes to try to win money from. But…until that time and place is a reality, we are all a good deal less than “doing fine”. Do you believe this? I do.

Perfect peace and harmony aren’t possible on this side of Heaven. Even though some fictional shows declare that we can achieve this through technology and by realizing that God is not real. I hate to break it to you but He is real! The Bible and all of those prophecies couldn’t be some fictional book made up by some old men because mankind cannot know the future, especially what will happen hundreds of years in the future.

Cliche’ or twisted words are what the serpent used to get Eve to try the fruit from the tree which God had commanded them NOT to eat of. Truly, cliche’s are words or phrases which are used so much that their meaning is lost. When you twist someone else’s words then you are creating a cliche and that is exactly what the Serpent did in the garden.

There are people who do this all the time, they are called lawyers and politicians. If you don’t believe me, listen to a recording of their arguments in court or the way that their laws are worded in the legislature.

God loves us but telling people that you are doing well or fine is usually a lie in the first place and that is a sin in God’s court. Anything which is beyond the truth is a lie and it doesn’t matter what you call it. A “fib” is a lie, a little white lie is still a lie, any untruth is a lie but Satan tries to tell you and me that they don’t mean anything unless they are really BIG lies! WRONG!! Make sure that your relationship is with God and His Son, Jesus because Satan can disguise himself as an angel since he was one a long time ago. He is very skilled at making people believe things which aren’t true as if they are.

So, make sure of the spirit that you are hearing is actually from God. As the scripture says, “Test the spirits with God’s Word”, then you will be safe when you hear it and listen to it. If it isn’t from God and it doesn’t line up with Scripture, then don’t listen to it and get away from it.

So much needs to be said…


In the days of Noah, he taught his sons about God and His mercies. He tried to preach to those around him about God but they wouldn’t hear the message, not even after a century and more had passed. When God sent him into the ark or boat, whichever you want to call it, the time for repenting was over. God shut the door.

noah-symbolic of JesusOur world is coming very close to that time. There will not be a worldwide flood but when God’s patience has reached its limit, people will know. When believers who have accepted Jesus as their Savior have been taken up into heaven, then the whole world will know. When is this going to take place? I don’t know.

In the Bible, God expressly says that it will happen but only He determines the time and the hour when it will occur. Just as He did when it was time for Noah and his family to be saved from the flood, we will be saved from the Tribulation. God has provided a way for us to be saved yet there are still many who either don’t want to believe it or they think they have plenty of time.

God sent His Son to take the punishment which all of humanity deserves so that some could be saved if they would believe in Him. The apostle John writes it so clearly in his gospel, telling anyone who reads it that salvation is possible if you only believe in the One Who provided it.

Repentance is necessary for us to belong to the family of God, yet many do not want to repent. Because it means that they will have to forgo their sinful ways and many do not think they are living a sinful life. The world is being deceived by Satan and his principalities, but they don’t want to believe that he even exists. Which is exactly what Satan wants us to believe. If we deny the deception that many are under today, we will be part of the ones which deny Jesus as the Christ as well.

Life is in Jesus and we need to learn this truth. The whole world has denied that the Bible and its truth is the whole Truth of God because they, meaning the unbelieving world, refused to accept His Word as Truth. God has always sent prophets to bring His Word to those who are perishing, yet most of those who heard them didn’t believe their words even when their prophecies were proven true.

Our job, as Christians and believers, is to let the light of Truth and our Savior’s grace toward all to shine through our lives so that others would want what they see in us. The big question is this: Do we live our beliefs in view of others or do we keep our salvation and our beliefs to ourselves?

God has made our world perfectly capable of being our home forever, yet we are fighting over crumbs and squabbling over doctrines of men! If we could only live as God commanded us to, the whole world would be a much more peaceful place, but we haven’t been able to bring about this utopia. Why? Because we can’t do it on our ideas of good intentions. Mankind has always been incapable of being without greed and malice toward others simply because we want what someone else has.

If it were only coveting the peace of God then we might be able to talk in a civil manner and bring about peace on Earth. But, our greedy, covetous ways extends to many more things than just the peace which is found in Jesus. Pride and vanity, along with greed and a host of other nasty sins drag many into places where God’s influence isn’t felt at all. In most of these places bringing the Truth of God into contact with their way of living causes even more pain and suffering because they can’t stand the Light of Jesus and the Truth of God!

Please pray about your relationship with Jesus and seek Him out because the time which we live in is grievous and coming to an end soon. Don’t ignore the prompting of the Holy  Spirit on your heart, seek Jesus for your salvation.

How BIG is God to you?


Remember that God told Moses, “I am Who I AM”; He did not say, “I am who you want me to be”. In our world today, many people look at all of the sufferings in the world and say things like, “My god would never allow that to happen”, to which I would like to ask “What god are you talking about?”. Life, as we live it on Earth or in whichever country we reside in, is sometimes hard. But…God is still in control. He always has been.

Much of the suffering in our world is because of lack of rain or wars or famines and poverty. Does God allow this to happen? Yes, He does, but He is not the cause of it. Can God do something about these things? Yes, He can, but our sin and our unbelief limit Him in the ways that He can work. Just as when Jesus went to His hometown of Nazareth, He could do no great miracles there because they knew His father and His family. Nobody believed that He was a great prophet, let alone the Messiah!

When we imagine God or Jesus as smaller than they are, trying to make them more like us, then we limit our belief and our faith in what they can do. We put them in a box of a size that we can handle. We make God smaller and more manageable to our minds so that we aren’t overwhelmed by how awesome He actually is!

There is a star, a sun like our own, a few thousand light-years away, which is so much bigger than ours until it would boggle the imagination and the minds of us mere humans. Yet, God made that star too. Here is a link to an article about this LARGE star. Here is an image which may give you an idea of how much bigger this star is than ours:

Sun;_VY_Canis_Majoris_and_UY_Scuti_size

That tiny speck at the bottom of the picture is our Sun, at almost 1,000,000 miles across, yet it is tiny in comparison. God is much bigger than we can imagine but when we limit Him in our own minds we also limit what we believe He can do in our lives. Don’t make that mistake.

God loves you and me enough that He provides for our needs every day, but we don’t acknowledge Him or His part in our daily lives. We wake up from sleep and go about our day as if we have control over every part of it. But have you considered just how much of your day is actually under your control?

If you are not working for yourself, then you get up in time to be at work on time. You take your lunch break when you are allowed the time for it and you get off work when your day is finished. Then you drive home, eat something for supper or dinner whichever you call it, watch some mind-numbing TV shows and go to sleep and then repeat the process tomorrow.

Does that sound like you really control your life and the time spent living it? It doesn’t to me. Seek out the Creator of everything and be in awe of His grace and love for you. Give your life to Him and ask Him to help you to learn more about Him from His Word. You won’t be disappointed at all…ever!