Category: Abide in Him

Superficial belief


In today’s world it seems to be hard to actually have a belief in Jesus that is deeper than “skin deep”. Why is that? Mainly, it is because of fear I think. Because laws have been passed which condemn the mention of His name in some circles. Because it is not politically correct to be an openly Christian person in any public area or arena.

Today, it seems that our Christian beliefs are not correct enough to be proclaimed in any public arena outside of our churches. We are supposed to keep them to ourselves, according to the law but according the command of our Lord we are NOT supposed to keep this good news to ourselves.

The truth of the CrossWe have not been saved through Jesus’ sacrifice to keep that salvation to ourselves! While it is true that our view on salvation, sin, and eternity are views which aren’t held by much of the world today, God loves them regardless and He wants them to come to know Jesus for their salvation. It is true that, in the view of the world, we are narrow-minded and hypocritical in our lives it must be realized that only one Person was ever able to live a perfect, sinless life!

Yes, we falter and fail in many ways on a daily basis but so does everyone else in this world full of religions! There is no person on Earth which can keep all of the laws and demands of their religion perfectly every hour of every day! Christians included!

In order to be a practicing and faithful Christian our faith and our knowledge of Jesus is not supposed to be superficial! It is supposed to be the core of our being and at the heart of everything that we do in life whether it is in business or our daily living. I know that there are questions about this, so I will try to address them to the best of my ability.

How can I take Jesus with me in my business or professional life?

This one isn’t as hard as it seems. When you get up in the morning, thank God for your life and the ability to live it one more day. Ask Him to walk with you during the day and live your day in the knowledge that He is there. Be in a thankful mood for all of the things which happen during your day, good or bad. Don’t push Him away or attend a meeting or a hearing or whatever you do without Him. I don’t mean to bring Scripture into every meeting or encounter, but keep your mind as focused on God throughout the day as you can. With a bit of practice, it can be done.

What should I do when I say or do something that I know is sinful in His eyes?

Just ask forgiveness and move on with your day. Don’t beat yourself over the head about it. If your heart belongs to Him already, then your sins are forgiven, so act like it. But…don’t act as if you can walk on water because you can’t! Realize that your life is your witness for Jesus whether you say anything about Him to anyone or not.

Is it possible to lead someone to Jesus without preaching to them?

Of course. Let them see you praying over your food at lunchtime. If they ask about your faith, tell them what Jesus did for you and how He strengthens you each day. Show them in a Bible, if one is available, where He says that “all are welcome”. Here is a quote from the Bible to remember:

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28

Living a life with Jesus present in it is not a hard thing, but like most disciplines in life it has to be practiced, daily. It is not a once-a-week refill of His Spirit but a daily practice of knowing that He is with you and thanking Him for His grace and His forgiveness too. At first living like He is walking with you every step of the way isn’t easy, but with practice it gets easier. Seek Him in the morning, walk through your day in a prayerful and thankful mind and then thank Him for sustaining you throughout the day. This is planting Him deep within your soul and not living a superficial and unfulfilling Christian life!

Live your walk on purpose for Him!

 

The message is true!


Nobody's mad but youThis message about Satan being angry or rather furious with Christians is true, but we are protected by the blood of Jesus. He cannot harm us at all! He can cause us pain and heartache by the death of loved ones, he can also cause our death, if God allows it, but he can do nothing without God saying that he can.

Long before Jesus came, Satan attacked Job and took everything from him to try to force Job to curse God or lose his faith in God. It didn’t work. Learn from Job and from the rest of the Bible because the Truth is absolute whether you like it or believe it at all!

Life is hard enough living day by day without understanding that Satan HATES you immensely! Yes, he would love to take your life, your children, your job, and everything else that you have away from you and then gloat in watching you suffer through it all! In Christ we have an advocate and a Protector that will stand with us through it all. That doesn’t mean that we won’t ever have trouble as Christians, but we will have His Strength and His Presence in our lives to help us get through any trouble that we have.

Some people call Christianity a “crutch” or a weak-minded way of dealing with life. Some even try to tell others that what we believe in is a lie and that the disciples just made it all up. Let me ask you this: if someone was going to put you to death by fire or any other means if you didn’t recant your belief in Jesus, would you recant? If you knew it was a lie you would.

That is why the testimony of the book, Foxes Book of Martyrs, is so powerful! Stephen wouldn’t have been stoned for a lie. There were many Roman soldiers who died because they became Christians. Many of the early church were killed in the arena by lions and other horrible ways for their faith! This has been happening for nearly 2000 years, and it is still happening today. Because, the testimony of the Bible and all of the Christians who have died for their faith shows that our faith is not in some made-up story or fantasy.

Jesus is REAL and He is coming soon, so you need to decide which so-called “lie” will you believe. The one where Satan tells you that all of it is hogwash and that you can rule with him in hell one day or will you believe the Truth of Jesus the Christ Who came and paid the price for your eternal soul?

A church reborn!


The church today is nothing like what Jesus intended for it to be. Why is that? Have we not heard from the Bible or have we been sitting in church but not listening?

Let me give you a quote from A.W. Tozer who wrote The Crucified LIfe:

The late Dr. A. W. Tozer, author and pastor, said, “If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95 percent of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference. If the Holy spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95 percent of what they did would stop, and everybody would know the difference.”

In our churches today, whether they are Baptist, Methodist or Presbyterian, would anyone notice is the Holy Spirit was not present? In some churches, I don’t believe that anyone would notice at all. Is it possible to follow Christ so closely until there is little difference in your actions and deeds? I am not sure that any church would want to be revived enough to live that close to Jesus.

The things of God, which we hear about from our reading the Bible and from the sermon on Sunday, are what make up our faith and our trust in Him. We also delight in the Lord because of His goodness and the value of the treasures that are in our Heavenly home and not the one that we occupy here! When we value those things that God values then we stand with Him, spiritually, in heaven even when we are still here. We walk with Him here and seek His revealing on Earth and we will live for eternity.

Paul wrote about this in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1:

1 Thessalonians 1

King James Version

1 Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2 We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers;
3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;
4 Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God.
5 For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.
6 And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost.
7 So that ye were examples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia.
8 For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing.
9 For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;
10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

VineandBranchesIf our church, regardless of the denomination, is to be reborn then we must do it soon. Repent and ask for God’s forgiveness of our arrogance and our prideful ways. We have been prideful for many years in the church, thinking that our doctrines and our bylaws govern us and get us within reach of Jesus. That kind of thinking will send many straight to hell.

Why? Because no amount of works or money or “wisdom” from a preacher or a committee can equal the wisdom of God’s Word! Changing words around or even taking them from Scripture and calling the “new bible” an improved “translation” is also a good way to lead many into hell. That is an eternity which I don’t want to be responsible for, nor do I want to go into eternity without Jesus.

If you are a preacher and you are teaching your congregation that your doctrine or your “new translation” is the way to reach Heaven, please realize that you are taking a whole church into an eternity with Satan. You will be held responsible for leading them down the wrong path and you will suffer for it regardless of your belief in the eternal nature of Hell itself!

Have faith in God alone!


“Isaiah 43:1-2, this is what the Lord says,” do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned and the flames will not set you ablaze.”

onebreathawayOur Lord and Savior is on His throne and all of these promises are given to those who believe in Him. Seek to do good for those who cannot do for themselves because that is what Jesus would do in this world.

Life, especially life on Earth, is precious to God and He doesn’t look kindly on those who take it lightly. We, the whole of humanity, are His creation and in spite of what some religions teach, God loves each person as His own. Why else would He send Jesus to die and pay the penalty for our transgressions, even before most of us today were born?

Yes, God will protect those who believe in Him and His Son and He will give them life even after this body has died. Will all of us see this come to pass in our lifetime? I don’t know nor could I tell you because only God knows when that time will be. He knows the day and the hour and when the time comes, it will happen and not before. It will also happen when God has determined it will and not because of what we are doing or not doing on Earth.

There are some who think that if they cause more death and destruction on Earth it will force the Tribulation/End Times/Whatever you want to call it to begin, but that is not how God works. Yes, He did bring about the flood because of the evil intent of mankind and Jesus said that the condition of the world would be “like the days of Noah”, but our wickedness is not going to trigger the Tribulation.

God’s timing of events will proceed at the pace which He decides on, not on anything that we are doing or not doing at the time.

Make sure that you are ready and looking for His coming when it does happen, because the world which will be here after the church is taken up will be much worse than the one we have now.

 

What is the difference?


IamtheWayIt seems that there are so many different divisions of believers! Why? Aren’t we supposed to be worshipping the same Jesus and from the Bible which is God’s Word? Why do we have all of these denominations?

Mostly because of the work of Satan in the church. You didn’t think he could do that did you? If Satan can attend a meeting in Heaven and accuse Job, speaking to God about him, he can surely come into each of our churches! He may come in as a new convert to Christ or he may show up as a deacon or maybe someone who isn’t satisfied with the preacher.

I don’t mean that he has possessed them, but he plants thoughts into their minds which will take root in the congregation and even begin to fracture the family in the church. If you think about how problems arise in the church, regardless of the denomination, this will make sense. Many times after the church is either split or in some way diminished, the “new” person will leave or the person who planted the seed won’t have any recollection of the problem.

I am not writing this to accuse anyone but I am writing it to bring attention to this problem which does come up in churches all over the world, not just here in America. Paul wrote that we are at war with powers and principalities and these are just some of the forces that Satan has under his command. Thoughts of things which Christians shouldn’t think of, consideration of sinful things which we know we shouldn’t do, these are the “arrows” that our Spiritual armor should protect us from.

But, if you haven’t studied God’s Word and placed it in your mind to give you strength and power to resist these thoughts, then you may entertain them and it will become a stumbling block for you. The war for your spirit and your soul is in your mind and it is there that Satan attacks because he can see what each of us is attracted to the most and he uses it against us.

It is the same when we are having trouble in our churches, Satan and his demons and powers are attacking us, each one of us. Pulling up little things which irk us about a certain speaker or topic and making them seem far worse than they are. This is how he caused Adam and Eve to envy God in the garden and he has been doing it ever since all over the world.

Seek out the truth in God’s Word and study it. Learn from the Old and the New Testaments because they complement and interpret each other. With God’s Wisdom in your heart and in your head, Satan can’t twist it and make it say something when you know it well enough to thwart his plans. He knows scripture better than you do so you have to study it in order to know it at least as well. If you don’t, then he will make it sound like it came from the Bible even when he has changed a word or two to make it seem better or more appealing.

This is why we can’t stop learning scripture. Just because you may have read the entire Bible through last year doesn’t mean that you know it well enough to take him on. If you are like me in your reading, when you have finished reading the Bible, the next day feels empty without reading more of it. Every year I read it through but usually when I have finished it, I go back to Genesis and begin again. Each time over the last seven years I will find something or the Spirit will reveal something to me that I didn’t see or understand before!

I am about halfway through another reading of it and I feel that I should begin again. Why? I don’t know, maybe it is the Spirit prompting me to read again a part of it that I have read so that I can understand it a little better. I usually do find some insight in a passage every time that I read it which didn’t jump out at me before and it makes more sense this time.

I am not claiming to be perfect in my studies because I miss a day or two at times, when life gets in the way or maybe I’m not feeling well for a few days, but the more scripture that you put into your mind and heart the less you will be deceived by cults or by Satan.

Forgiveness


Sermons have been preached on this, people talk about this in the news and at home, but…is it given to those who don’t deserve it?

Many times in our lives we seek forgiveness from friends and spouses and would like to receive it from loan companies (being debt free for a change); my point is this: do we extend forgiveness to those around us who have wronged us in some way, even when they don’t deserve it?

Concerning the statement of deserving it part of that statement…how do you know that they don’t deserve it? Who are you to judge? Does holding a grudge against people who have never wronged you help your life in any way?

Image result for ForgivenessWe should be willing to forgive others regardless of the wrong committed because that is what Jesus did for us. If you are not forgiving others of something which was done to a family member in the past, particularly more than a century ago, what good is this doing you today?

My ancestors came from Ireland as indentured slaves. Should I hold a grudge against some person or family because of it? Should I be that ungrateful for the reason that my family came here? I don’t think so. It is true that many Irish slaves were very ill-treated at the time and many more were put in chains even in the sugar plantations in the Caribbean, but I can’t hold a grudge against people I don’t know anything about.

Forgiveness is one of those qualities which Christians are supposed to express in their lives, but it seems to be in short supply particularly today. While it is true that many slave owners in the South treated their slaves terribly, there were also some in the North who did the very same thing. We who are living in the 21st century shouldn’t be holding the black flag of slavery over our brothers and sisters in America because of something which happened over a century ago.

Was it a crime to own slaves at the time? No it wasn’t, but the treatment of people who were sold into slavery was horrible and that is the true crime. Many of those sold into slavery from Africa were sold by their own people, so the selling of slaves can’t be totally laid at America’s feet. Many nations in Africa and the Middle East today have slaves, but this isn’t publicized because it is illegal today.

Should we forgive those who put our ancestors in shackles to be sold? Yes, we should. It is a shame that many were treated so terribly and the conditions of slavery shouldn’t be ignored, especially in today’s world. Even today, children and women are sold into the slave trade as sex slaves, some even right here in America. But, it will never appear on a news program.

Can we forgive those who are doing these things, even today? In Christ we are supposed to do so, but our human morality and dignity cannot let it go unpunished if they can even be caught and brought to justice. Only through our faith in Jesus and the strength which He gives us can we possibly forgive these things.

Paul said it best in his writing to the Galatians, and we should follow that example to the best of our ability which Jesus gives us.

The Exodus, the Bread and the Wine


This idea just came to me while I was reading a story about Christianity. The only explanation that I can give you for the title is that the Spirit placed the idea in my mind. I am not Jewish, although I have read a Jewish Bible complete with the New Testament. The three ideas in the title: the Exodus, the Bread and the Wine are intimately tied to the nation and people of Israel.

Bread&WineThe Exodus is their liberation from bondage as slaves in Egypt for over four hundred years. It is not unlike our own lives in that we were slaves to our life of sin and rebellion toward God. Now, for some of us this rebellion wasn’t an active rebellion and we may not have known that what we were doing was sinful in the sight of God. Why do I say it that way? Because many of us asked Jesus to become our Savior at an early age, say 8 or 12 years. I barely knew what the word “sin” meant and honestly I didn’t think that my life could’ve been classified as sinful, at that time.

During the exodus from Egypt, the Israelites were glad to be out of bondage but they didn’t know this God Who had called them out of bondage. Which is why it took forty years for them to get to the point of going into the land which had been promised to them. Even after all of the miracles and provision that God provided for them during this time, they still rebelled against Him in their Promised Land.

Sounds a bit like us actually. When we learn about God and what He asks of us, don’t we rebel a bit? I mean, we like the idea of forgiveness and eternal life but “being in a state of prayerful thought” on a daily basis is a bit much don’t you think? Not really, if you consider what this really means. The analogy that I like goes something like this: When you go to the doctor and you tell him you have had a cold and a cough for about a week, you don’t mean that you have been coughing for a whole week. Just that you have had a persistent cough which has hung around for that length of time. It is the same with praying without ceasing. It doesn’t mean that you pray 24 hours a day, but you wake with a prayerful attitude of thankfulness that you are alive today. You thank God for your health and your breakfast. You thank Him for being able to go to work or school or whatever you are doing today.

That is an attitude of prayer without ceasing.

It gets you through your exodus in this life, every day and night, all through your life! This is your “daily cross”.

The Bread is reading and prayerfully studying the Bible. Learning more about God and what He requires of His people, Israelite and Gentile. If you don’t know what is required or asked of you, how will you know what to do with your life on a daily basis? The only way to know is to read and study His Word with prayer for understanding at least a few days during the week. I don’t mean that you should read the Bible for a whole day, but a chapter or two a day for a few days at a time will get your mind washed in His Word and keep it on His ideas and wisdom.

The Wine is what you partake of through giving your heart and your life to Jesus, asking Him to come in and change you into a child of God. This is part of your walk, your life with Him and it begins your exodus from your old life, your old ways, into a life that is lived in and through Jesus! It is a daily process. Salvation, if you truly are sincere about it, comes immediately when you ask for it. Your sanctification and becoming more like Jesus is the walk, prayerfully with Him every day. Your exodus or your walking away from your old life comes when you have asked Him to come in and change you into a new creation!

Just as the trek through the desert wasn’t easy for the children of Israel, the process of becoming a Christian and becoming more like Christ won’t be easy either. There will be days or times where you will stumble and fall, but Jesus is there to help you get up. If you have studied the Bible, then you can fall onto the wisdom that you have gained through it when the times get tough.

The life of a Christian isn’t always easy or sure. There will be bumps and bruises during your walk with Jesus, but He is still there with you through it all. The wisdom that you gain from His Word, His Bread and His Wine will last you through eternity and you won’t regret any of it when you see Him in His Glory one day!

Taking advantage…


Do we take advantage of our opportunities or do we miss them or even throw them away? De we even notice when something comes along?

I am not talking about taking advantage of people in order to make money from them. I am speaking of taking advantage of an opportunity to tell someone about Jesus. We have these opportunities many times during our week, whether at home or at work or even at a restaurant…but, do we use those opportunities for Christ?

john317Many of us actually don’t! Even if we are Christians and we are actually living our lives like we are supposed to, we just don’t speak up. Why is that? Are we afraid that we will be looked at as kooks? Jesus told His disciples to go and tell the gospel message to all of creation and they did! So…why can’t we?

In our world today it is not politically correct to tell someone about the Truth in Scripture, specifically if you are trying to get them to believe in Jesus. Today, in some parts of the world, it is dangerous to tell people about Jesus. But, it was dangerous for His disciples too, so why don’t we let people know about our Savior?

I think it has more to do with being rejected or maybe the rejection of our witness to them. In reality, it has more to do with the fact that they aren’t rejecting us but they are rejecting Jesus like the Pharisees did in His day. Tell someone about Him regardless of their reaction. If they want to know more, great! Invite them to church or open a Bible and show them Who Jesus was! If they tell you to leave them alone, then tell them if they want to know more they can call you. Then pray for them and leave. Let God work on them for a while.

Who is in control?


Our government and those serving their own interests are not in control of much, particularly with regard to our society. So, who really is in control? Satan?

I know that many of you don’t really believe that he exists, but God said that he does so that settles that argument. But is he in control of all of the things which are spiralling out of control today? I don’t think I would give him that much credit. He may be influencing those who are stirring up trouble to be more violent, more destructive even, but he isn’t in control of them exactly.

IamtheWayBesides, if you have ever read the book of Job or heard a sermon from it, then you know that Satan has to get permission to do the things which he does, especially if it may harm Christians or Israel! The One Who is in Control and Who watches everything unfold in its time, is God. Sometimes bad things do happen to good people, but not without God’s permission. He knows that occasionally something has to happen if it will bring about a greater good in His Kingdom. It may cause pain for now, but in eternity the pain is taken away.

Many people seem to be searching for the Truth of God today, although some seem to be looking in the wrong places. Yes, God is still speaking through His Word, the Bible, and preachers who read and study it and then expound on His Wisdom trying to make it as understandable as possible. The message of salvation is easy enough for a child to understand but as adults we tend to make things harder than they should be. Either by not reading the instruction book, the Bible, or by adding our own ideas to those contained in it.

God doesn’t need your help or mine in order to save you. He already provided the remedy and the way of salvation for each one of us, through belief in and trust in Jesus the Christ.

Period.

No other doctrine or work needs to be applied to your life in order to be saved! There is nothing that you or I can do to get us into Heaven, Jesus did it all. Just believe in Him and His atonement for your sins, turn away from them (repent) and follow Him. Sounds simple doesn’t it? Truly, it is simple…although living your daily walk with Him is going to be hard at times. Your friends will call and ask you to come to this new bar they found or maybe go for a weekend off to the Bahamas with your fiance which you aren’t married to yet. These are the stones which can trip you up and cause you to stumble and fall.

But…if you truly have given your heart to Jesus, even if you fall, you can ask forgiveness and strength and He will give you both! Don’t turn away from Him and go back to your old life. Don’t feel the pull of the Spirit in church or after you hear a sermon on TV and then decide NOT to give your heart to Him. Remember, we are not guaranteed tomorrow so don’t back away from Him when you know you need Him!

Are the -ism’s the real problem?


genetic-variationWe have so many of these today. Consider this, we have communism, Islamism, racism, nationalism and many other -ism’s which are part of the names of religions besides Islam. The minority’s which are on television and all of the media outlets today are the loudest and the most virulent and violent which is why they have everyone’s attention.

I am not speaking of a “racial minority”, just the few percent who are loudly proclaiming their rights and that their voice be heard. Their voice is on all of the social media “channels” so to speak which makes their demands and their voice louder than it would’ve been if they were only on news programs.

But…truly, are these the real problem or is this just a symptom of a larger problem which has been building over the decades?

Racism has been swept under the collective rug of our consciousness and if not forgotten then they haven’t been out in the air for a while. At least not until the past decade or so.

I suppose it has been simmering a bit here and there because there have been flare-ups of violence from time to time, but these days those flare-ups are threatening to go widespread. We, as a nation of Christians, need to do something even if it is “only prayer”!! God knows what is happening and it was foretold in scripture that near the time of tribulation this would be happening. The real problem is that it is going to get worse before it gets better. Much worse.

We need desperately to draw near to our Lord…NOW! Stop posting about it and talking about it and DO IT! Because if we don’t and if we don’t tell others that it is needed, our towns and cities will become powder kegs which will explode and become wild fires! God loves each of us and even if we can’t come together to worship Him without looking at the name of the church or the color of our skin, then we desperately need to examine our faith in the One Who died for us.

Make sure of your salvation in Jesus before He comes back. Before the times truly do get bad in the world, because when He comes and those who are taken up are gone, the violence of today will look tame in comparison to what will come afterward. If you truly believe the Bible is the Word of God…then believe that He cannot lie.