Category: Accepting Christ is your choice

Faith, what is it?


Have you ever wondered what faith really is? Faith according to the Bible is defined by this:  Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

In Ephesians our faith is part of the equation which brings us to salvation through our Savior: Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”

Also, without faith it is impossible to please God in anything that we do: Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith, it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

When God calls you or me to Himself through the conviction that we need Him, He gives us the faith which we need to believe in Jesus for our salvation. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have the faith which is necessary to bring us to that knowledge. It is a gift of God to us so that we can effectively believe in the promises which He has made to us in Scripture. That is what Biblical faith is.

We have faith in gravity or in our heart to keep beating and to keep us alive, yet we don’t usually acknowledge it. We have faith that the sun will rise in the morning, not gifted to us by God but because it has always come up each morning. That is faith in things which are seen. Faith in things which are not seen but are hoped for with a conviction that we will have them one day is the faith which is spoken of in the Bible.

This kind of faith cannot be proven or shown to anyone who doesn’t believe in God or Jesus or the Bible because it takes faith to believe in those things. If you don’t have it, you can’t get it except by belief in Jesus and His atonement for your sins and you won’t believe that unless God gives you the faith to do so!

I know, it is a spiral which goes from faith to faith to faith but if you have it, you’ve got it and if you don’t then unless you are seeking Him, you won’t get it then either.

Romans 10:17 “So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.” Reading God’s Word and seeking Him in it will bring you into a closer walk with Him so enjoy His Presence in your life by cultivating a friendship with God. He is always present with you so treat Him as a treasured friend and talk to Him, walk with Him, seek His advice and act on His advice that is given to you.

By faith in Him and through Him we can conquer any problem in our lives, so make sure that you seek Him and His Son’s friendship while you can. Life only lasts for a little while, so make sure that you are friends with the Author of Life!

Artificial life


In our world today we have AI or artificial intelligence inside many things. Phones, cars, computers, and in some cases people too. What do I mean by that? Well, if you can use your “pocket computer” to find out all sorts of information on almost any subject imaginable then I would say you are artificially intelligent. You can spout all sorts of statistics on games and cars and science and history and the news of the day and you get it from those little computers we call smartphones.

We do live in a time where there are so many things which fall into the artificial category after all. We have sweeteners which are not sugar, we have whiskey which isn’t alcoholic, we have beers which have such a small amount of alcohol in them until they might as well be classified as carbonated drinks. The list of artificial stuff could go on and on, but you get my point.

My problem lies with those who consider themselves to be Christians who really aren’t. They are artificial Christians. They do many of the same things which other Christians do like come to church and to Bible study, some of them are deacons and even pastors but if you could see what they have in their hearts like God can, it is empty.  They know what they should say and do, they have studied the Bible and been to church enough that they can quote Scripture and they have all of the outward signs of being a “Christian” but they are artificial.

Can we know for sure of the state of their hearts and bring them to repentance and the saving knowledge of Jesus? Truthfully, we cannot. Why? Because only God knows the human heart and we can’t. All that we can do is keep telling others about Jesus and giving our testimony and all of the things which our Lord told us to do so as to win over those who haven’t given their hearts and their lives to Him.

If they are finally convicted of their need for Jesus, then they may ask Him into their lives although it is likely that many of them will be like the Pharisees of Jesus’ day. They will be so self-righteous until they will see no need to change, even if they feel the Holy Spirit calling to them. Which will be a sad thing because they will be found in the group which is telling Jesus about all of the good things which they did in His Name and He will tell them, “Depart from Me, for I never knew you.”

Do you know anyone like this? Can you tell that they are not what they say they are? Unless God gives your spirit the discernment to be able to tell if their spirit belongs to Him, most likely you can’t. Even if you had a feeling about them, I wouldn’t confront them about it because you will be accused of being a judge and we are not to do that. God alone is the Judge of our hearts, so leave that up to Him. Make sure of your salvation so that you won’t hear those words from our Lord! Amen

How long, O Lord?


The spirit of the anti-Christ has been a part of our world ever since the Garden. Why do I say that there was such a thing even before Jesus the Christ came to us? Because the spirit of rebellion against God has been in the world ever since there were people who knew about God on the Earth.

After Jesus ascended to Heaven and His disciples were taking His teachings to the ends of the Earth in those days, the people who were spreading hate and lies against their teaching were part of the anti-Christian movement and it kept spreading. But…so did Christianity. It seemed that the more there was persecution and a spiritual push-back against this message, the more the church grew. The plans that Satan had were backfiring on him. He wanted to stop this message and kill all of those who believed in the Son of God and His message!

But it didn’t work. Everywhere that there was great persecution, those who escaped from it took the message with them and it kept spreading. God’s Word will not return to Him void and it will accomplish that which He sends it out to do. It doesn’t matter if the message is spoken by a young farm boy or girl or a well-known evangelist!

The Word of God, our Bible, is the infallible Word of God and it is the Truth which our world and every person in this world needs it and the message which it has for each person.

6 “For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” Malachi 3:6

God loves each person in the whole world, but He knows who will accept Him as their Savior and who will not. So make sure of your salvation and seek Him today because you need Him. If you don’t know Jesus yet, I ask you to look for Him in the Bible because He is waiting for you.

John 3:16 says this: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Please don’t turn away from His call on your life and your heart because you will spend eternity somewhere and I would love to see you there in Heaven one day!

May the Lord bless you…


Numbers 6: 22-27

22 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 23 Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them,
24 The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: 25 The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: 26 The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace. 27 And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them.

This is the blessing which God commanded Moses to give to Aaron which he spoke to Israel as a blessing from God. Since we are adopted into God’s family through the blood of Jesus, we can also claim this blessing as we go about our lives following the Lord and serving Him in our daily living.

God will be with us and bless us as we do those things which are pleasing to Him but if we turn away from Him and go our own way do things in our own strength and our counsel then God will not bless those things which we are doing. He is a loving God but He is also jealous of our service and our devotion to Him. Which is why Christians are put to the test when we think we are doing what is right for Him but it is only right because we are doing it in our strength and not under His direction.

God loves each of us and He will test us and try our faith in Him to prove it and make it stronger. We will not be killed or hurt in this, but we may go through trials and pain because of our walking the path without Him. Being obedient to Jesus and to His teachings, just as His disciples and followers were, is a requirement which has not changed and because He hasn’t changed our obedience to Him should not change either. Although there are times when we think we are hearing His voice when it is a demon or Satan speaking in our mind and convincing us that it is from the Lord. Our enemy is very subtle and crafty and he has had time to perfect his ways to fool even those who know the Lord and His voice.

We must try these words which come to us and make sure that they are from our Lord before we act upon them. A word from the Lord can come to us in a time of meditation on His Word but even then we should test it to make sure of its meaning and where it comes from. Making sure of the words and their meaning and whether they actually come from God’s Word as well. This is the only way to prove them before we act upon them and carry them to others by writing or by proclamation (preaching).

God wants to bless us for our obedience and our loyalty to Him but we must be careful to test any leading that we have and make sure that it is from God and doesn’t contradict His Word or even may be similar to His Word but is changed just enough to make it of none effect.

Truth or Lies


How many times have you looked at a picture of a woman or a girl with lust in your heart or your mind? In our world today with the Internet making pornography so easy to obtain and keep as a “hidden sin” there are many more who fall into this practice than most people would think. The really sad fact is that most of those who do fall “victim” to engaging in watching pornography on the web or looking at pictures from these sites are supposed to be leaders in our churches. Youth ministers and Lead pastors of churches which keep their habits on personal laptops and hopefully not on the church computer.

Why do I bring this up? Because I read an article about it in the AFA Journal that I get each month. It is a very disturbing statistic and it actually funds sex trafficking in a big way as well. This type of sin, which is exactly what it is, is known in the Bible as fornication. This word in the Bible encompasses just a glance, to a touch or anything beyond that but the Bible makes it clear that “fornicators will not inherit eternal life”. The Bible uses the words “sexually immoral” in place of fornicators but it means the same thing.

We are supposed to be better than this! Jesus didn’t call you into any ministry to fall victim to Satan’s temptations to sin! But…in the news, we hear of pastors committing adultery and bishops molesting children. Why aren’t we taking our calling from God more seriously? What has happened to our being a dedicated disciple of Jesus and a servant of God? These are good questions and they deserve answers but I don’t have any answers. God’s Word gives us the answers and it tells us to run from even the idea of these sins, yet there are still people in the church who are being caught in these sins and casting a dark stain on the church as a whole.

Prayer is needed because the statistics are staggering in their implications of how many may be involved in these practices. Much prayer is needed in the church as a whole, not just one denomination but the entire body of the church, the Body of Christ here to serve those who believe. Pastors, ministers, and teachers in the church are supposed to be dedicated to their service to God and to those who look to them for guidance.  We are not supposed to exploit anyone, regardless of their age, sex, or in any way which could be looked at as predatory in its nature. If there is anyone who is doing this in any way, they should be prayed for and confronted about it and at the very least try to get them some professional help!

This type of sin is easy to fall into but, if it continues long enough, it is very hard to get out of. Without therapy and professional help and much prayer, I don’t think that anyone could get out of it. It would take a person to be convicted spiritually and personally to know that their sin had been noticed and it needs to be expunged from their lives. I pray that anyone who reads this might use any of these suggestions to either get help or provide help to someone who really needs this.

Thank you for your attention and may God bless the outcome of any good that might come from this. Amen

The hurt will heal


Sometimes we look at our lives and wonder, “Why am I going through all of this?”. Most of the time we can’t truly find an answer to that question, at least not one which makes sense anyway. The pain of a lost loved one or of a child taking a step toward a life of addiction or crime will be ongoing and in most cases may never go away entirely. So what are we supposed to do with this kind of pain?

The solution may sound simple and uncaring but it is this: give the problem to God. There are too many people who will read this and say “Are you serious?”; my answer is “Yes, I am!”.

Just how are we supposed to give our problem to God is the answer which many people have sought for centuries and unfortunately there are few who have found the best way to do this. We will walk down the aisle and place a token which represents our problems on the altar but when we leave the church we pick it up spiritually and take it with us. We never REALLY leave it in God’s hands until we have come to the point where we can truly see that there is nothing which we can do to fix this problem.

We use God as the last best hope for solving our problem when He should be the first Person that we leave the problem with, no matter what the problem may be! Remember, God created the entire cosmos, so since He did that your problems and mine are easy for Him to handle if we will give them to Him. Why do we try to keep our problems until we finally realize that we can’t do anything about them? Because we are prideful and we think that we can handle the problems in our lives regardless of how involved or how big those problems might be.

God never intended for us to do everything in our lives alone or by our own strength. He had intended for our existence to be a cooperative life between Himself and us. But we know that Satan crept into the scene and changed that, but God already had a plan in mind before that happened.

Jesus, the Son of God, was going to be born of a virgin in Bethlehem and He would take the sins of the world on Himself and be sacrificed on the cross to pay our penalty so that we wouldn’t have to. Then, on the third day, Jesus came out of the tomb and taught His disciples for another forty days and then ascended to the right side of the Father. He conquered death and the grave and gave us a way to be saved from hell if we will believe in Him and His sacrifice.

Give your life and your heart to Jesus and give your problems to God so that you can serve Him and be His representative until He comes again. Because He said He was coming again and God can’t lie!

We get dirty every day


JesusSandalsHave you ever thought about the Middle Eastern practice of washing someone’s feet as they come into your house? It is a respectful and refreshing idea although many people would not like it in a worship setting today. But really why would you feel this way toward a practice which is meant to show humility and the attitude of servanthood?

People are embarrassed to show their feet in public especially during religious services, but we wear sandals and other shoes during the summer which shows our feet to the public. But, that’s different, isn’t it? With those shoes or sandals on, you are not placing your feet in someone’s hands to be washed and dried in public. Our feet today don’t get dirty like the feet of Jesus and His disciples did because we wear shoes or boots and socks and all they had to wear was sandals. On the dusty roads which they walked on their feet would get dirty every day, all day long.

The shepherds who came to see the baby which the angels had told them about had dirty feet. We get dirty in our world by being a part of it. Maybe we don’t get dirt on our hands or feet but we are still part of this world. The anger and fear and frustration and many other emotions build up and cause us to think and feel things, sometimes, which are not the thoughts or the feelings which followers of Jesus should have. But…we do have them.

The only way to be clean in this world of 24/7 news, and most of it is bad news, is to read God’s Word and pray over it while we read it. Why? So that the Living Water of God’s Word can cleanse us! Will it make us holy or sinless? No, but it will give us the wisdom and a word of hope from God to carry us through the problems of the day, each day so that we can carry His message to those who need it.

God gave us this magnificent and wonderful resource and many people who claim to be Christians only read it once or twice a week and even then only during a Bible study or church service. We should be drinking from this Living Water every day, washing our minds and our hearts with it so that we can take it to a world that is hurting. Because they need to hear it as well and if we don’t take it to them…who will?

Life is hard enough without the Hope which comes from knowing Jesus but with that Hope, each one of us can make a difference. Even if we only make a difference in one person’s life, then maybe they will make a difference in someone else’s life or maybe in two people’s lives and if it keeps multiplying like that eventually everyone will at least hear the gospel of Jesus, whether they act on it or not.

Consider having God’s attention


sunset-over-ocean-mothaibaphoto-prints

Have you considered that each of us has God’s attention? I know this is a very BIG and awesome question to throw out there, but have you ever thought about this at all?

In this picture it is like the light from the sun is following you along the beach. If you are walking on a beach at sunset, you will see an image like this and it doesn’t matter how many people are on the beach, all of them will have the same perspective and that is that the light coming across the water is pointed at each person or couple walking there.

That is the kind of attention which God pays to those who belong to Him. Your life is always before Him, even if you have not given your heart to Him or asked Jesus into your life. Remember, Jesus said that “not one sparrow falls to the ground without the Father’s knowledge“. Don’t you realize that each of us is more important to God than a sparrow?

But, in your life, God sees and knows exactly what you have done and even where you have gone and each word which has gone forth from your mouth. God cares about your life and it is God Who sent Jesus to pay the price for each person in this world, so do all get to go to Heaven? NO! God doesn’t call every man, but He knows every man’s heart and whether they will follow Jesus after being called.

Does that mean that there are some whom God calls and some that He doesn’t? Yes. I know that sounds very picky and unfair but God knows our hearts and He knows which of us will walk with Him and do what is asked of him and who will not. So, why call someone to faith in Jesus if they are going to walk away or refuse to be a true follower of Jesus?

God is sovereign in His creation and in His Kingdom and He will do what He will, regardless of our decisions or our failures. He sent Jesus to pay for all of mankind’s sins and our debts have been paid but will every person on Earth give their heart to Jesus and follow Him as His disciples did? Of course not!

But…will you give your heart to Him and be His disciple until He calls you home to Heaven one day? Many people would truly jump at the chance of being His disciple! Why? Because He is the Creator of the cosmos! Doesn’t He deserve more recognition than a football coach or some CEO of a Fortune 500 company? He created everything around you so doesn’t that one fact give Him a bit more importance than even the President of the United States? I think it does!

Take a look through a real telescope one night or look at some of the pictures which the Hubble telescope has taken. God created ALL OF THAT! He did it mostly to watch us go “WOW!!”. Isn’t that neat? Looking out into space and seeing everything that He made as the Bible says, “He stretched out the heavens“; so don’t you think He can use your talents and your gifts for His purposes?

He knows which people can spread His message in the world and do it more effectively so that many more will come to know Him as their Lord and Savior after all God is One in Three Persons. There is God the Father and Jesus the Son and the Spirit of God or the Holy Spirit and each of them was present when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan river.

Please seek Jesus out as your Savior because there are many things which will need your specific talents and abilities in His Kingdom.

Occasional belief and attendance


Do you realize that while you come to church for certain “occasions”, you are hurting your relationship with Jesus? When Jesus called His disciples, and He did so individually, He didn’t ask them to follow Him on certain days or only on the Sabbath, He just said; “Follow Me”. When we choose to “follow Jesus” only at certain times or for certain reasons we are turning Him into our version of a genie.

We are, in essence, telling God and Jesus that we don’t want You in our life on a daily basis, we just want you on those days when we need you or when we feel the need for you to be in our life. That’s pretty insulting, isn’t it? How would you feel if you or a member of your family told you that? The family wouldn’t remain a family for very long, would it?

Yet, the church is expected to remain a church even when many of its members consider coming to church is something only real, committed Christians do. Who do you think the church is made up of then? Just “sometimes Christians”? Jesus didn’t call sometimes Christians or followers, He called you to follow Him. That doesn’t give you an out on Wednesday or Thursday or Saturday, He meant every day!

Do you think the church would’ve gotten started if His disciples only followed Him when they felt like it or on certain days? NO! The church would’ve died within a couple of centuries or less if that had happened.

God sent Jesus to Judea to bring the good news of salvation to them but also to enable the gospel of salvation to be taken out to the rest of the whole world. Because, Jesus died and rose again to pay for the sins of the world (past, present, and future) not just a few people in Judea. Our idea of Jesus as our Savior is not just an idea because an idea cannot bring you salvation, but a belief in Jesus can and will bring you salvation. Your life and mine are incredibly short spans of time, even in relation to a millennium but a millennium is just a tick on the face of a clock compared to eternity. Don’t throw away eternity with God because of your life here which is but a moment in time compared to eternity!

Each of us is special to God because we are part of His Creation and He cares for each of us. When you give your heart to Jesus and believe in Him for your salvation, you become a born-again child of God and you are part of His family. He loves you at that moment and from that moment on just as He does Jesus or any other Christian!

You are special to God because HE has given you talents and abilities which He wants you to use for His Kingdom and He knows what you can do with those abilities! You can do more with them and for Him than you can do without Him or without Jesus. Simple, childlike faith in God is all that your salvation requires.

Giving your heart to Yeshua (Jesus) is a simple decision and you need to realize that His name means God saves.

The Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament was the manifestation of Jesus which appeared to the Israelites in the wilderness. He was also the Rock from which the water came to keep His people alive. He was also the cloud which protected them in the wilderness, the Cloud by day and the Pillar of Fire at night. Yes, He was with the Jewish people during the Old Testament days and He fulfilled the prophecies about Himself when He did come in the flesh.

Jesus paid for your sins


God loves you and has made a way for you to have eternity as your future, but have you accepted Jesus as your Savior? He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and HE is coming back soon.

JesuspaiditallWhen He was crucified He wore a crown of thorns and was beaten so badly that only His mother could really recognize Him. But…when He comes back He will be wearing a golden crown and a brilliant white robe with a golden sash. He will be coming to claim the throne of David and HE will rule the world for one thousand years!

The angels who spoke to His disciples told them that He would return to the Earth and in His book of Revelation, it says that He will be mounted on a white horse with the saints of God coming with Him! His rule and His government will be set up and will rule over ALL of the Earth and our world will be restored to its beauty which it was supposed to have from the beginning.

I pray that anyone who reads this will seek Him out and give your heart to Jesus as your Savior because one day soon it will become much harder to make that commitment. When the Christians are taken up from their graves and those who are alive are changed and translated from this world to Heaven, there will be a man who will bring peace to the world and stability too. But he will be the worst dictator that the world has ever seen, but the world will follow Him anyway.

Jesus did give His life as a ransom for all of our sins, but there are only a few in the world who will give their heart to Him and follow Him. Are you one of those who will do this today? Will, you learn of Him and follow Him from this day until He comes for us? I pray that you will make that decision if you haven’t already.

The days grow short in relation to His return and I don’t believe that it will be much longer at all. I won’t speculate about dates because we don’t know the day or the hour but the world will know when He claims those who have given their hearts to Him. There won’t be a doubt in their mind that something momentous has happened but it will only be those who have studied the book of Revelation who will know what has happened.

Make sure of your salvation before then.