Category: Accepting Christ is your choice

Jesus is my shield


His Word is a sharp sword and a defense against Satan. As long as I belong to Him, my salvation is sure and my hope for eternity is sure. God loves each of us, whether we believe in Him or not. So, when hard times come and trouble is all around you it is time to trust in the Lord and lean on Him for strength because He will uphold you with His mighty and righteous arm.

God created the entire universe to amaze us about His power and glory and yet we don’t revere Him and give Him the awe and glory that He deserves. God named the stars and placed them in their places so that we can see that He is THE Creator of all things!

Psalm 18:1-6

1 {To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who spake unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul: And he said,} I will love thee, O LORD, my strength. 2 The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. 3 I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies. 4 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. 5 The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me. 6 In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.

God is our shield and our fortress, He is our Commander and our Savior, He is not the “man upstairs” or “a higher power” as some think of Him! In their minds, they may be thinking of God when they say those things, but they are not giving Him the respect and honor that He deserves when those words are spoken. God is the I AM and the Alpha and Omega and He is all-powerful! It is time that we started preaching Him in that way and not as a weak and ineffective deity which will punish you when you do wrong!

themissingpieceGod loves each of us, which is why Jesus came to give His life and His blood as a ransom for ALL of humanity! The price was paid for everyone, even though there are many who will not accept His offer of forgiveness and repent of their sinful lives. Forgiveness is there for everyone, like a bank account full of money but it is only going to do something in your life if you use it for His good and His purposes!

Does God care about you or your children? Of course, He does! He created this entire universe to cause us to look up in awe and wonder and see what a mighty and awesome God He is! We aren’t supposed to worship those stars or check our “horoscopes” just to see if we should go outside today! Read your Bible and pray to the One Who hung those stars in their places, Who calls each star by name and makes sure that they are doing their part in His creation!

THAT IS THE GOD WHOM I SERVE AND WORSHIP! Make sure that He is your God and fortress and Savior too!

What happens in between?


God knew when you would be born and He already knows when you will die but what will you do with the life between those two? We don’t know when we will die and I am thankful for that, but what will you do with your time on this Earth?

Jesus told His disciples to go and tell the entire world about the gospel and to bring salvation to many, shouldn’t we do the same? This is exactly what our life is for. We are to live our lives in such a way that other people will hear Jesus speak in our words or see Him in our actions during our lifetime. Is that asking too much? I don’t think so!

He came from Heaven and gave His life to pay a debt that He didn’t owe for people who might not want to know Him! But, He did it anyway. God is amazing in His love for us even when we don’t care about His love or maybe don’t acknowledge Him as God at all.

In between our birth and the day we die there are many things going on. We learn how to talk and walk and how to tie our shoes. We go to school and learn many things that we should and some things that we shouldn’t learn at all. We get a job and maybe get married and have a family and hopefully, we take them to church to learn about our Savior. But…what if we don’t know Jesus as our Savior? What do you teach your children then?

In some families, they teach them how to cheat and lie and steal, but the lying part we know from the time we are toddlers. They also teach them that their only way to make it in this world is to work hard or steal from others or maybe be ruthless in their business dealings regardless of the cost. Living life as an unbeliever is sometimes, not so easy but occasionally Satan will reward you with money and power but then what? Money and power don’t bring happiness in this world.

Most people who have had lots of money have found that the only happiness comes from giving their money away to good causes or charities. But, they are still empty if they don’t know Jesus. Without the Author of Life in your heart, life itself has very little meaning regardless of your wealth.

Jesus came that we might have Life and have it abundantly, meaning that we will be in eternity with Him not that we will have more money than we need here. Consider this: you will be living in a heavenly Jerusalem with streets paved with gold so pure that it looks like glass! That is the life abundant which God has planned for those who believe and have asked Jesus into their hearts for their salvation. Don’t turn away from His call on your life.

The Way, the Truth, and the Life

5 “Lord,” said Thomas, “we do not know where You are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. 7 If you had known Me, you would know My Father as well. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.”

What is freedom?


Freedom is the ability to enjoy certain liberties without being persecuted for enjoying them.

The dictionary meaning of freedom is this: the power or right to act, speak or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. “We do have some freedom of choice”

  • the absence of subjection to foreign domination or despotic government.

We enjoy freedom not only because of the sacrifice of our soldiers in times of war and peace, but because of our law enforcement officers and other emergency response personnel too.

We also enjoy an amount of freedom from the burden of sin in our lives when we have given our hearts and our lives to Jesus and repent of our old way of life. Being a Christian is not just saying some words and getting wet by being baptized, it is a lifestyle and a relationship with Him. When you have given your life to Him you can enjoy the freedom that comes with it knowing that you have walked away from your old life.

Our freedom in Christ also gives us the ability to do and say those things which need to be said and done in the presence of others who may not know Jesus. Turn away from the drinking and smoking and give thanks for your freedom today so that others may want what you have in this life and may move on to an excellent eternity in the next.Pray-for-strength

Who is God?


Well, that is an easy and a hard question to answer because God is God! He told Moses that He was I AM. So how do we make sense of that? In some ways, most of us try to put Him in a box or we try to see God as being like us or maybe like our father or grandfather. While picturing God and your father or grandfather is flattering to them, it puts limitations on God and it gives Him some very human characteristics which God does NOT have!

We think that God is mean or hateful or maybe He really does love us but He expects a lot from us which we think we can’t accomplish. God’s ways and thoughts are so much above ours until we are all like little children to Him. He is not a human being although Jesus did come to live as a human for a time, so God does know the limitations and our temptations through the life of Jesus.

God is our Creator, meaning that He created everything in the universe including you and me and anyone who will be born in the future or who was born in the past. God is everywhere because He exists beyond our dimension of time and space. He can be wherever He looks or thinks or even whenever He wants to be. God is indescribable because we have no point of reference to know His nature or His face except for the descriptions of Jesus in the gospels.

When Jesus walked the Earth, He was the embodiment of all of God’s nature in human form. So, as we read about the things which He did and said we can get a glimpse of God in the flesh of His Son. Reading the Bible is the only way to know the mind of God because it is inspired by the Holy Spirit so all of it has come from God’s wisdom and has been imparted to us through the writers who made sure to get the words right.

God is the only god in our universe yet many believe that there are others. These “others” are the demons and fallen angels who followed Satan in rebellion who have deceived mankind to make them believe that they are gods and are not. To know the mind of God and to know Him you must read and study His Word, the Bible. The letters and books which are within its pages are all that we need to know Him.

Seek Him out while you have time in your life to make sure of your eternity in His Presence because there is no second chance after your death.

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God’s Hand


God’s Hand has moved since the very beginning of His Word and recorded history. It was His hand which flung the stars into the heavens and it was His hands which placed the Moon and all of the planets in their orbits along with the Sun itself. It was by the hands of God that the first man was created and formed from the clay and dirt in Eden and by God’s breath, the man became a living soul. It was God’s hands which took a rib from Adam’s side to form a helper for him, perfectly suited for her task.

In the Word of God, His hands have moved nations and kings, people and circumstances, so that His will for our salvation and for the world’s salvation would come about the way that He knew that it should. Does He move in our lives today in small ways and in big ways to bring about that which He knows we should do for His glory and for our good?

I believe that He does exactly that! We may not perceive it before we feel the need to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus, but many times each of us could’ve been killed and we weren’t. I believe that it was at those times when His hand or maybe an angel that He sent intervened in our circumstances and kept us on the path toward His usefulness for us.

God used the circumstances of Joseph to save the nation of Egypt and his family too which grew into the nation of Israel while in captivity. If all of the things which happened to Joseph had not happened the way they did, things would’ve been much different. But God orchestrated all of the things, good and bad as we read of them, in order to place him in the position of authority to save his family from starvation. God still does these…adjustments today in our lives each day. Whether we see them or not. A car veers off before we are in a wreck, or an old tire doesn’t blow out on us even when we are driving too fast. All of these “little miracles” which we don’t see or even know about are happening all around us. We may find out about them when we get to heaven.

Why do I write about this today? Because of all the small miracles which do happen and we don’t know about them, God is using them to bring His will to bear in our lives and in the world around us. Would we call them miracles if we knew about them? Probably not because many of them are just small adjustments in our commute to work or in how we swallow our food one night or some other things which, to us would be insignificant but they affect our lives in ways which we cannot know.

Yes, God’s hand is still moving in our universe today and in our immediate lives too. Not just in Christian lives but in every person’s life on Earth. Some are moved in a way which we might see one day as an act of evil and even though God didn’t cause the evil which they did, He allowed it to happen because something else good would come from it. There are many things in our daily lives which we see and don’t perceive as His hand in our lives and we might not recognize them as such but those small decisions which we think were ours, were actually God’s way of moving us in the direction that He wanted us to go.

I pray that your life will be full of some small decisions or adjustments in your routine of work and life so that God can and will use your life to bring others to a saving knowledge of Jesus.

Are you free?


This weekend in America, we are celebrating our Veterans and the sacrifices which all of them have given in the cause of freedom. From those in the Revolutionary War all the way to the war which is ongoing against terrorists today. Every man and woman who has served in a conflict of one type or another should be recognized for their service. The question remains, even today, are you free?

We believe that we are and have freedoms which few in our world have but do you truly enjoy your freedom from tyranny and persecution and the freedom from a possibility of war coming to your country? In my country, there are no guarantees anymore. Granted, war is not likely to break out any day but there are still criminals with guns, even in places where the laws are very tough on ownership of guns. Freedom today in America comes with a sense of anxiety sprinkled in because wherever you go someone may not like the car you drive or the clothes you wear and decide to shoot you just for fun.

No, freedom is not free. Our military men and women have paid the price for what we enjoy and Jesus paid the price for our freedom from the burden of sin as well. It was a high price to be paid because He paid for the sins of all, not just from the day of His crucifixion and resurrection. He paid for the sins of the entire world which came before His birth in Bethlehem as well as for all of the sins since then up until the end of the world!

God sent His Son to do this so that we could find freedom through Him. Not the freedom to sin and then be forgiven of it over and over, but when your heart is changed completely and you realize that you are a sinner in desperate need of His grace and mercy, this burden of sin is lifted and frees you to become the person that God intended for you to be from before the world was formed!

There are many who think that they are “saved” because they walked down the aisle at church one day and said a few words and then submitted to a baptism. But…performing a ritual of motions like those will NOT save your soul, only by believing in Jesus can you be saved! The belief which I am speaking of is the deep and heartfelt belief that He came to give His life for your soul. Not the feeling of “I need to get saved because my friends are doing it”. You are only following the crowd when you do this and it doesn’t really change anything.

When your heart is broken because of the sin that you have lived with for a very long time and you realize that God can’t let you into Heaven because of it, then and only then will you fall to your knees and know that you need Jesus in your life and your heart. If you don’t do this or if you think that you have some sort of arrangement with God about your soul, I can assure you that you will go to hell when your last breath is taken on this Earth.

Only the belief in your soul that you are a sinner, unclean and bared naked before God, will bring you to the point of giving your heart to Jesus! Only this action will save you and if you have not given your heart to Him fully and learn to walk with Him daily, then you will stand before God and before your “imagined” Savior and you will be judged as a sinner who remains unclean and is destined for eternity in hell.HELL-105818653518

The smoke of their torment rises for eternity. That is a long, long time to know that your eternity could’ve been so much different. Make the right choice before it is too late. Give your heart and your life to Jesus and ask Him to make you clean and whole in Him.

 

Grace from the Cross


Jesus paid for our sins when He died and rose again, so why do we decide not to believe in Him? Is it too easy or is it that we don’t want to know Him?

God loves each of us and yet there are so many in the world who deny His love and His mercy. They seem to think that they can make it to Heaven without Him. The Scripture tell us that Jesus is the way, the truth and the Life and no one comes to the Father except through Him.

May the Lord bless you and keep you in all of your ways. Amen.

Are you broken?


I have wondered about this many times in my life. I have even asked myself, “Just how broken am I?” The answer never really becomes clear most of the time and after a while, I forget I even asked the question. Brokenness is being spiritually cracked in ways that medical science can’t detect. It is not a state of being which many people will be able to see in you most of the time. Although, they will detect it if it gets really bad.

How can we, as Christians or even non-believers, fix our brokenness? Well…on our own we can’t. You may try different things like drugs of different kinds which will lead to being broken on a different level altogether. You could go to a psychologist or some other therapist to attempt to find the reason for it and possibly find a “cure”. But the problem lies with your soul and whether you are a believer or not you can feel and truly be broken.

Sometimes it happens when a loved one dies or a business deal goes sideways. Anytime something else is placed in a higher position in your life than God, a crack forms. The longer it stays there, it will keep growing and causing more cracks to form. Satan knows this and he will keep adding to the illusion that you are doing really well, keep up the good work. But, the problem is that you are doing his work for him. Unless you can discern where or why the crack in your life began, it may never be fixed or rather you may not want to get it fixed.

God can and will give you the ability to fix it but only by acknowledging that you need Him and His Son in the place of whatever you have above them now! This is not one of those times to go it alone because that is how you got here in the first place. We all think that we can handle our problems all by ourselves when the truth is that we can’t. Living your life as if you are in control of every part of it is foolish and until you realize that small bit of wisdom…you will keep on making little mistakes which will add to your broken state of being.

God can get you back on the right path in your life but only if you will allow Him to do so. He doesn’t push Himself into your life nor does He force any of His ways into your daily living. Love doesn’t force and cannot be forced on anyone, that is the message in the Bible and it is His message to all of mankind. God’s love is above all of our ideas of love and it cannot be undone once you realize you have it. It is your choice to follow His lead in your life, one step at a time and one day at a time.

Here are a few Bible verses which tell us how we should love each other and Him:

“Let all that you do be done in love.”  1 Corinthians 16:14

“So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other.  Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.  Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”  John 13:34-35

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment.  The one who fears is not made perfect in love.  We love because He first loved us.”  1 John 4:18-19

“So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”  1 Corinthians 13:13

“If you love me, you will obey what I command.”  John 14:15

“Above all, be loving. This ties everything together perfectly.”  Colossians 3:14

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.   Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”  1 John 4:7-8

“Hate stirs up trouble, but love forgives all offenses.”  Proverbs 10:12

Abounding Grace


Death Through Adam, Life Through Christ

12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people because all sinned—

13 To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. 14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.

15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! 16 Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. 17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!

18 Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

20 The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

OurGodisAbleIn these verses, Paul writes that because the knowledge of sin increased, grace abounded even more through the man Jesus and His sacrifice for our sins. We are made free from sin in Christ, not because we don’t sin anymore or that we are made sinless but because through Him our sins are forgiven and we can be made free from the burden of sin. Sin has made mankind slaves to its influence for thousands of years and yet through Jesus’ sacrifice, we can gain our freedom if we will put our faith in Him and believe that He did this for us!

In Jesus, we can have life eternal because He is the Author and the Finisher of our faith.

But…sitting in church or having knowledge of Jesus and Who He is, yet without accepting His gift of eternal life through belief in Him and what He did for you will gain you nothing! Satan knows about Jesus, the demons in hell know about Him but knowing about Him is not enough. Believing in Him and what He did for you is the key when you feel convicted of your sins. Don’t turn away from Him when He calls at the door of your heart.

God loves each of us dearly or He would not have sent Jesus to go to the cross and die for your sins and the sins of all, past, present and future! He knows which of us will accept this gift but it is available to everyone who will believe in Jesus and ask for His forgiveness of our sins. Don’t throw this opportunity away.

 

tick, tock, tick, tock…


Every second which passes by you and your family is gone for good. There is no getting it back and it can’t be recovered in any fashion by any means. So…why do we allow the time that we do have to slip from our grasp with impunity? It seems that work and life, in general, gets in the way or just takes up our time as we live it second by second.

Telling your wife or husband “I love you” gets pushed away at times because of other pressing matters such as work and time taking care of the yard or the dishes or some other “busy work”. Then, when it comes to the end of the life of our significant other, we want to run time back so we can have more time to do those things which they enjoyed.

You never know when your life or mine or your wife or child will be taken from this life, so make sure that you spend time with them, love them and tell them so. Make sure that you know Jesus and that your family does too because you don’t want to spend eternity in Heaven knowing that they aren’t there.

Time slips by one second at a time and I began this post 24 hours ago! Those are hours which none of us will ever see again. What you did last night or yesterday is in the past, but God knows what you said and what you did with those minutes and hours. Life is precious and so is the time that we have to spend in it so don’t waste it…ever! Cherish those around you and enjoy the time that you have with them because when it is gone, you can’t get it back.

God loves each of us which is why He came in the flesh of man to redeem us from sin and its sentence in our lives bringing death to all who don’t repent. Jesus, the Son of God and second in the Trinity, came to bring a sinless man to the cross and die for all of mankind which paid the price for all. No amount of work or gifts to the church will help in your salvation, only by accepting Jesus as your Savior and giving up your old life can you be saved from an eternity in hell.

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