Category: Accepting Christ is your choice

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!

The Book of Life


What is the Book of Life? I am writing about the Lamb’s Book of Life, written from before the foundation of the world. God has placed each person’s name there who will accept Jesus as their Savior. Because He knows who will and who will not accept Him. The offer of salvation is given to all, but God knows who will accept it and who will not.

God has always known the names of those who will accept Jesus as their Savior. Now, I know that some of those who read this may not believe in something called “predestination”, I don’t either but God still knows which of us will accept Jesus. The big words and doctrines of our denominational associations actually are not written in Heaven. Those are man-made ideas and “laws” of which few are found in Scripture.

IamtheWayWhy am I writing this today? Because it is needed! You and I and anyone else who reads this blog need to know that God has always known which person will accept His way of life and who will follow Jesus. None of your ideas or doctrines which are written in the bylaws of your church are written in God’s handwriting! Many of them are based on what we think we have learned from reading His Word, but you don’t find all of them in the Bible.

While it is true that the word “predestined” is in the writings of Paul, the meaning of that is what God said years before Paul ever put it down. In the book of Jeremiah God told him that He knew him before he was born and before he was formed in the womb. He also said that He (God) had ordained him to be a prophet at that time. God determines who will be His prophets or His disciples and He knew us before the Garden was created!

It is the same with the Lamb’s Book of Life! He has known for many thousands of years whose name would be in it and those who would not be in it. Even though Jesus came and  paid the penalty for ALL of us to receive salvation and have access to eternity, God and by extension, Jesus already knew which person would accept Him as Savior. Our Creator is in control and He knows your heart and mine before we even realize Who He is.

God wants all of humanity to know Him as God, but many outside of the organized church just don’t want to know Him. They have their own idea of who their god is and it doesn’t fit with the God of the Old or New Testament. I am not speaking of any specific denomination in reference to an “organized church”, but those who do not attend church it seems they refuse to listen or attend a service. You will never know Who God is until you read His Word and feel the conviction of His Spirit in your life to know that you are a sinner according to His holiness.

One lie, one thought, just one is all that it takes to separate us from God but the absolute sin which will keep you from Heaven is not accepting Jesus as your Savior. All of the sins of the world are sins as far as God is concerned, whether you consider them to be significant or not. The ONE sin which condemns you to an eternity in hell is not accepting Jesus as your Savior and repenting from your old ways and follow Him in your life from that point on!

Be a follower of Jesus Christ


VineandBranchesIn many ways, that is exactly what we as Christians are supposed to do with our lives when we give our hearts to Him. So…why doesn’t the church follow Him in everything that it does? By church, I don’t mean any particular religion or denomination. I mean any specific body of believers who claim to be Christian and who follow Jesus.

One of the greatest preachers that ever lived died this past week. I don’t need to tell you who he was because everyone knows already. Some of his quotes I will list below and let you decide if you could live up to any of them.

  1. “I feel sorry for the man who has never known the bracing thrill of taking a stand and sticking to it fearlessly. Moral courage has rewards that timidity can never imagine. Like a shot of adrenaline, it floods the spirit with vitality” ― Billy Graham
  2.  “Self-centered indulgence, pride and a lack of shame over sin are now emblems of the American lifestyle.” ― Billy Graham
  3. “I’ve read the last page of the Bible, it’s all going to turn out all right.”― Billy Graham
  4. “When we come to the end of ourselves, we come to the beginning of God.”― Billy Graham
  5. “Jesus was not a white man; He was not a black man. He came from that part of the world that touches Africa and Asia and Europe. Christianity is not a white man’s religion and don’t let anybody ever tell you that it’s white or black. Christ belongs to all people; He belongs to the whole world”― Billy Graham
  6. “Our society strives to avoid any possibility of offending anyone – except God.”― Billy Graham
  7. “The will of God will not take us where the grace of God cannot sustain us.”― Billy Graham
  8. “The cross shows us the seriousness of our sin—but it also shows us the immeasurable love of God.”― Billy Graham
  9. “It is the Holy Spirit’s job to convict, God’s job to judge and my job to love.”― Billy Graham
  10. “Without the resurrection, the cross is meaningless.”― Billy Graham

We are all called by God to live up to the standard of Jesus the Christ, not to live up to a standard of a certain man who was a good example of being a Christian. As believers, we are expected to live each day like Jesus’ followers did. Because if you are a Christian, then you have the Holy Spirit living in your heart and Jesus is with you in that same Spirit during your day and night!

God knows where you are or where you have been each hour of each day during your life. There is no hiding from Him or keeping a part of your life secret from God because even if you haven’t given Him your heart, if He has any plans to use you in His Kingdom, then nothing that you do is secret in any way.

Does God love you? Unequivocally YES! He didn’t send Jesus to die for our sins just for the fun of it! Love, meaning agape love, is the reason behind everything that God does in this universe. He doesn’t owe you or me anything even though we owe Him everything that we are or have in our lives!

Without Jesus and the resurrection our life in Him would be meaningless but because of the resurrection, we can live with Him when our life here is done. Your life means more to God than it does to you because you are a beloved creation and He gave you all of your abilities and strengths and also your weaknesses too. He knows what you can do and accomplish and what is beyond your ability but with Him, those things which He asks you to do can be done.

Always lean on Him daily because in your strength you can’t, but with God, everything is possible regardless of the difficulty.

God’s Timing


Yourplans&GodsHave you ever wondered “When will God get around to answering my prayers?” or “When will God give me those things which I have been begging Him for?”

God does hear our requests and if our request is part of His will for our lives, then He will give us what we asked for. But…if we have asked for something which is selfish or outside of His will, then the answer is likely a “No!” There is always a third option though. If we ask for something like money or fame or a big promotion at work, something which has a lot of pride and “me” in it, God will answer our prayer with something like “maybe” or “later”.

You see, we need to get the “we” and the “me” out of the way before God can answer with a resounding- “YES!!”. In other words, we have to get out of God’s way before He can accomplish His purposes in our life. We have to learn that pride is the root of all sin in the world and it is also the sin which is the hardest to overcome and it can’t be done without submission to His Spirit and allowing Him to lead us down the path which He wants us to follow. We have a problem with His authority over our lives. Because we are human.

In many ways, we have always had problems with rules and authority and this proof is in the Bible right from the beginning. God’s timing of our blessings or gifts to us usually doesn’t follow our obedience or the amount of money that we give in tithes. God knows exactly what He should give us and what we can handle far better than we do. Begging for years and then trying to do it our own way doesn’t work. That disaster can be seen where Abram and Sarai tried to help God by using her slave to give him a son. The family feud is still going on in the Middle East.

When we try to help God in a way that He has not told us to do, we are just getting in the way. Will we find out about the consequences of our actions? Yes and sometimes much sooner than we expect to. Learning to wait upon God and His timing is one of the hardest parts of being a Christian. We, meaning most of us, have grown up in a culture which can barely wait for instant coffee or microwave popcorn. So how can we wait on God’s provision or His answer to our prayers if it doesn’t come in the instant that we ask for it? Most of us can’t.

So is it possible for us to learn how to do this? Yes, it is but it is a hard lesson for most people today. 

Why do I say this? Because very few people are patient enough to wait for God’s timing. His timing just doesn’t fit our schedule and we have to learn a hard lesson from Him in order to learn this. My advice to people who want to learn this lesson is never ask God for patience!!

If you do…you will learn patience but you will not like the lesson. Because it will take much longer for the learning to happen while He is teaching you. Remember Abram in Genesis? He was almost one hundred when his son, Isaac, was born. He had asked God for a son over twenty years before he got the answer. God also changed his name and Sarai’s name to Abraham and Sarah, so God has plans which He doesn’t always give us the details to.

Be sure of your plans and your pride and make sure of your relationship with your Savior and your Lord. God loves all of us because He sent His Son to pay the penalty for our sins even before we were born! He knows the plans and the rewards which He has in store for us as well, so make sure of your steps in following Him daily.

So, what are you doing?


In your life today, whether you are a Christian or not, what are you doing? I don’t ask this being nosy, but to ask specifically “what are you doing?”. Do you think about it when your day begins or when you come home?

I am continuing this post this morning after the news of Rev. Billy Graham’s passing from this life into the next. I have no doubts in my mind about his residence at this point because he is with his wife and his Lord. God blessed the world 99 years ago when he was born but until his ministry began in earnest, no one knew that he existed except his family.

Each of us as Christians has a responsibility to walk as Jesus walked, as Billy Graham walked. Most of us would counter with something like “I can’t do it”; that is true, but by giving your heart to Jesus and following Him through life, every day, you can! The disciples did it, Paul did it, and every Christian since His ascension to Heaven has done it by the Spirit leading them through every day!

If you have felt His call on your heart and your life and you haven’t given your heart to Him then what are you waiting for? You are not guaranteed today or tonight any more than I am. Life ends when God says that it is time, He is the only One Who knows when your life and mine will end. Be mindful of the words that you speak in this life as well, because you will be called to give an account of all of the idle words which you spoke to your wife, your husband, your children and your friends.

Our life, daily, is a witness to our Lord Jesus the Christ and if we don’t read His Word and ask Him to give us the strength to get through each day in His Will and power for our lives, then we will fail to do so. You and I cannot live a Christian life on our own. Your strength and mine will fail every time trouble or some other dart from Satan hits us in the chest, but if you give your life to Jesus and seek to stay in His will and His strength each and every day, then your life will mean much more than it would without Him.

I feel a sense of loss because Billy Graham has gone to be with Jesus, but I also feel a sense of triumph and celebration too. He was America’s example of the Christian life and his shoes are hard to fill but his son, Franklin, is doing a good job. Those of us who are Christians, regardless of denomination, should strive to live our lives in humility and as ambassadors for our Lord Jesus the Christ. Because, if you do that your life will mean much more in eternity than it ever could if you don’t belong to Jesus and He isn’t part of your life every day.

So much useless fun


When I was a child I am sure that my Mom and my grandparents thought the same of “cowboys and Indians” that we played. But today, there is so much electronic uselessness in these games that are so rampant on cell phones and game consoles until I am not sure where they are taking the next generation. I cannot see any useful education that these games bring to this generation except maybe hand and eye coordination.

What will that do for you? Actually, in the real world, I am not sure what it will help with except for maybe swatting flys. I suppose that while playing these games young people can’t get into any real dangerous trouble. Although some of the games that I have seen described in game magazines which my son gets are very graphic in their portrayal of violence and how it is used to “get what you want and kill the other guy”.

In truth, these are games which don’t teach a vocation of any kind but they reward you for behavior which would get you killed or put in jail in the real world. So if playing games can allow you to work out your aggression in a non-violent way and which causes death and destruction to a non–existent animal or person then I suppose it might have some useful quality.

The world today is violent enough without adding to it in gameplay, but as long as the next generation doesn’t bring that violence into our world then I suppose these games can be tolerated. How does God look at them and the outcome of this gameplay? That is a question which I can’t answer. He may view it in the same way that I see it, but some of these games are occultic in their nature so I hope that those who play them don’t take the powers from the game into a real religion.

Translating some of the occultic themes and powers from a game into using them in real life could be much worse than many would think. It only takes an invitation to a demon or a spirit or Satan himself, even if the invitation is muttered in a joking manner. Once the spirit or demon is in your home or worse in your mind, then you and your family are in serious danger. I realize that many people don’t believe that these entities exist, but since Jesus cast demons out when He was on Earth, then I do believe that they exist and are present now.

Why do I bring these ideas into the light now? Because until we realize that they are here and they are real, then all of the evil that goes on around us will be played off like it is just someone who is insane or that they are evil. When the reality is this: they were influenced by a spirit or demon to do whatever they did. Killing many people at a concert or at a school sounds exactly like something which a demon would have a person do if they are susceptible to them.

I pray that no one who reads this is into the occult, of any kind. If you or your children have ever thought about reading something or trying a tarot card reading or going to a medium who claims to read your palm or tell you about your future…don’t do it!! Get away from them and stay away from them! It looks innocent and fun, but that is how Satan tempted Eve all those thousands of years ago. He is doing the same thing with all of the scientists today. Trying to make them believe that natural forces created us and everything else in the universe and that God had nothing to do with it. These are all lies but they can be disguised as a true statement.

Seek out the Creator instead and learn from Him because the Truth is in God’s Word and it is only there where salvation and eternity can be found. Satan can disguise himself as an angel of light because he once was an angel of God. Make sure of your knowledge and from where it comes.

What is wrong with this world?


Here’s a bit of a conversation that I read earlier, let me know what you think about it: I used to think that the communist totalitarian regimes were much worse. I’m having second thoughts, not because those got better, but because the US has gotten so much worse.

Be careful of your words and how you speak, remember Jesus said this in Matthew:  “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words, you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:36–37)
Why is our world, especially the United States, become so much worse in conduct and corruption as well as in having no respect for each other or even for life itself?

whats-wrong-with-the-world-3-638Truly, it is because of the place where we are in history. It is not because of the number of countries with nuclear capability nor is it because of Communism or Democracy or some other political system, no it is because of how close we are to the second coming of Jesus!

I know there are many who don’t subscribe to this belief because they either don’t believe in God or they don’t believe in Jesus and His second coming. But, God doesn’t lie and the Scriptures have held true for all of the past four thousand years or so because scientists have proven the existence of the people in the Bible and because it was predicted that Israel would get its land back. How many other nations have done that after two thousand years? None!

The world and the people in it have gone astray from their Creator and the religion or philosophy which they are following now is not one which will bring them into His Kingdom. So what can we do to help them? Well, other than telling them about Jesus and His grace brought to them by way of His death on the cross and His resurrection three days later. But their salvation depends upon their belief in Him and their acceptance of His grace through the Holy Spirit. If they are convicted of their sins and repent of them to follow Him, then they will be saved! It doesn’t take a baptism nor does it take any amount of work or money given to any church..belief in Him and repentance and moving to follow Him every day will bring salvation to them.

The big problem today is that much of the world doesn’t want to know Jesus! They are very tied to their religions deeply. So deeply in fact that they persecute any Christians in their countries and in some places they imprison them or kill them. God honors these martyrs for His Kingdom truly but none of us really want to be a martyr but for our Lord and Savior it may be necessary one day.

All of the problems in our world today can be traced back to the Garden when one incidence of disobedience caused our separation from God and it has progressively gotten worse since then. I pray that many who may read this might use it for inspiration to lead someone to Jesus or maybe they will decide to follow Him. In either situation, you or the person who comes to know Jesus, it is a winning situation.

Death…


It seems that we can’t get through a year without a shooting at a school or some other venue. Actually, it hasn’t been a year, it has been more like six or eight months. Regardless of the amount of time between them, it is a very sad day with another school shooting today. I can’t make any sense of any of these. There is no pattern or reason for any of this violence and killing. So, what can be done? Can anything be done to stop this before it gets worse?

I’m not sure what can be done if anything. On this point, the only useful help can come from God. He is the only person Who can comfort a grieving parent or spouse. As far as the motivation for these things which are happening with far too much frequency….we are living very close to the end times predicted in the Bible. Satan and his demons and principalities are causing all kinds of problems in the world today.

I know that many people don’t want to believe that Satan is real or that demonic influence has anything to do with all of humanity’s problems but he is real and they do have a very large influence over our world today. How is this possible? Because there are so many people in the world who do not have a relationship with Jesus, that is the main problem in our world today. I know, there are wars and economic problems in our world, but many of those were also caused by a suggestion or some other prodding from a principality of Satan’s forces.

Some of those suggestions may have happened many years ago but they are becoming reality today. Just like some of the unfortunate racial persecution and enslavement in America, this was caused because some people took some part of God’s Word and twisted it to match their own philosophy. I don’t mean to say that the Bible was the reason for slavery, but parts of it were taken out of context and used in ways which God did not intend, and this was done by men, possibly being influenced by a spirit or principality of Satan.

We cannot discount young people as not being a threat to everyone, but could this be caught earlier? I don’t know. If the shooter posted his ideas and his philosophy toward being a shooter and some of the teens who knew him said that he liked to hurt animals. If someone is that disturbed and a tip is received about them, then it should be followed up on. We cannot keep ignoring the signs or the posts that some of them put up on social media.

Prayer is what the families need in Florida right now, not to be used as leverage for gun control because gun control is not the answer. Screening those who are disturbed or who show disturbing tendencies should be done, but this likely won’t be done either. Please, pray for these families and for our country and seek out Jesus as your Savior because you really don’t know which day will be your last.

 

Love, God’s way


1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,b but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now, we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13

This is the greatest chapter in the New Testament about the Love which is expressed toward us by God. It also expresses the type of love that Christians should express to each other and to the world around us. Since Valentine’s day is tomorrow, I thought I should put this up so others might see it and know that God loves you unconditionally, even if you haven’t given your heart to His Son. If He didn’t love all of us in this way then what would be the reason that He sent Jesus to redeem us?

God’s reason was His Love for humanity even when we were unlovable and sinners.