Category: Accepting Christ is your choice

Three words in Scripture


There are three words which contrast the grace of God toward us and they are seen in all of the Old Testament and the third one is mostly in the New Testament. These three words are “but God” and “therefore”.

Have you ever wondered why there are statements like that? Mainly, both of those statements are to show us that God is not lacking in love toward us because when you see these words, He is about to change something or do something which will make a difference in many lives! When you see “therefore” in the New Testament, it means simply that whatever follows is done, period.

Why do I claim this for either of these statements or words? Because my claim is accurate and true. How can I say that since I am just a man and not God?

Here are a few proofs:

Genesis 8:1
But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded.

Genesis 31:42
If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands, and last night he rebuked you.

Genesis 50:20
You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

1 Samuel 23:14
David stayed in the desert strongholds and in the hills of the Desert of Ziph. Day after day Saul searched for him, but God did not give David into his hands.

All of these examples show that God cares for us, not just the Israelites but the whole of humanity! Why? Because, He wouldn’t have sent Jesus to die in our place, to suffer the scorn and the abandonment upon the cross if He did not love us!

Why do you think that Jesus said to His disciples, “Suffer the little children to come unto me”, because children don’t need a “why” or a reason to believe…they just do! This is the kind of faith that we seem to lose as adults. We get so caught up in life and in our living until we can’t or won’t believe unless we can touch it or feel it in our hands. This is why there will be so many “Christians” in hell one day! Many of them think that they know Jesus and that they believe in Him, when they really believe in the idea of Him and His love for them. The “idea” won’t save their souls!

We have to shed our veil, the curtain which we have been seeing Him through and look at Him as our Creator and our Savior and see Him as a real and living person, not as a “quaint idea” that is spoken of in the Bible and at church. Many times during my life when I thought that I was a “Christian”, I prayed and I read a few verses of scripture. But, I never did get into the Temple. I never crossed the threshold of the outer court, let alone come into the Holy Places where God is. God enjoyed a relationship with Adam and Eve for a while, yet we don’t know how long it was. They were immortal at that point, so it could’ve been a long time. This is the sort of relationship that He wants with His church, His people….today.

Do we come near to Him? Do we visit with Him every day or do we just visit for an hour or so on Sunday morning, then go home and don’t think about Him again until next week? How would you feel if that were your relationship with your spouse? Kinda cold isn’t it?

God loves you and me and everyone else on this world that He created for us, but we seem to forget that He is there. We don’t want to acknowledge Him unless we need Him for something, usually urgently…like RIGHT NOW!!

God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit don’t work like that! The Spirit comes to you when you become a Christian. He doesn’t come as a drip at a time, but as the whole package. Jesus saves you and you are to become more like Him as you mature in your walk, daily, as a Christian, studying the Word of God and learning from Him. God watches over you and me and everyone else and makes sure that all things work to our good and His glory IF we belong to Him.

The church needs to understand that since we are the “body of Christ” until His return, we need to mature into people who are as priests in His Kingdom. We shouldn’t be acting like little children who don’t know better or who don’t know how to act like Christians who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. We act as if reading the Bible and singing a few songs on Sunday and maybe on Wednesday night and listening to a preacher or elder in the church expound on scripture is all that we need to do!

Are you kidding? Reading the Bible is great because you are learning more about God and His ways, but just reading a few verses once or twice a week is not enough! We need to read chapters and verses and books because we can’t understand His ways and His way of doing things until we get into the context of Scripture. The context can’t be discerned by a verse or two, it has to be pulled from a chapter and a book and the only One Who can do that is the Holy Spirit. He can help you to understand God’s Word and the context in which it was meant to be learned.

 

What can we do?


There are many paths to enlightenment in the world today, philosophically speaking, therefore, which one is the correct path for all concerned? Few I’m afraid….actually there is only one.

Philosophy and enlightenment are pursuits which give us knowledge but that will not enable you to be a part of God’s Kingdom. Even knowledge of the Bible and all that it contains will not get you into Heaven without belief and faith in Jesus! Reading and studying the Bible until you know it by heart will do nothing for you spiritually unless the Holy Spirit opens your mind and heart so that you can see Who your Savior truly is and accept Him.

Knowledge and degrees and meditation are wonderful for their own purposes, but the experience of God is found through faith and belief in Jesus. If you don’t have that, then the Bible is just a book of historical figures and facts written by men. God did not give us His Word, the Bible, to be just a book. It is the revelation of Himself and His Son from beginning to end and it doesn’t matter if everyone doesn’t see it that way!

The Sun shines whether you have any faith or belief in it or not. Gravity still works whether you believe it exists or not. God and His promise through Jesus the Christ will accomplish everything written down by His apostles and prophets because He is God, whether you believe in Him and His Son or not.

Life, love, greed, hatred, envy and fear all exist as part of our emotional lives in one way or  another. We cannot change this because we can’t change the character of the entire world and every person in it. All of this boils down to one Truth and that is: Jesus came and died on a cross for your sins and your father’s sins and your friend’s sins. He paid the price for all of them, each and every person past, present and future. Whether we believe it or not doesn’t change the fact that it happened and it won’t change anything about the future which was foretold in the book of Revelation.

Seek Him by believing in Him. Read His Word and ask Him to show you the wisdom that you need to have so that your eyes will see Him as He is. The Savior that you need for healing, strength, and hope for eternity, because Jesus is the Savior that we all have been searching for.

False teachers


Jesus said that there would be false teachers that would come claiming to be Him, especially during this time that we live in. It is happening now. They aren’t getting much coverage yet, but they will. I caution you, beware of people, teachers who claim to be the incarnation of Christ or the “new” Christ. If you hear this from someone, especially someone who is acting as a teacher or preacher, RUN!

The angels told Jesus’ disciples that He will come back in the manner in which you have seen Him go. Jesus said that He would come back one day to set up His Kingdom on this Earth, and all will see Him and know that it is Him when it happens. There won’t be a question about it. Read God’s Word and learn from Him, not some person who wants to take your money and live like a “god” because you think that what he says is true.

False teachers are all over the world, not just in America, but it seems that more of them are coming out of the closet to be seen in the news and by people these days. The thing is, it is only going to get worse as the time draws nearer to the time of Tribulation spoken of in Revelation. More and more will show up, claiming all kinds of miracles and some may even perform some which will deceive many people! These are not the Christ, our Messiah, Jesus the Son of God!

His appearance will be seen by everyone without the aid of television or the Internet and it will be evident to all when He comes. Games and virtual reality will not show Him, but everyone will know that He has come! Some will cry because they weren’t ready for His return and some will be angry because of His return. Life will change everywhere in a moment, in the “twinkling of an eye” those who belong to Him will be taken up to be with Him, and those who have already died will be given their bodies as they are raised immortal!

This is not some fantasy, it is predicted by the Son of God and it will come to pass. If you don’t know Him, I suggest that you seek Him out and find out about Him and what it means to be a believer! When the Tribulation begins, it will be harder to become a Christian because of the persecution and because of the hatred toward Christians. Many planes and cars will crash on that day, so there will be many deaths on that day that are blamed on Christians and their God!

Don’t fall into that trap! Seek Him out while He can be found, today!

What will you do?


If someone asks you for the reason that you have joy in your life when you should be sorrowful, what will you say? What would you tell them? Would you say that “I take a happy pill every day!”, even if that is truly a lie? What answer would you give them? Would it line up with your beliefs and your faith? Do you have faith in God, the One that can give you peace and joy during times of pain and even heartache?

These are questions that many churches and pastors seem to be missing or even not teaching it at all, because they are trying not to offend people in order to get them to come to church. Since when did Jesus not offend people? He called the Pharisees hypocrites and sons of their father the Devil. Some of His teachings offended people to the point that many people turned away from Him. We are supposed to tell people about salvation and do likewise in our ministry, not coddle them with soothing tones in a sermon which will do nothing but send more people to hell!

We, as Christians or followers of Jesus, are not supposed to be politically correct. That is the job of those in office! We are supposed to show people the Savior Who saved us from our own stupidity and selfishness, not water the message down until you can’t tell it from a self-help book! God’s Word is the only self-help book that you need, because it takes self out of the equation when you put Jesus into your life and your heart and live daily with Him!

Being saved is not being perfect, because we can only strive toward that goal…we won’t attain it until we are in Heaven with Him. Even then, we will not be perfect, just more like Him because we will have our glorified bodies and will live for eternity! Praise the Lord!

Tell someone about the God that you serve, the One Who created everything and inspired the writers of the Scriptures to pen His Wisdom and not their own.

Racism and hate


Can we overcome these two demons? It is possible, but not under our own power and motivation. Unfortunately our independence and our ability to choose what we believe or not, on an individual basis, is what grew these two into mankind’s conscience. We are not born this way, but over time and exposure to other ideas and teachings at home or school, we do develop our own version, our own opinions toward others. That is where these destructive attitudes or emotions grow from.

Sometimes, they aren’t very potent in certain individuals but with a bit of prodding from someone who can stoke them and get your emotions involved in the matter then, like a small fire with alcohol or gas poured on it, they will explode. We see this everyday and hear about it on the news, if you can stand to watch it. Pride, arrogance, and greed follow along with these two and all of them together can cripple a country.

Why is it so hard for humanity to get past these kinds of problems? INDIVIDUALITY. We seem to be resistant to being in any kind of real, true relationship with each other. Oh, we may do so with our family, maybe our close friends, but anyone outside of that circle is out of luck. Even…God.

Oh, we may say that we “believe” in Him, but we mostly believe in our idea of God. Why is this? It is also because of our freedom which God allows us to have, because love cannot flourish without the freedom to choose. Many times we look at God’s Word during church and see that God allowed His people to choose many times in the Bible. He didn’t stop them from walking away from Him or worshiping Him, because He loves us.

Love is above hate and bitterness and racism and true love does not allow these emotions to flourish at all. It is mankind’s evil and hatred for other opinions which causes so much strife and trouble in our world today. God didn’t create evil, though He allows it to be. We should seek Him, the God of the Bible and there is no other. His Word is Truth and salvation offered to all who will believe in Him and in His atonement which is offered through Jesus the Christ.

Wisdom, where does it come from?


Some people say that wisdom comes with age, but I have seen some older people do some strange things that don’t seem to bear this out. I am not giving any examples here, but I think you know who you are. Some novels contain some interesting wisdom or at least some sayings which people like to quote or post on Facebook.

But…the greatest wisdom that I have ever read is contained in the Bible. Yep…that’s what I said, the Bible! In many ways most of our “wisdom” has come from God’s Word at some point, whether we heard it from our grandparents or parents. Sometimes, they don’t ever realize that much of their sayings are actually re-worded quotes from the Bible.

Why do I say that wisdom comes from God? Because He is our Creator, so don’t you think He is wise beyond our measure? He lives outside of time and space and He can see all parts of your life and mine from beginning to end.

We can’t understand Him, except by reading and studying His Word and even then we won’t understand Him even as much as we can each other. God is far above us in all ways, yet He loves us so dearly that He sent His Son to pay the penalty for our sins. Why would God do this? Because of His love for us that is why. Trying to reason out God’s ways with the wisdom of man doesn’t work.

His wisdom is only gained by reading His Word and by faith in Him. To the world and to those who have not accepted Him as Savior, God’s wisdom and His Word is just foolishness and can’t be understood. Without faith and belief in Him, it can’t be but God only asks that we believe in Jesus as our Savior and the faith which brings us to that point will allow us to see the wisdom in His Word. In this life, we won’t understand it, but we can at least live our lives as His servants and help the rest of the world to know Him.

Is Satan a real being?


Satan was an angel or as the Scripture puts it “a covering Cherub” at one time. Now, cherub in this sense does not mean one of those fat little angels that flits around shooting people on Valentine’s Day. Lucifer was and is still a very powerful being who is described as a dragon, a serpent, a liar and a murderer in Scripture. He is also described as a roaring lion looking for those he can devour here on Earth. What does all of this mean?

The King James version of the Bible gave Satan the name of “Lucifer” in Latin meaning “light bringer” in Isaiah 14, but the description of him in Ezekiel begins by calling him the king of Tyre. Although the description cannot be of a human being because of the attributes being described.

Jesus spoke of watching him fall from Heaven and he tempted Him in the wilderness after His 40 day fast, so yes Satan is real and he is alive here on Earth now. We see his influence and his activity every day on the news when evil is killing people all over the world for no apparent reason. All of the diseases that Jesus healed people of, or at least many of them, were attributed to demons as the cause. These demons were the angels who had followed Satan when he rebelled against God and was cast down.

Is Satan real? Yes! The world is paying the price for not thinking that he is or rather by placing him in positions of power over it by worshiping money, drugs, witchcraft and other things in this world instead of our Creator, God. Those who are doing these things believe that they are getting ahead in life because of their efforts, when it is likely that he is pulling some strings to get things working for them. Why do I say this?

Because, if they are successful then they won’t go searching for God! Satan and his followers are all about keeping as many people from becoming Christians as possible. He is trying to hurt God in this way because he can’t hurt Him any other way. Is Satan real and do demons and principalities really work for him or with him? Yes, this is true but if you want to investigate it please don’t invite them into your life or your home! Check out news about possessions, which will not be in regular news. Read about Haiti and the voodoo which goes on there, which is powered by Satan and his cohorts.

You can choose to ignore him or his influence if you want, but seek out Jesus in your life. Eternity is a long time and regardless of what your “friends” may say about Hell, it will not be an eternity of partying. Life everlasting in Heaven is much preferred over that!

Hope and ?


No, I am not posting about hope and change, we have had the first dashed to pieces in the last eight years and the changes in some areas are almost unbearable. Enough soap boxing. (Jedi mind trick–forget what you just read, it isn’t important).

Hope is a cousin of faith because both of them run together. You can’t have much hope without faith and faith without hope isn’t expecting much. Abraham expected (hoped),with faith in God’s ability to fulfill it, that he would have an heir just as God had told him. How it was going to happen wasn’t important really, he had faith that God could do it even at his age and his wife’s age as well. Would doctors today recognize this birth as a miracle? Absolutely, in light of it being one because there was no way it could have happened without God’s intervention!

Faith is important to our life in Him because we were never meant to live apart from Him. Though, now we need faith to do so because He is just outside our limited human vision just as the beauty of His Creation is as well, although we will see it one day. Amen. God loves each of us, whether we belong to Him yet or not. He has a plan for our lives in His Kingdom if we will accept our place in it!

52050-my-hope-is-in-youHope is where we should put our faith and our trust totally in the Lord. God loves you with an everlasting love that never dips up or down. He doesn’t love you today and hate you tomorrow! We and everything around us, every person, every animal, every star and planet are His Creation and He cares for all of it!

We are not special because we live on Earth, we are special because God loves us! He know what you can do and what you did yesterday or last week or even last year, but He loves you anyway! Why? Because He is God and He is Love perfected! There is no darkness or shadow in Him, He is Light and the Giver of Life itself!

Satan cares NOT for you, in fact he HATES YOU!! You and I are made in the image of God, he hates God, so you are hated by Satan and his demons. That is why there is so much war, so much disease, so much cancer attacking children and older people, because of demonic influence in your life, against your life in Christ, trying to turn you away from God by getting you to blame Him for your problems!

That is the way of our world because he, Satan, is the ruler of the air on Earth…but only temporarily. He knows that his time is coming to an end and that is why problems are getting worse, wars and more intense, diseases are harder to cure. He knows that he has already lost, but he is going to try to take as many people into Hell with him as possible. Not to have a party, but to torment them for eternity because they were offered a way out of Hell through belief in Jesus and they chose not to believe in Him

An experience


trinity2Worship in a church setting is an experience. In some churches it may be more of an experience than in others, but an experience nonetheless. Some churches are very laid back and, for lack of better words, they are bland and dull. Some are downright giddy with the worship of God and His Spirit. Then there are some who fall a bit in the middle. A little more alive than dull but not running around shouting “Praise God!!”

How we experience God and Jesus and the Holy Ghost (Spirit), regardless of the church we attend, should be a personal and intimate relationship. It doesn’t have to be shouting unintelligible babble-talk and it doesn’t have to be sitting there looking like you died last week but haven’t had the good grace to get yourself buried yet either!

Living daily with Jesus as your Savior is enough for me, yet there are times when I would like more. Then there are those days or nights where His Spirit fills me to the point that I weep because I can’t take anymore. The joy and the blessedness that I feel at those times are even more than when my son was born. I can’t describe it to you unless you have felt it too, then I know that you know what I am talking about.

Life with God in Three Persons is part of the experience when you believe in Him and ask Him to come into your life and change you. It isn’t about how much you shout and dance in church or if you sit quietly and meditate on His promises and His love for you. He is nearer to you than your skin because if you have given your life and heart to Him, then He lives within you and through you and to experience His Life, we need to live our daily lives knowing that and living that way!

For some people a “Holy Ghost church”, whether it is Pentecostal or Church of God, is just too much. When you have been raised in a church like a Methodist or Baptist one, it can be an experience to say the least. The point that I am making here is that when we are open and free to experience our life and His Life through us and inside us, it doesn’t matter what other people think. If you sit and soak in His Love, that is fine. If you can’t sit still and you have to get up and shout and dance, that’s fine too.

God loves you no matter which way that you choose to worship, as long as you don’t turn the worship experience into something which represents God but isn’t really Him or His Spirit. If your performance or speaking in tongues or shouting is not from Him but is emotionally bringing out your own personality just to bring attention to yourself, then you are acting like those Pharisees which Jesus condemned.

If it really is from the Spirit, it will be known and real, not just babbling incoherently. God knows the language of your Spirit and it is between you and Him. If you feel inclined to let it be known to others, then by all means do it. But make sure that it is not for your benefit only but for the whole congregation and their enjoyment of the moment and the worship itself.

Relating to….


Have you ever noticed that most of the Bible is about relationships? In the beginning, it is between God and Adam. Then it shifts to Adam and God and the animals, then it becomes a relationship between Adam and Eve. Then there is a broken relationship when Adam and Eve decide that they don’t want to do what God told them. They eat from the one tree which He had told them not to eat from. Out of ALL the fruit trees and other foods which they had, they chose the very one which they were commanded NOT to eat from.

Did they do it because they were mad at God or were tired of His rules? There was only the one rule…not to eat of the tree in the midst of the Garden! It couldn’t have been the rules because there was only one! So, what happened? Satan, Lucifer the deceiver came into the Garden and he wanted to disrupt the relationship which God had with His Son, Adam. So, his lies and deception caused the first couple to sin, to go against God’s rule.

Creation then was like a vase dropped on the floor, shattered into many pieces. The relationship broken and damaged forever…or so he thought.

God knew that this was coming and wasn’t caught off guard. Satan thought that he was doing something to God, his Creator, that would hurt Him. It did, but God used it to work out His purposes and His redemption of mankind anyway. He works in ways that we can’t understand or even comprehend, but God loves all of us and He is in control of all. He doesn’t dictate to us how we live or work but He will work in your life to bring about good things for you and for those around you.

Why is a relationship so important? Because, that is what God has always wanted with mankind! A relationship with Jesus is what is necessary for you to be His child, believing in Him and He Who sent Him. God knows your heart and what is in it, if there is hatred and worldly things in your heart and life and the evidence of it is known by all then your life doesn’t belong to Jesus. He is the Author and finisher of life and our Creator. He is with you whether you believe or not, but He takes pleasure in your life and rejoices when you invite Him in.

He will forgive you because your sins have been forgiven through Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross, but if you aren’t convicted of them enough to repent and turn from them and ask for His forgiveness in order to live with Him daily, then your life is yours and not His. It is necessary for us to come to Him knowing that we need Him and His forgiveness. If you are too proud in your own religiosity and your piety, thinking that you have an “agreement” with God about your life, then you are lost and are bound for punishment because you would not subject your heart to Him.