Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/1th.5.16-18.KJV
Rejoice!
Category: when you feel His call in your heart
Do you believe?
There are many things in our lives that we believe without question. The sun will rise in the Eastern sky tomorrow morning and set in the West tomorrow evening and nobody disputes that. But do you believe God’s Word is true? I know that the physics of our planet and the solar system determine the rising and setting of stars and the moon and our Sun itself but God designed all of this Himself. He determined the size and shape of every planet and rock in our solar system. He also designed the universe itself to be exactly the way He wanted it to be.
We tend to believe many things that are just theories in science because they can’t be proven by repetition. Evolution can’t be repeated by our scientists to produce the same results, but nobody has ever found an actual fossil of an animal in the process of changing from one form to another. God designed each animal they way that they were supposed to be and He didn’t have to begin with an early version of it and mold it to be like its final form. He created them in their final form period.
God’s home in eternity is outside of time and physical limitations of our universe so He can see our world the way it will be in a thousand years or He can look back to the beginning and follow history along if He chose to do so. I saw something today that expressed an idea or a counter-idea saying that there will be no rapture. The word “rapture” is not in God’s Word but Jesus did tell His disciples that He would come back one day and take us to the homes that He has prepared for us in heaven. So you can look at some scripture and say that it doesn’t mean rapture but I don’t care what it means. If He said that He was coming to take us home to be with Him, so you can call it “the great disappearing act” for all I care. I will be happy and humbled to be included in the number of saints who are taken home to be with Jesus!
I pray that everyone who reads this blog will be part of the group that is taken to be with Him. If you aren’t sure about your salvation, read a couple of books in the Bible and then ask God to show you how to become saved, sanctified and free to be called a born again Christian. The books I am referring to are the book of John in the New Testament and the book of Romans. John has about 22 or 23 chapters in it and Romans has 16. They are not hard to read but they do explain a lot. Then read the book of Acts where Saul meets Jesus on the road to Damascus and his life is changed dramatically. I pray that yours will be too.
God has called to us…
The Lord calls us to be His people and our response should be to obey Him.
Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord , and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord . For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. Isaiah 55:5-11 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/isa.55.5-11.KJV
I pray that you will seek Him for your salvation because not one of us is guaranteed to be here tomorrow. Your life or mine may end before this day is over so make sure of your eternal home now while you can.
Today…tomorrow…the next day…
Which is the best day to pray? Every day that you wake up is a good day to pray and thank God for that day. If you are hurting or in pain thank God for the day and ask Him for relief of your pain. Sometimes the pain is there to focus us on our Provider and our Healer, God. Sometimes the pain is there to remind us that we are not the center of the universe and that our needs or wants are not a real priority to God. He has people all over the world who are looking for His help and His healing touch on some level. Whether it is for cancer or for an empty stomach or even someone who is in an ICU with COVID-19, God is still there with each and every one of them. He is present when we have a headache or a cold or the flu and He can give us the strength to get through each problem or disease in our lives no matter how big or small the problem is He is still interested in helping us and getting it taken care of.
We never know what tomorrow will bring with it. It could be a broken leg or a heart attack. It could be a wreck or even a fall that causes a sprain or a broken hip. Tomorrow is the day that we look forward to, at times, but we don’t know what it will bring with it. Tomorrow will bring its own troubles and pains with it but when it gets here it won’t be tomorrow…it will be today. Make sure that your prayers are sincere and are given to God with a humble heart because He may decide that He has something for you to do in Heaven. A job that only you can do which is why we are born into the world here, but God will also keep us busy into eternity as well.
Our small blue planet that God put us on may be tiny in the expanse of our galaxy but it has humanity living on it and we are made in the image of God. He loved us before we came to be and therefore we are special in His grand scheme of things. We are a part of His Kingdom as His adopted children. Something to think about at the end of this year that has been so bad for so many people. I pray that we will all have a better year next year. In Christ.
So much more…
In our daily lives we see the pain and suffering which is happening in our country because of this pandemic. But it isn’t just the pandemic that is hurting our country and the world around us. It is the attitude of our people and the culture that has become so prevalent in society today. It is true that culture takes a while to develop but it seems that this “cancel culture” has sprung up over the past year or so.
It did not show up by itself though. All of the movements and marching which has gone on in the decades before many of those who march today were even born have lent their seeds to the movements and the culture that we have today. Much of it began in the late ’50’s and early sixties when religion was seen as a bad influence on our children, at least by a few who didn’t believe and who thought that prayer and reading from God’s Word was a bad influence. This grew into the atheistic movement which spawned some of the organizations which file lawsuits all over our country even when the complaint comes from one person or family.
Yes, we have the freedom to believe or not to believe in whatever god or religion that is around or in the schools or that may be influencing our children. But…have you ever heard of a Muslim Imam or a Jewish Rabbi being taken to court for what they teach? The religion that is always targeted in lawsuits and insults on the Internet is Christianity. Would the atheists target a Mosque or a Jewish Temple for their boycott or smear campaign? No! Because their reason for doing these things does not reside within those buildings.
The Word of God, Jesus Christ, Who came to pay for our sins and lived with His disciples for three years teaching and healing in Israel is what everyone who is against Christianity objects to. They don’t care if you talk about God or Yahweh. They don’t care if you talk about Mohammed or Allah or any of the others scattered around the world. But when you bring up the One Who can do for you the very thing that is worth the whole world…He is the One that can give you eternal Life!
He came to pay the penalty for ALL of our sins, true believers and those who choose not to believe. Why would Jesus Christ pay the penalty for those who choose not to believe in Him for salvation? Because He loves them enough to offer them the choice even when He knows their heart won’t accept it. God raised up kings and kingdoms to honor Him and to use as a way to punish His people when they didn’t honor Him as their Lord and God. He knows your heart and mine and He knew from before time began exactly who will give their lives to Jesus and who will not. But we are never forced to choose one way or another.
Even the angels in Heaven had the choice of being obedient to and loving God the Father or not. Some chose to follow Lucifer and be the fallen angels spoken of in the Bible and yet even when they made their choice God was not taken by surprise. He knew their hearts and their choices before they did. Our lives seem to be long here but consider that some veterans from World War 2 have lived to be 100 or more. The advancements in science and war machines and airplanes and cars that they have seen are amazing but consider what they would see if their life extended to 800 or 900 years? What could they witness in the past or in our future? The kingdom that will come to Earth with Jesus as the King will allow those who come into it to live a life like that. Imagine what they will see!
Seek His Kingdom while there is time now because eternity is ahead of those who have given their lives to Him and it is also ahead of those who have not. The dwelling place of each will be drastically different depending upon their choice here and now.
Christ is all you need
From the time of World War 2 and every terrible thing that happened in the camps where so many Jewish people, men, women and children lost their lives and many family members. This statement by Corrie Ten Boom is so very true because when everything is taken from you like it was in those “camps”, Christ is all that you have to cling to and believe in. In those horrible places their humanity, and their dignity was taken from them. Their individuality and every decent bit of treatment was denied them because of the conditions that they were kept in. Their treatment was inhumane and horrible and many students today are not learning about what happened or even that it did happen.
Christ is our Savior, Christ is the Savior of the world if they will accept Him. I pray that every person who reads this blog will seek out Jesus Christ as their Savior while there is time. Don’t wait because some of you may not be here tomorrow night.
We are delivered!
Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: Colossians 1:13 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/col.1.13.KJV
The Lord’s blessing
The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. Numbers 6:24-26 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/num.6.24-26.KJV
PTSD-Pray through sin’s denial
How should we live and act when we sin each day of our lives? Should we just shrug it off and tell ourselves that “God has already forgiven us through the blood of Jesus because I am saved by my belief in His atonement for me.” These words are true…but God’s Word says that we should confess our sins and He is just to forgive us. We should NOT assume God’s forgiveness because of our belief in His Son.
Consider this: many people, especially in the “Bible Belt” of the South, THINK that they are truly saved by Jesus but their life doesn’t show behavior that proves this out. Why is that? Because of our culture in the South. We attend church almost from the day we are born and we grow up in the church. Many of us can quote Scripture almost as good as our pastor can…but have you truly given your heart to Jesus? Did the conviction of His Spirit touch your spirit and show you that your life doesn’t reflect what you say you believe?
Many of the people in America, whether you are from the Midwest or the Northeast or the South, claim to be Christians! In some recent polls, there has been as many as 80 to 90 percent of the population making this claim. Then why are so many churches closing their doors because there are too few people in the congregation to keep the doors open? Those same polls show that when the questions get down to true, serious, Bible studying Christians the percentages drop to as little as fifteen percent regardless of their location in America. Now that this “new” coronavirus has hit and churches have been told NOT to meet together in groups of more than fifteen persons I wonder how many more churches will close their doors?
So…should we pray through the denials that we have been inflicting on ourselves for more than forty years? Of course, we should! The Church is the people who make up the Body of Christ here on Earth, not the buildings. Prayer is our connection to God in all of His Glory and it is He that will bring about a return to church and the study of the Bible. How can we just hide behind a tree the way Adam did when he heard God walking in the Garden so long ago? We should confess our sins and beg for His forgiveness of our sins. It was our sins which nailed Jesus to the cross and it was for our atonement that He died and rose on the third day to bring that forgiveness to each person who will ask for it with a humble heart knowing that each of us is truly in need of His forgiveness today and forever.
The instances of PTSD that we hear of today can come from many different situations, but God can get each of us through them if we will learn to rely on Him every minute of every day. What do I mean by “different situations”? The teenager who was sent into a war zone during the Vietnam war gets it because of what he feels or sees around him in the jungle. If he sticks his head out too far the enemy may put a bullet in it. The child of an alcoholic develops it because of how their personality changes and they become violent for little reason. A policeman or woman develops it because of the culture that we live in today that seems to be hunting cops while they are working. Firefighters and ambulance workers get it because of what they see and hear and fear during their shifts. God can help us through all of these but we have to know Him to come to Him for our comfort during our episodes of PTSD. Seek Him every day for His strength and His comfort in every trial, no matter how small or big it may seem to us.
Life and Love
Both of these words are part and parcel of the message which Jesus taught to His disciples. What do I mean by “life”? Well, you are alive and the life that you live every day is a message that others see when they see you on a daily basis. People notice how you walk and talk, especially when they find that you have given your heart and life to Jesus. When Jesus went to different towns during His ministry do you think that He announced His coming? No, the word spread because of what others had experienced because of His life and because of the love that they felt when He spoke to them or preached to them or blessed them.
His ministry was and is the same as our ministry today. We are supposed to go out into the world and let people see Jesus in our daily life. Not being arrogant or boastful about our life but simply living our life with His life as a pattern by everything that we do or say. If a person can’t see Jesus in your daily life by how you speak or your actions then you may not have Jesus in your heart at all.
What about “love”? How do we incorporate that into our lives? According to the apostle Paul, “if we do not have love then we are just a clanging cymbal“. Why would he say something like that? Because everything that Jesus did in His ministry was done because of His love for His people and for each of us. Jesus healed people because He loved them. He blessed children because He loved them. Every action that He took during His ministry, even His death on the cross, was done because of His love for us.
In the culture that most of us live in today, the word “love” has been used and abused so much that it means much less than it should. Even saying “I love you” used to be an endearing thing to say but today love doesn’t carry the weight that it did in the past. There are many words that don’t mean the same today and many of them have been reduced to abbreviations or even emoticons.
God’s love is deeper and more meaningful than we can imagine but many people who attend church today don’t seem to see God in that way anymore. Mostly because very few people even believe that the Bible is the actual Word of God and that it is ALL TRUE! God cannot lie and yet many teachers and preachers will tell you that God didn’t mean it that way or that it only meant that when it was written but today it doesn’t mean that at all.
The Ten Commandments are still commandments and God meant every word. The Bible, Old and New Testaments, was inspired by the Holy Spirit and since He can’t lie then every word is true and was meant to be taken as absolute Truth then and now. Some people try to water down or change some words so that the message is skewed or changed to have a different impact on people today. In other words they don’t want to offend people. I don’t remember Jesus backing away from His critics or changing His message so that they wouldn’t be offended.
Live your life as a reflection of Jesus so that others will see Him in your words or your actions and maybe they will want the Savior that has come into your life and made such a change in your life and the way you live it.
