So many people seem to have a problem with him. It seems that the name of Jesus causes many people to pull away from Christianity, but why? Is it because He is Jewish or because He was crucified on a cross? I’ve heard that people don’t like Christianity because of its bloody history. Not only because of the way Jesus died but because of the Dark Ages and the Inquisitions in the past. It truly is sad that all of that happened but like slavery and other atrocities which have happened in the past, none of those have anything to do with us living in the present.
God sent Jesus to us to pay the penalty for the sins of humanity past and future, until that day that He calls us to be with Him. Will more people come to know Jesus during the Tribulation? Yes, but it will be a very dangerous time for those who do. They will be put in jail or killed or both just because of their faith in Jesus. Why am I bringing this up? The time is growing short because the prophecies at the beginning of Revelation and from Matthew 24 are coming true now.
He came for each of us and there is no greater love than His. Make sure that your eternity is sure in Him.
On the last Passover that Jesus celebrated with His disciples, He knew what would happen soon. His Spirit knew what was being planned for Him. So why did He go there? You know that if it were you or me, our fear of death would’ve kept us away from that place. Jesus was as much human as we are, but He was also God and He knew that if He didn’t go and fulfill the Father’s will mankind would have no part in His Kingdom when it’s time is fulfilled.
So, why did Jesus go to Jerusalem that night? Because of His love for mankind, not just for the Jewish people but for all of humanity. God did this because He knew that we could not have a relationship with Him unless our sin debt had been paid fully and only Jesus could do that. The blood of bulls and lambs and goats could only atone temporarily for our sins as it did in the Old Testament, but the New Testament in Jesus’ blood is a permanent atonement for our sins if we will believe in Him for our salvation. That is the only requirement that we have to fulfill for our salvation and it is our belief which comes to us through the faith which is given to us also by God. We cannot choose to come to Him on our own but when we feel our broken state and know that we need Him, then we can cry out to Him and He will heal us by the blood of Jesus.
You may wonder why I said in the paragraph above that He will heal you by the blood of Jesus. We are under a curse of sin and before Jesus comes into our heart we are dead spiritually. It is this spiritual death which Jesus heals us of and quickens us by His Spirit to do His will for the rest of our days. God loves you and has always loved you. The only requirement for your salvation that you can accomplish is to respond to the Spirit of God which breaks your heart to bring you to the point of repentance knowing that you need Jesus as your Savior.
God sent His Son to bring salvation to Judea but since they refused to believe that He was the Christ, the world gained a Savior. Believe in Him for your salvation because it is found in no other. Salvation is by the grace of God given to us through Jesus and by Him only.
There are many people in the world today who are considering suicide because of depression or PTSD or any number of other mental illnesses. Now, I’m not going to write anything here that will give you the idea that praying to God or giving your heart to Jesus is going to cure you of your illness because it may happen but then it may not happen. God can use that illness to bring you closer to Him and cause you to depend upon Him more or He could cure you of it so you can give someone else hope.
If I dashed your hopes here, I’m sorry. But it is the truth. Sometimes God does use our “thorns”, whatever they may be, to bring us closer to Him. Sometimes, He will bring you to the edge of your tolerance and then give you relief from the illness. If this sounds discouraging, I do apologize but David was often depressed and hurting when he was writing the Psalms. Some of the prophets were depressed and asked God to strike them dead, I have done this myself.
Why do I write such a depressing post today? Because, I don’t want you to think that God will miraculously cure you of your problem, whatever it may be, if you give your life to Him. He may do exactly that, but it is His prerogative whether He will or will not cure you just because you have given your life and heart to Jesus. God isn’t required to cure you. He is God after all and He doesn’t have to do anything that we ask of Him unless it is His will to do so and it would bring Him glory.
It sounds as if I am making God out out to be jealous and petty but He is not. He created the universe and everything in it, including us and our world, so that we would want to know Him. I think it is an awesome honor to be able to know Him because He has known you since before the universe was made! He loves each of us with such a deep and abiding love that we really can’t imagine it…but He does so for our benefit and for His glory! We have His grace and His mercy given to us for the sole purpose of being drawn to Him for our salvation. His Son died on the cross to pay for our sins so that we don’t have to. Your life doesn’t have to end when this “shell” that we live in dies IF you will give your heart to Jesus and repent of your sins and follow Him!
It is not rocket science or some kind of physical game that God plays with us. All that is truly required is that we realize that we need Jesus in our life, confess your sins and ask Him to come in and give you a new heart for Him. When that truly happens, your life will never be the same again.
Seek Him while there is life in your body today, because none of us are guaranteed tomorrow!
If you are a Christian then this is true. Satan is always trying to catch you in some way to say something out of character for a Christian or maybe even do something which would make someone think that you aren’t a Christian. It happens every day to those of us who are Christians or even claim to be. If you don’t believe it, look at the story about Jesus and His forty days in the desert fasting. At the end of it He was hungry just as any of us would be. Don’t tell me you can’t fast because I have done it. Granted, I did it with water and juice and Jesus didn’t have the juice but it is possible to do. Getting back to Jesus’ story…after forty days He was weak in his body and very likely He could imagine all kinds of food around Him. That was where Satan came to Him and began tempting Him with “If you are the Son of God, turn this stone into bread to satisfy your hunger“.
Jesus countered that with “Man shall not live on bread alone but by every Word which comes from God“. Satan even had the audacity to say, “If you are the Son of God”! He knew Who Jesus was and he knew that Jesus could’ve done exactly the thing which he was tempting Him to do, but to do so would’ve been against the will of the Father. We are tempted every day with thoughts and feelings and other kinds of temptations from our past lives, the life we lived before the Holy Spirit took up His home in our heart. But, we have His Spirit and it is this Spirit that we should listen to every day because He can teach us more about our Savior and our position as His disciple.
Are we disciples of Jesus? If we are truly Christians and have asked Him to come into our heart and our life and cleanse us from our old ways and bring about a change in our life then we are His disciples. We also need to be walking with Him each and every day reading the Word of God and learning more about our Savior so that we can use His Word to counter any temptation that may be thrown at us during the day. Don’t be misled, Satan and his demons will send all kinds of thoughts and temptations your way to cause you to stumble or just make your witness for Jesus ineffective. It only takes one misstep that someone sees or hears to ruin any credibility that you had as a Christian and that credibility can be hard or even impossible to get back.
Pray that the temptation will be light and that your faith in Jesus is stronger. Read God’s Word and use it to counter any temptation that comes your way because in perseverance in your faith you can show that you are saved and sealed as a child of God in Jesus Christ.
We who are sinners should seek God’s mercy and grace each day. We are given so many blessings that we tend to take our days and those blessings for granted. We are given another day to serve the Lord, we have food and a roof over our heads, and our health has not failed us, yet we still ask for more. God is merciful and gracious toward each of us every day but many of us don’t notice it. Truly, life is a blessing in itself but many don’t notice the blessing of it until some part of it is diminished by disease or an accident.
God loved us even while we were sinners and haven’t given our hearts or our life to Him but most don’t see it that way. Many just go about their lives complaining about how life isn’t fair and their job isn’t fair, etc. When the real problem is that Satan is keeping your life at this point so you will complain and whine about life and especially blame God for your life being so bad. When your life feels this way, seek out the One Who created life in the first place! The God of the Bible was there before the first light was shown in the universe. He flung the stars and commanded that they give their light to the Earth for seasons and for the marking of time itself. The stars are also there to prove that God did this for His glory and to bring wonder into our lives.
If the night sky was just black with a moon shining in it and the other planets in our own solar system moving around the Sun, what wonder would emerge from that? Not much I’d imagine. You can’t imagine a sky at night without stars and constellations and galaxies all around us because there has never been a time that the human race looked up and saw emptiness in the heavens. It would be too depressing and scary too. Looking out into the blackness of space and the only points of light are the planets. I don’t think it would’ve inspired us to imagine anything outside of our own solar system. There would be nothing to imagine.
God created all of the universe, as big as it is, in order to inspire us and make us wonder about a Creator that made all of those stars and galaxies and black holes and all of the nebula which can birth new stars. Our telescopes show us much more wondrous and magnificent parts of our universe than our eyes can fathom from our own planet. When you see all of these, for some of us it is a confirmation of our Creator. For some scientists it is confirmation of their theories and the complex math which can explain much of what they see. All that I want to do is to look at those stars and galaxies and be humbled by how magnificent our Creator must be that has created our eyes which can take in all of the wonders around us.
In many ways, when you think about all that is out in the vastness of the cosmos, it makes you wonder why did God put us on this little ball of dirt in our solar system? Why does He love us so much that He was willing to die on a cross in a most painful and horrific way in order to pay the penalty for our sins? Because…He is God and He loves us, that’s why. His mercy and His grace is given to us with each breath that we are given for the time that we have. What more could we need beyond life itself? A relationship with Him forever that is what we need! That is all that we truly need.
Each image in this group is a galaxy and each one has thousands of stars, yet God chose us.
When you see the devastation of hurricanes and flooding which is happening on Grand Bahama island you wonder if God cares. Yes, He cares because we are part of His creation. He is in control although many would look at the storm and what it is doing an wonder “Why God?”! What have we done to deserve this? The truth is that God is in control and He allows the “ruler” of this world to do these things but He is limiting the destruction which would happen if He did not.
The truth of our situation on Earth is that Satan hates us with just as much passion and vitriol that he can muster. His hatred rivals the deep abiding love that God shows toward us every day except that his hatred is intended to hurt God through the pain and suffering which he can cause to us who carry the image of God. His hatred is pointed at humanity everywhere and the more suffering that he can cause to us, then he will do so because he knows that God cares so much for us. So through the pain that we feel every day, he is striking at God.
God LOVES each person on this Earth and He does care more deeply than we can imagine. He does limit the damage which the fallen angels of Satan’s group can do to us because of His love, but that doesn’t stop them from inflicting suffering on humanity in any way they can. We are at the very edge of the time which is just before the church being taken away. There is no set date for this, other than the date and the hour which only God knows.
Don’t forget, many passages in God’s Word speak volumes about the love of God toward us and His love is far beyond anything that we experience on a daily basis, even from our own family. He sent His Son Jesus to be the Perfect sacrifice to pay the penalty for ALL of our sins! He paid for the sins from Adam all the way to the very last person who will get saved before God takes us home. Granted, there are many who will not accept His gift of grace for our redemption and our salvation but the ones who will accept it, He will not turn them away if they are sincere in their repentance.
Humanity has changed how they view the Bible and God’s promises because of our idea of what we want it to say to us and the “rules” which God has in place. God designed each of us for a purpose and only He knows that purpose until you are convicted by His Spirit and feel the NEED for Jesus in your heart. Then your life can conform to His purpose for your life. Until that point, you won’t care about His purpose for you and you won’t seek Him until the Spirit brings your Spirit in alignment with His purpose for your life and His glory!
God is not surprised by anything, least of all what happens with His Creation. That means that nothing in your life or anywhere on Earth surprises Him. God has been in charge since before the universe was brought into being. So why do we seem to think that He either doesn’t exist or that He is out of touch with us?
Even though it has been two thousand years or so since Jesus walked with His disciples, God is still in control. None of His prophecies have fallen to the ground or failed in any way. Jerusalem and the Jewish people have come back together in the nation of Israel and their language is still intact. This has never happened in history before 1948 and it won’t happen again. Many other prophecies which were foretold by His prophets have come to pass as well and the only one which hasn’t taken place is the coming of our Savior to bring His children home.
Jesus said that He would come back for us and since God cannot lie, He will. The signs of which He spoke in Matthew 24 and in the beginning chapters of the Revelation which John wrote down are all around us today. No, God is not surprised by our behavior or by anything which is happening on Earth or in the cosmos.
Do we doubt Him and His Word? Yes, and mostly it is our own ideas and faults which we see in the world. God is allowing many things to happen so that we will turn to Him and many are doing that. But there are thousands, possibly millions who are accusing Him of not caring about us or completely pushing Him away because they don’t like what is written in His Word. Remember, love cannot be forced and He allows us to follow our own path until we realize that we truly need Him.
Don’t push Him away from your life or family because of a word or a phrase that you don’t like. We can’t pick and choose which parts of the Bible to believe. Either you live by it and believe all of it or you don’t, there really isn’t another way to put it. God is in control but He still allows us to choose, so choose to believe in Jesus as your Savior. The alternative is an eternity without any life, any hope or any good thing at all.
1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. 4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
The Way, the Truth, and the Life
5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? 6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.
8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. 9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? 10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake. 12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. 13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
Jesus comforted His disciples with these words because they heard Him speak of going away. God is always near us and with us in every trial that we face. There is only one Savior and that is Jesus Christ. The whole of God’s Word speaks about Him and points us toward belief in Him, so whether you believe in Him or not is your choice but the evidence of His love for you was shown on the cross that day. When you feel the Holy Spirit touch your heart and you know that you truly need Jesus, don’t hesitate because that time and opportunity may never come again.
Remember, we are not guaranteed tomorrow or even the next minute of our lives. Choose to give your life to Jesus today because it is always possible that you will meet Him tomorrow or even tonight. Eternity is a very long time, make sure of your destination before you arrive.
I’ve noticed that many people do seem to be searching for the Reason for Life. Who is the Author of Life? Jesus Christ! He is the Creator and a part of the Triune Godhead along with the Holy Spirit and God the Father. How can I say that many people are searching for something or Someone? Because of the number of people who have visited my little website which God led me to write years ago. Also, because of a search for Bibles on Amazon or any other retail location on the web. Many editions, regardless of translation, are in short supply.
The Holy Spirit is moving in our world today drawing as many people as He can to come to know Jesus as their Savior. The only real way to do this is from reading God’s Word or by attending a Bible teaching church or website. Learn about Jesus and seek to know Him as your personal Savior because He will be that and more. Don’t turn away from Him, especially if you are at the end of your life and you feel God touching your heart. If it is because of age or by reason of some disease which is bringing you to this point, don’t let your life end without Jesus being your Savior. Asking Him to forgive you and make you a child of God is the easiest decision you can make and it is the one which will impact your life far more than you will know on this side of heaven.
We truly are living on the edge of Revelation and if you have ever read this book, the problems which are described in the first few chapters sound exactly like the news broadcasts today. Life is not going to get easier from this point forward, in fact its going to get worse. Because the intolerance of the rest of the world against Christians and their so-called “intolerant” religion is ramping up in intensity and approaching dangerous levels of persecution. In some countries Christians are being hunted down and killed just because of their beliefs and for no other reason. We are being targeted in America because of our “intolerance” but the same thing could be said of their opinion and intolerance too. We are preaching the truth of God from His Word but nobody wants to hear it.
I pray that anyone who reads this post, regardless of the country you live in, seek out a Christian if you can. Ask them about their Savior and pray that your heart will be changed by Him so that your eternity will be with Him in Heaven. The alternative for eternity is unthinkable. Because, whether you believe the Bible and its Word about Heaven and Hell or not. now is the time to make the decision which will impact your eternity and that is a lot longer than your life here.
John chapter 14 verse 6. ”Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the father, but by me.’‘ This verse tells a lot in a little space. Truly, it tells about the way to be saved through Jesus and by belief in Him. It also tells about the way to come to the Father, God Himself, through Jesus in prayer. Because without faith in Jesus your prayers just don’t cut it. A sinner can pray and ask Jesus to forgive him of his sins and repent, turning from his ways to become a new person in Christ. But, your prayers don’t go very far if you are not a believer except of the one prayer which brings salvation into your life.
There is a hymn
which has a line in it which goes like this, “O, come to the Father
through Jesus the Son and give Him the glory, great things He has
done”. We cannot truly come to the Father with our problems and our
petitions unless we come through Jesus first. Life as a Christian is
a walk with Jesus, did you know that? You can’t do one without the
other. You can’t be a Christian without the Christ in your life. It
is just that simple.
But, people do try
to be things which they aren’t all of the time. Our so-called
“politicians” have been practicing their lies for so long until
they actually believe they are telling us the truth about the good
that they are doing. But when you look at the state of the world
today, you can see clearly that they haven’t been doing a very good
job of what they say.
Jesus is the Son of
God and therefore is our Savior but He is so much more than that!
John says in chapter one that He is the Word made flesh. He is the I
AM. He is the Creator and the Son, the second of the Trinity. He laid
His divine life down to take up the flesh of humanity to live and be
tempted and tried just as we are so that He could pay the penalty for
our sinful nature. No other creature or person could do this except
Jesus and He was destined for this from the very beginning of
Creation. The only way for a sinner to approach God’s throne is by
Jesus and through Him only. He had to pay the penalty for your sin,
which was death, so that you and I can have eternal life through Him.
It sounds pretty
harsh for God to put His Son through this but He knew that there was
no other way for fallen man, to be justified and sanctified except
through faith in Jesus and by His blood we are redeemed. The sins of
mankind were placed upon Jesus so that He could endure the wrath of
God in our place because without Jesus we would be destroyed as a
consequence of His wrath. You cannot come to the Father except
through the Son, Jesus.
We can quit some of our sinful ways on our own, sometimes, but that
doesn’t bring us into a right relationship with God and we aren’t
sanctified unless it is by the blood of Jesus which we have asked for
when we seek Him as our Savior. When His blood is sprinkled over our
sins, they are washed away. Yet, we can’t live our lives as if we
can get washed this week and then go get dirty in sin again. If you
are doing this, then your heart and your life hasn’t changed at
all. Your “salvation” is just words and nothing more. Living
as a sinner but claiming to know Jesus as your Savior is normal
because we are all hypocrites. None of us is capable of living a
sinless life, even after we have given our hearts to Jesus.
We
can only come to the throne of grace by having Jesus as our covering
and our Savior. Without Him, we are dust. As Isaiah wrote, “we
are as filthy rags in God’s sight”.
Our “righteousness” is nothing without Jesus and anything that we
do in service to Him and for His Kingdom means nothing unless we have
the Savior as our righteousness and not our own.
