Category: when you feel His call in your heart

Be mindful


In the movies, particularly in “Star Wars” movies, you hear this phrase in reference to some evil deed being done or something which might happen if you are not mindful. In the writing which I am placing here, being mindful is being careful as well. Not so much in watching what you are doing, although that has a part in it, but also taking care about what you think or say around people.

Your thoughts and your speech betray your true convictions and words cannot be unsaid once they are out. We are always careful with our speech in church settings or in mixed company, sometimes at least, but why don’t we pay attention to our thoughts and words in other places? I have heard many things in public which shouldn’t have been said, especially by someone claiming to be a Christian. Many times I would think that “I wouldn’t have said that”, but in their situation or as the saying goes “in their shoes” I might.

We cannot judge a person based on the words they use or even what they say, although many people do just that. We are judged by our actions and our words in many ways, sometimes rightly and other times not so much. The problem with being judged by what we say, whether it is posted on a social media site or on a blog or said in public, is our responsibility.

So…we should be very mindful of our thoughts and actions but especially our words because they never really go away on the Internet. In public places, the damage that spoken words can cause is much worse than a bullet or a knife and it runs deeper and lasts longer as well. Life is too short to dwell on what has already been said or the damage that was caused in the past by misspoken words. All that you can do about those is to ask forgiveness and give the problem to God and let Him take care of it.

Watch other people and what they do and say, keep your mouth shut and think carefully before proving to someone that you weren’t taught any differently. Seek God’s Wisdom in the Psalms and Proverbs on all sorts of subjects and learn from His teaching so that you can be better prepared for life because His Word is our guidebook and we should pay attention (be mindful) to it in everything that we do.

 

The soul which sins will die


Ezekiel 18:20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.  https://biblehub.com/ezekiel/18-20.htm
This law has not changed and will not change. God is sinless and perfect and so is Heaven and everything in it. Therefore, a sinner cannot enter into Heaven…period. You can’t set one foot into Heaven if you are a sinner. But, preacher, we are all sinners! Yes, we are BUT Jesus paid for our sins and His blood covers those sins IF you and I have accepted Him as our Savior.

SinSeparatesUsIf our sins are not covered by His blood because we have NOT asked Him to forgive us and we have not repented of those sins, then we will die. That doesn’t mean that we will die when we sin or maybe we will just a little at a time.

The point is this: sin separates us from God and keeps us separated until we realize that we need Jesus and confess that we are sinners and ask Jesus for His forgiveness and REPENT of those sins.

Recall that even when Adam and Eve disobeyed God (they sinned), He had to kill an animal and clothe them in skins, so a death had to occur to pay for their sins. God had told them that they would surely die if they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He didn’t say that they would die immediately, just that they would surely die. Adam lived until he was 930 and I would think that Eve may have lived the same, but the Bible doesn’t record the age of the women in the Bible.

The point is this: God had never intended for them to die but since they disobeyed His command and sinned, they would die. Just as we do today. Death for those who don’t know God is a terrible thing. I don’t mean that they don’t know about Him, many people do know about God. Satan knows about Him and knew Him since he was created by Him, but in his pride, Satan determined not to obey God.

We do the same thing when we think we are smarter than God..when we think we know more than God or when we make plans without God in them. Sin gets into our lives in subtle ways. Sometimes it is through greed or pride or by us thinking that we are doing better than others. Problems arise when we are doing well in life because it is usually then that we think we don’t need God. But…that is when we need Him the most!

The rich man who thought he had everything he needed and built all those barns to hold his goods so he could take life easy…didn’t know that he was about to die. Just as we don’t know when we are going to take our last breath. God said that the rich man was a fool because his soul would be required that night. The rich man had allowed pride to become his god.

Any sin can separate you from God unless you have given your heart to Jesus and live your life following Him and not your own ideas and ways. It is the separation from God which is the “second death” because God is Life and eternity away from Him would be eternal death.

God doesn’t intend for us to be in eternity like this but if we choose not to give our lives to Jesus and follow Him and be changed by Him, then our eternity will be without God or the Life which only He can give. Will it be an eternity in fire and in the lake of fire? Yes, eventually it will be. That place was intended only for Satan and the fallen angels who followed him, but when we decide that we don’t need Jesus or we don’t want to live our lives in service to Him then we are no different from him. Which is why many will be cast into the lake of fire one day.

God has made a way for you to be saved from this and it is through the belief in Jesus and His atonement for your sins. Admit that you are a sinner in need of Jesus and His forgiveness. Ask Him to come into your life and your heart and make you clean and then live your life in service to Him and not indulging in your old life again. A changed life and heart cannot go back to living the sinful way they did before, but one who thinks they are changed and isn’t can go back with no regret at all.

Consider that your life, no matter how long it might be, is but a drop in an ocean. The ocean represents eternity. Which eternity would you rather be a part of? One that is full of Life and purpose serving God or one which is apart from God and in torment because of your decision NOT to accept Jesus as your Savior? It is your choice.

God thinks fondly of you!


Jeremiah 29: 10-13

10 For thus saith, the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. 12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. 13 And ye shall seek me, and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

God loves you deeply and He proved this when He sent His Son to die and rise again in order to pay for your sins and mine! Some people think that God chooses a certain number of people or just certain people to be Christians and some to be sent to hell. That is wrong! The Book of Life which our names are written in when we come to faith in Jesus is not already written!

God writes our names into it when we come to know Jesus as our Savior. John wrote this:  “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” John 3:17

Your story as a believer and your life in Jesus is NOT written in stone. You can come to know Him as your Savior and all you have to do is seek Him diligently and ask Him into your heart. God loves each of us, He just doesn’t love the sinful lives that we lead when we aren’t Christians and our heart is still a slave to sin! I pray that anyone and everyone who reads this will come to the knowledge of Jesus as their Savior and Lord.

Don’t put off the most important decision in your life! Our lives are extremely short compared to eternity. It’s like a drop of water in the Pacific ocean, your lifetime is the drop and eternity is the ocean. Make sure of your destination in eternity before your life ends because this is the rehearsal for that eternal home which is promised in God’s Word. So make sure of it before you get in your car or get on an airplane or walk down the street because you don’t know if you will arrive at your destination.

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In Romans 1:16 Paul wrote this:  “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek”, and neither should anyone else who believes.

How much longer, Lord?


It has been nearly 2,000 years since the crucifixion of Jesus, yet God is still giving the world more time. Time to turn to Jesus and be saved, time to realize Who He was and Who He is and time for more to come to know Him as their Savior. When you look at all of the prophecies in the Bible you will notice that there are no more which are necessary to be fulfilled before the Trumpet calls those who have died in Christ and those who are living for Him now. We are living at the edge of history and its ending and yet more are still to come to know Him, so we wait for God’s timing.

the-great-tribulation-beginsWe don’t know what else needs doing nor do we know how many more haven’t been written down in the Book of Life but are destined to. But God knows who and when and it is very likely that it will be soon. We won’t know it until it happens and when that happens the rest of the world will know it too. For many, it will be too late, if they cared about it at all.  So what are we supposed to do in the meantime?

Why do I ask this question now? Because there are many on the Earth who are asking it as well. God is not short in His time and He knows when the Tribulation will take place. It is our job as Christians to live in obedience to His command and tell others about the gift that we have been given by grace through faith in Him. This cannot be worked for or bought and it cannot be bargained for because it is the gift of God to each of us who will accept it and believe.

Many wonder about this today if or when Jesus is coming back. You can be assured that He is because God doesn’t lie and it is told and foretold in the Bible that there will come a time of retribution and trials and that Jesus will come back to the Earth and reign for a thousand years from the throne of David. I pray that all who read this or who have heard a sermon about the return of Jesus the Christ will seek Him out and give your life and your heart to Him now before these things begin.

Some teachers are saying that the antichrist will come before we are taken up to be in Heaven. I don’t believe this. It seems that the book of Revelation is set up in order for us to discern His coming and the timing of His coming. The end of the age is near and we shouldn’t discount any prophecy in God’s Word. There is no exact date but with all of the upheaval going on in the world and all of the distress which is happening because of wars and drought and fires and natural disasters like hurricanes and volcanic eruptions…I don’t believe that the time is very far off at all.

Tell others about Jesus and His love for them. Seek Him out if you haven’t done so already because when the church leaves, the Holy Spirit will likely be gone from the Earth as well. Then the end will begin and that time is supposed to be so horrendous that all of life would end if this time is not cut short by the return of Jesus. Tell others and make sure that you are teaching from God’s Word during this time because that is the purpose of the church until God calls us home.

What is your idea of God?


Is He a father figure who gently prods you in the right direction or does He resemble the Greek idea of Zeus with a lightning bolt about to zap you if you do wrong? Many people seem to think of Him as a grandfather figure who is just waiting to pour money and blessings into your hand whenever you ask for them. Some people even think of Him as some sort of “genie” who will answer when called but is indifferent to your life unless you ask Him to be in it?

GOD IS NONE OF THESE!

Yes, He is a Father to us all because He is the Creator of all, but HE is not like a human father. He, God the Father, is not Zeus or Odin. They are mythical beings, God wrote the Ten Commandments on stone for Moses. A mythical being cannot do that! God is not a grandfather but the Father and Creator of all!

According to the Bible, God’s Word, He knew each of us before He created this planet that we live on. In His mind and thoughts you and I were there, along with every other person who has ever lived. He thought of you! Later, when you were old enough to feel His Presence, God the Holy Spirit touched your spirit and let you know that you needed Him. Before we who are alive today were born, Jesus Who is God in the flesh of man, died on a cross, shed His blood for our sins and bought our souls with that blood. He paid the price for our transgressions so that we could cry, “Abba, Father” in His Presence.

We are all able to receive His forgiveness and His Love which knows no bounds, if we will accept Him as our Savior and Lord. It is our choice. Even though He has made this easy for even a child to understand, many don’t want to believe it. Why? Because they don’t want it to be that easy. They want to have a part in their salvation through works on this Earth. But, works done without Him and in your own power just count as paper and wood. It is those works done with Him as your Lord which are made of gold and silver and which will endure the fire of His gaze.

God has loved all of us since the beginning, before the world became our home, it is our responsibility to accept Him as our Savior and give our life and our work for Him into His hands. I pray that those who read this and who haven’t given their lives to Jesus will do so today because you don’t know that you will even make it home today. You may not be able to find a pastor or a church to talk to someone about your need for Him, but you can do so right now. Just talk to Him like you would to a friend or your Dad and ask Him to forgive you and to make you whole in Jesus’ powerful name. It doesn’t have to be a fancy prayer or one which you may have heard in church, just talk to Him about what you have done and ask forgiveness for it all.

He knows but He wants to hear it from you. God has never turned away from you even though the world may tell you that He has. God loves you with an awesome love that nobody else has for you but Him!

Why the decrease?


According to a poll done recently, of the nearly seventy percent of Christians who identify as Christians in the United States, only forty to fifty-nine percent of those attend church weekly. The article was on Faithwire so I am giving you the link to it if you want to read it. The United States came in as an outlier in the statistical realm because of our less involved Christians.

Why have participation and participants gone down in the past fifty years in America? I think it is because we have moved away from teaching our children about the moral absolutes found in the Bible. The schools are not allowed to teach it anymore, we don’t have a copy of the Ten Commandments in schools anymore for fear of offending someone. We have taken prayer, compulsory or voluntary, out of schools because of “political correctness” and trying not to offend people.

You know, Jesus offended His people while He was teaching and preaching! He would heal a person on the Sabbath or clear the porch of the Temple because of all the business transactions going on in a worship setting. He ate with sinners of all things! What a disgrace!

Really? Those who are sinners, which we all are by the way, need to hear the message of love and forgiveness more than the people who have been in the church for forty years. Many of those who have been in the church the longest are more like the Pharisees than the tax collector. They may not pray like he did, essentially telling God that He was lucky to have him as a teacher and that he wasn’t like these sinners or this tax collector, but they have ears which have grown calloused to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Many of them are spiritually deaf!

Then, when they go home their children and grandchildren don’t hear any more about Jesus and His teachings until next Sunday for about thirty minutes or so. If you aren’t teaching your children about Jesus during the week then they are listening to those at school about what exactly? Football, basketball, soccer, cheerleading, all of the religions of America which push Jesus into the locker room and shut the door.

Then during the fall there is hunting and more football and its an endless cycle every year. We are letting our children down into a well where Jesus is not and if they don’t find out about Him in time, they will drown in the world’s “religions” and may never darken the door of a church after they graduate. We have allowed this to happen to our children and to society in general. It isn’t some plot from some other religious group or some computer or console game! The blame for this lies directly in the laps of our families because we have failed in our duty to teach the next generation.

If we don’t turn this around and begin teaching our grandchildren and children now, in another generation there won’t be a church in America or the UK. Many are closing their doors each month as it is because no one attends and there is no money to keep the church open, let alone pay a pastor. We are living in the time just before the return of Jesus and the world is running away from belief in Him as fast as possible and it breaks my heart. I know it is breaking God’s heart too watching those that Jesus died for turn away and leave.

“Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Return to Me,” declares the LORD of hosts, “that I may return to you,” says the LORD of hosts. Zechariah 1:3

A life changed


FB_IMG_1521382243378In the world today there are so many people who are going through many problems. Health problems, money problems, relationship problems and of course spiritual problems too. So, how can we come out of these places where it seems that there is nothing but problems?

By giving our problems to the One Who can fix them or change our circumstances or in some way have a positive effect on those problems in our lives. The main “problem” that many of us have when we try to do this is that we have a string or a chain tied to the problem and when we leave it on the altar for God to take care of…we usually drag it back off and pull it around like a wagon. Why can’t we leave it there? Because we think that we should take care of our problems.

We don’t really think that God has time for all of our problems and everyone else’s problems too. But when we think like this we are making God into our picture, our idea of Him. We change our perception of Him and think of HIm as being almost as limited as we are! How can our Creator be that weak and impotent? Why would we limit Him in this way?

I think it is probably because we can’t imagine in our minds that He is bigger than our minds can imagine or even comprehend. So we try to make Him fit in a human box so we can relate to Him. That is the very reason that Jesus came to us in human form, not only to be the Savior and the Redeemer of the world, but to show us that God can fit in our lives without us putting limits on Him.

This may be the reason that many people have trouble believing that God will or can answer their prayers. It is hard to imagine God as omnipotent when you don’t see it happening or you don’t learn about His power in the world around us. If you think of God in terms of humanity without belief in Jesus, which limits God’s power, then your unbelief in His omnipotence will limit His power in your prayer life.

ourlovingsaviorExpecting His work and His answer to your prayers is part of your faith in Him, as long as you don’t place a limit on Him in your thinking. So why do people do this? Mainly because there are many who think that all of the miracles happened as the church began. But, miracles are happening all around us every day. In people’s lives which are touched by cancer or when children are born completely healthy with no problems, God has a hand in all of our lives, whether we know about it or not.

LIves are changed all around us each day. Sometimes it is because of prayers, sometimes God is working in those people’s lives even when they haven’t asked for it just because He is God and He has a plan for their lives. God’s plans will always make a difference because His will for you and me and anyone that He has a hand on will never backfire!

Seek Him in your life and for your life because He can and will make a difference in your life for your good and for His glory! Amen

What will you do with your life?


Have you considered that question? Many of us think about this kind of question when we graduate from high school or college but what about when you become a Christian? You have a new Life in Christ because you are made new in Him. Your old life is supposed to be gone and a new one is just beginning, so what will you do with it?

We all have ideas about what we would like to do for God’s Kingdom but have you ever asked Jesus what He wants you to do with your new life? We have been given a new heart and are made as “new creations in Christ” so we should walk and talk like a new person and not like the old one. But…do we actually live like a new person after we have accepted Jesus as our Savior?

Did we really become a “new creation” or did we just go through the motions and say some words but really didn’t mean or intend to change? It seems that there are more people who attend church or claim to be “Christians” but are not any different from their old selves and it is this trend in the churches which is causing some confusion. Because people who know you outside the church can’t tell that any change has taken place. This is showing the rest of the world that Jesus doesn’t have the power to change lives when in fact He does!

These “false Christians” who seem to be just as sinful and worldly as they were before they claim to have changed are not Christians at all. They claim to have changed at some point but they are doing things which are not reflecting that new creation that they were supposed to become. The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity and it is He Who comes into your heart and soul and causes that change. But when you keep doing those worldly things which you did before your “change” you are calling Him a liar and saying that He can’t change you at all!

If you are going to change when God calls you, He knows it and He will convict you of the sinful life which you need to repent of. Your spirit cannot continue to sin and live as if He doesn’t live in your heart unless you didn’t actually receive Him in the first place. There is no gray area in being a Christian and following Jesus OR being a sinner who is still in the world doing what they did before hearing the gospel of Jesus. You either are saved or you are not!

Think of it this way: the fence is a razor wire fence; on one side you are a Christian and on the other, you are still in the world doing whatever makes you feel good at the time. You cannot straddle razor wire for long without injury. You are either on one side or the other, so which is it? The side of Life and eternity or death and eternity, you must choose.

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You are not an accident!


We are not accidents!

Psalm 139

For the director of music. Of David. A Psalm.

1 You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts,a God! How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand—when I awake, I am still with you.
19 If only you, God, would slay the wicked! Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
20 They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
22 I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
God doesn’t cause accidents in His creation and each of us is a person that He caused to come into being for a reason. He has a purpose for you and for me and for all of those on the Earth. What that purpose is only He knows. He has given each of us gifts and abilities to be able to glorify Him and to be useful to Him in His Kingdom. So we need to start acting like we have a place in His Kingdom. If you don’t want to have a place in His Kingdom, that is fine. He doesn’t force anyone to be a part of His design and His will for His creation.

Our God and Savior is the only pathway to Heaven, there is no other. Seek Him while you can find Him because when the shout comes and the dead are raised incorruptible and the church rises to meet Him, the easy time of coming to Jesus will be over. The time of “Jacob’s trouble” will be upon the world and the act of giving your heart to Jesus will carry a death sentence soon after. I pray that all of you will be counted among those who rise to meet Him in the air. Amen

Prophecy is happening now


I don’t know if any of you are noticing all of the political and social “fires” which are popping up in Asia and the Middle East, but those were foretold long ago by our Lord Himself. Our world, the world around us is changing rapidly and unless you are seeing it through the lens of prophecy it just looks like business as usual. We are rapidly advancing toward a period in history that the world outside the church is not paying attention to. I pray that if you are a student of the Bible, God’s Word, that you have been praying about this and watching these things which are happening now. I am not trying to frighten the world or anyone and I don’t believe in some doomsday cult. I believe in Jesus the Christ, our risen Lord and HE said that all of these things would happen before the end of the age.

God is watching and paying attention to all of the religions of the world and the people around the world who will decide to give their hearts to Jesus. I pray that those who have been called by His Spirit will soon wake up and give their hearts to Jesus before the time is up. Life as we know it or have known it is coming to an end. It is in Matthew 24 and in some other prophecy books like Daniel. Anyway, the things which are happening around the world right now are part of the things which were foretold to happen.

Why am I bringing all of this up? Because the media doesn’t look at those things through the lens of Bible prophecy. Only those of us who are reading the Bible and who take God’s Word as the truth that it is can see these things but if we told the media about it we would be called kooks and conspiracy freaks.

Life is about to change on the Earth for billions of people and yet nobody is paying attention to the signs all around us. Of course, most of the world thinks that Christians believe blindly in a Savior who is dead and in a book which was written over two thousand years ago! Our faith and our beliefs are not blind. It is the faith which comes to us from God which brought us to the point of realizing that we needed Jesus as our Savior.

Blind faith and beliefs which point toward an imaginary figure are not what the disciples and the martyrs of the early church died for! You will not willingly go to your own execution for something that is imaginary or some belief which is based on nothing which can’t be proven! Historians outside the Bible wrote of Jesus and His crucifixion and His resurrection, at least what they heard of it. People have died for their belief in Jesus for the past two thousand years and are still being put to death because of their belief in Him!

Our world is moving toward a time when the problems of today will pale in comparison to what is coming. I pray that anyone who reads this will seek the Truth in the Bible and seek their Savior in the Person of Jesus Christ.