Are you ready?

In the parable of the ten virgins, five were ready to meet the Bridegroom and five were not. Which group are you in?

Are you seeking His wisdom and taking Him with you on a daily basis or do you attend church occasionally and only read the Bible when you are there? We are expected to be faithfully working for His Kingdom daily in the faith and the hope of His return at any time. The “works” that we do are not where our salvation comes from but they are the fruit which we should be producing in our lives.

There are many studies which show that our country is not the Christian nation which was envisioned by the settlers who originally came here. We claim to be Christians, at least 70% or a few more do, but when the questions get down to the small degrees of service and reading the Bible, the percentage drops quite a bit. Although, earlier today I read an article which said that even though many are leaving some mainline churches they are going to nondenominational churches and serving God more fervently than ever.

Churches are losing people because of their liberal doctrines and by not following the Bible’s teachings faithfully. God is glorified when we are satisfied and faithful to Him in our praise! Being satisfied with God is the most honoring and happy with God Who has paid for your salvation through Jesus’ blood! Live your life in persuit of Him and His service into eternity because He has sought you out to be His child!

In the parable of the ten virgins, the five who made sure of their lamp’s never being without oil shows a persistence of their belief in the Bridegroom’s coming. They didn’t know when He would come but they made sure that they had enough faith (oil) to carry them until He did come for them. This is exactly what we are supposed to do with our faith today, be persistent in seeking Him in everything that we do until He does come for those who believe in Him.

As Jesus said: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all of these things will be added unto you.” By serving Him and having faith in His Word, we show that we are His and He is ours through faith, amen. We are called to be His when we feel the Holy Spirit touch our hearts and when we answer that call by accepting Jesus as our Savior then we are made into a new creation through the blood of Jesus washing our sins clean. Just as Jesus healed the ten lepers when He told them to go and show themselves to the priest and as they went they were made clean. It was their belief that they would receive the healing from Jesus and His willingness to heal them which made the healing possible.

God is our Creator and He is willing for all to come to know Jesus as Savior but it is our stubbornness which gets in the way most of the time. We choose not to believe in Him because salvation couldn’t be that easy or we want to add something to it so that we “help” Him in our salvation and that’s not how it works.

Make sure that you are one which has his lamp full and that you have an extra amount of oil to keep your lamp lit until He comes.

What is sin?

The dictionary defines a sin like this: an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law.

TenCommadments God’s divine law is given in the Ten Commandments: Exodus 20

1 “You shall have no other gods before me.
2 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
3 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
4 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
5 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
6 “You shall not murder.
7 “You shall not commit adultery.
8 “You shall not steal.
9 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

In some way, each of us has broken at least one of these commandments on a daily basis. None of us are perfectly able to keep even these commandments every day, all day. As Paul wrote in his letter to the church, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”.

We may not have a graven image of our job or our wife or any other thing in our home but if we place more importance in those than we do in worshiping God, we have created our own “god” from something or a person who can’t fulfill that role. Your position cannot fulfill your life and neither can your home or your car or any person in this world. You can find happiness in your relationship or in your job, but it is not an eternal happiness because your job is not permanent and your wife or husband is not a god.

Placing someone or something on a pedestal and elevating them or it to a position which cannot be true in the sense of being a “god” is foolish, but some people do exactly that. They may not think that they are or they may not recognize their behavior as worship toward a person or some other thing besides the True Creator, but God knows their heart. He knows exactly who it is that they revere and have placed in His position and on His throne but God doesn’t share His throne.

Make sure of your worship and your salvation before the time of grace runs out.

Forgiving others

In so many ways, forgiving others is difficult and sometimes impossible without the love of Jesus flowing through our hearts. Forgetting the offense of our friends or family is not nearly so easy as forgiving them. An offense from friends or family is usually a very deep offense anyway and forgetting it takes lots of prayers and wisdom gleaned from the Bible during the time that we spend trying to heal from it.

Of course, Satan doesn’t help either. He keeps bringing up the offense and bringing it up, and bringing it up until it is maddening! I struggled with this after my divorce years ago, but with LOTS of prayers and reading the Bible and more prayers and more reading of God’s Word I have finally forgiven my ex-wife, but there are still times where Satan will dredge a memory or two back up. So, the process is never really over at least in this life.

We are forgiven of our sins through the blood of Jesus and it was shed for every person on the Earth, but it is up to the Spirit drawing you to Jesus and convicting you that you need Him which will convince you to give your heart to Him and ask forgiveness. It truly is your decision to accept it, God doesn’t force salvation on you. Even when you know you need Him it is still your decision and if you decide not to accept Him then if you die without Him, you are responsible for where your eternity is spent.

Forgiving others is part of our walk with Jesus. The Bible says “if you come to the altar and remember a slight against your brother, leave your sacrifice and be reconciled first“; so forgiveness between brothers or sisters in Christ is more important than a sacrifice. Because with unforgiven slights in your heart, you can’t fully serve the Lord in gladness until it is taken care of. We are supposed to allow the Love of Jesus to flow through us toward others even when we feel slighted or hurt in some way. Even if it is something that may be a month or even a year in the past, get it out in the open and ask forgiveness for it even if one party has forgotten the offense, the hurt, and the pain can still be there.

Through the Spirit of Christ and some determination, we can forgive even the most heinous of offenses with time. But that takes a lot of prayer and meditation on the Scriptures and seeking the Lord’s will in your walk with Him. Forgiving is not easy and forgetting an offense can be even harder, mainly because Satan and his cohorts will bring these memories to the front again even when you have managed to forget them for a time.

God loves each of us much deeper and intimately than you can imagine but we won’t truly know the depth of His love for us until we are in Heaven with Him. That is why we must walk with Him on a daily basis during this life so that we can truly enjoy His Presence for eternity!

Is God your pursuit?

Do you run after God? Do you seek Him daily? If you don’t know Him, you should.

Many of us who are Christians get to a point where we feel comfortable in our spot. We feel like we have our salvation and we’ve learned and studied a good bit of the Bible and after X-number of years, we feel we should just cruise until we are called home to Heaven. Are you so knowledgeable about the Bible and its wisdom that you don’t need to read it or study it anymore?

I don’t think any pastor, evangelist, or layman should ever feel that they know the Bible so intimately that they can lay it down and never study it again. I have only read the Bible through about seven or eight times since I became a pastor seven years ago and I learn something new and fresh every time I read it. If I try to take a break from my Bible studies for a few days or even a week…I feel out of touch with God and I feel as if I have lost something precious.

If I do take those “days off”, I actually have lost something precious. My lifeline to our Creator and the wisdom which I can glean from His Word and from fellowship with Him on a daily basis. Can you take a break from learning from God? Yes, you can and the longer the break or the pause is, the more you are missing. Life is not the same when you have put your Guidebook down and that is exactly what the Bible, God’s Word, is for us!

GodNeverFails Living with His Word on a daily basis, studying it and prayerfully asking Him to reveal Himself to you in His Word is the Christian Life and once you get used to having His Presence in your life daily you will truly miss Him and His Word when you don’t read it. Some people would say that it has become a habit, but it is a relationship. Consider this: you wouldn’t marry your spouse and then only visit them once or twice a week would you?

Well, the relationship that you are supposed to have with God and His Son is supposed to be at least as important to your life as a Christian as your relationship with your spouse! That is the very reason why Jesus said for each of us to “take up his cross and follow Him” daily. Your cross can be your burden of studying His Word or it can be taking Him into your business or your workplace, but reading the Bible and prayer should be a part of your life every day regardless of your circumstances in life.

Being a daily Christian is very different from being a person who attends church occasionally such as weddings or funerals or just for specific holidays. God loves each one of us so much that He sent His Son to give His life for our sins so that we can have a real relationship with Him. A relationship which doesn’t end when your life does but continues into eternity and it becomes a deeper relationship in eternity because you are in His Presence.

I pray that you will give a relationship with Him some serious consideration because none of us know when our life will end and it is only during this life where we get the chance to change our life by asking Him to come into our hearts and change us. This decision will change you into the person, the son or daughter, that God knows you can be so don’t put this decision off, make sure to take care of your eternity today.

God is in control

31 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: 32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. 33 And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison and to death. 34 And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me. Luke 22:31-34

Job 1:8-12

8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that [there is] none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? 9 Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for naught? 10 Hast, not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. 11 But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. 12 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath [is] in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

Job 2:1-6

1 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD. 2 And the LORD said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. 3 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause. 4 And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. 5 But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. 6 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand, but save his life.

I have placed these scriptures here because many people, it seems, do not believe that God is in control of our world today. It seems that there are quite a number of people who believe that if God created the Earth, He has left us alone in it and He has nothing to do with our lives today. The passages above prove that is NOT true. Satan wants to hurt and even destroy anyone who is a follower of God or a servant of Him, but God is in control of him even though Satan rebelled against God.

In these instances in the above paragraphs, Satan had to ask permission to afflict any sort of hurt or trouble on Peter and on Job. Jesus prayed for Peter to be able to withstand the temptation but He added; “when you are converted (restored, changed) strengthen thy brethren”. Jesus knew that Peter would deny Him and that it would break his heart. But, He also knew that after His resurrection Peter would be stronger in his faith than ever before!

Christians are watched over by God and Jesus even closer than any other people on Earth because of the temptations which Satan and his demons and principalities can inflict on us, especially young (new) Christians. Their faith in their conversion and in their Lord is not very strong because they haven’t studied His Word enough and learned how to stand in their faith on a daily basis!

Why do I mention that we have to stand in our faith on a daily basis? Because your faith grows and you become stronger in it as you learn more about God and His love for you. I will continue this post in a separate entry under the same name but continued.

Light of the World

This phrase is used many times in the gospels when Jesus is speaking about Himself and about the salvation which comes to those who believe in Him for their salvation. But…what does it mean? “Light of the World“; Jesus said that we, as His followers, are to be the light to a dark world. So why isn’t the church trying harder to be that light? Are we afraid of making people angry or of not being politically correct?

Jesus wasn’t politically correct in His day so why should we be in ours? The world around us needs to hear His message of love and compassion today…right now! Why? Because the other parts of the world and the other religions aren’t providing that light! As Christians, we are supposed to expose the darkness to His LIght and His Love and for the past fifty years or so much of Christendom has dropped that ball. We proclaim it to the crowds in concerts and congregations but what about those in places where darkness reigns today?

IamtheWay Do they hear about Jesus and His love for them? Have we made sure that the message is getting to those places or maybe we are just sitting in church praying that someone will tell them? Have we put feet to our faith or do we neglect to take the message outside the church because it’s too much trouble? What if Paul had said no and decided not to take the message of Christ to the Gentiles, like us, much of the world at the time would never have heard of the love of Jesus!

Jesus confronted Saul in such a way that he couldn’t deny Who had touched his heart and he could not have turned away from such a mission field because Jesus gave His blood and His life for us in order to save us from hell! The grace and love of God came down to us and wore human flesh for the time of His ministry. He went through all of the pain and suffering willingly in order to bring salvation to all who believe in Him for their salvation!

Since Jesus did this, why can’t we tell others about His love for them, especially if they don’t know about Him!? God loves each of us! Whether we suffer from a disease or from persecution or from poverty, He is still with us in our suffering. God may allow Satan to cause suffering, which he does very well, but God’s purpose and His love for you will never fail you, no matter what you are going through.

The love and grace of our Lord, Jesus the Christ, will always be near you and He will strengthen you in whatever you may be going through. His Spirit will be closer to you than anyone can be since He lives in your heart! There is no distance between you and God when you are a born-again Christian. He hears your prayers and He knows the pain that you have for your family in whatever situation they may be in. God loves you and even though you aren’t required to love Him in return, you will learn to love Him when you give your heart to Jesus!

Being a Christian and a follower of Jesus is a process. You can feel Him touching your heart and drawing you to Himself, convicting you of your sins but it is your decision to accept Him as your Savior. When you do, the process begins and it doesn’t end until you are in His Presence!

Jesus_Loves_U

God’s persuit of mankind

I read C.S. Lewis’ books off and on for the past few years and one entry that the man included in one was a reference to the fact that he was an atheist at first. I will let you be the judge of his writing:

C.S. Lewis said he remembered this, “…night after night, feeling whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all of England.”

God pursues those people which He knows can make a difference in the world and He does it even when they don’t believe in Him at the time. He knows the impact that each of us can have whether it is through writing books or blogs, the seeds of a relationship or the possibility of one can be planted and He will make sure those seeds grow into the relationship that He wants with that person.

GodsBlessing There is no place that you can go to get away from God so there is no reason to try to escape Him. If you have been denying His existence over your lifetime but He sees that you could have an influence in the lives of others for the good of their salvation, then He will cause something to bring you to Himself. Even if He has to do it through a dream or a vision or a book or even a blog! He knows each person in this world and He knows what they are capable of doing, whether it is for good and for His Kingdom or for evil and to their destruction one day.

God does NOT send you to hell for the least of your sins or even the worst of them. You sentence yourself to hell by refusing to give your heart and life to Jesus and believe in Him for your salvation. When God’s Spirit is seeking you, He will find you. Don’t push His love away from your life because your life and your soul is more precious to Him than all of the gold and silver in the entire world! Even if you were the only person that Jesus had to die for in order to bring salvation to you, He would’ve gone through it just for you!

Why would God want me?

For the same reason that He spent time with Adam in the garden of Eden, fellowship. God knows each of us intimately because He is our Creator. He knew us in the womb before the world even began not just before our birth! He knows what your talents and the gifts which He has given to you so He knows what you can do even better than you do. Your life will be more valuable to Him if you have given your life to Him through Jesus Christ.

IAMComingBack Why? Because unless you are working through the Spirit of God with His power and love in your life and heart, much of what you do in this world is only for your benefit and not for others. If you don’t believe me, ask someone why they do their job or anything that they do in this life. Google it even. You will see that much of the world is concerned with only me, myself and I. Occasionally you will hear of some good-hearted souls who do things for others but they are in the minority these days.

Why am I so cynical about “human nature”? Because those who have left the church or those who do not believe in God have caused me to be this way. Their lives don’t reflect Him or His Presence in them. Even Satan believes in God but he doesn’t serve Him, and that is where much of the world stands today.

Sacrifice

Does anyone think about this word or what it entails at all these days? What is a sacrifice for you today? Do you even consider a sacrifice in your daily living?

To be truthful about it most of us don’t consider it at all. Sacrifice is something which is just not considered in any part of our society, not just in America but in many parts of the world. Although in some countries sacrifice is a daily part of life because that is just how life is in those countries. It is something which many young people have no concept of at all, particularly today.

Our Lord sacrificed His deity and His Life to ransom our souls and our sins to rescue us from an eternity in hell. It is only fitting that we should sacrifice some things in this life in order to serve Him as well. The Christians from the beginning of the church at Jerusalem sacrificed their lives many times during the past two thousand years. Many were burned at the stake or crucified or fed to lions and other beasts because of their faith in Jesus.

While it is true that we are not being persecuted in that way today, at least in America, in some countries Christians are being killed for their beliefs. As many as 1,000 every day. This will only get worse in the coming years, particularly after the church is taken up to Heaven. During the Tribulation there will be millions killed for not worshiping the one who is in power at the time, the antichrist. Life will be harder than it is now and there won’t be a church to turn to for prayer or help in those days, at least not like we have now.

I pray that anyone who reads this will seek out Jesus and give your life and your heart to Him. Pray for your salvation now while there is yet time to do so.

False prophets and heresy!

2 Peter 2:

1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction. ²And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom, the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.

If you listen carefully to the news and the commentary that goes with it, you will notice that we are hearing this type of speech today! Oh, they don’t call themselves prophets but their words are listened to as if they were. Every “false teaching” which is told in the news, from “free medical care” to “free college” and all of the rhetoric about “saving the children” at the border when there are thousands of babies aborted (murdered) each and every day! What about their rights? What about their life that is cut short because of convenience?

God will not look the other way because each of these children was sent here by Him for a purpose. They weren’t accidental and they certainly aren’t just “blobs of cells”! Of course, that is not the way that the media reports it. They try to report it as if a “fetus” is not a human being but if a woman is killed when she is pregnant the person who killed her is responsible for two homicides. Even if she is only a few months pregnant. What changed the “cells” into a person?

Our media wants us to believe that there is a difference and there isn’t. A baby is a baby from conception until birth and even further until they are a toddler. The law is clear about a child in the womb when you read God’s Word and He doesn’t change His view of your child whether you believe in Him or not. From conception onward, that is your child and a separate human being from yourself. Even if it is growing inside of your body.

The heretical teaching and media concentration in our world is brainwashing people into thinking that your body is yours to do with as you please, in all instances. God didn’t tell us this at all in His Word and if more people read it and studied it they would know this. God is our creator and it is He Who placed that child in your care, so unless you repent of this sin and become a Christian and ask Him to forgive you for it, how would you expect Him to treat you when you stand at your judgment one day?

Jesus told His disciples, “Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

We are known by God even before we are born, as the Psalmist said, “we are fearfully and wonderfully made”!

Every teaching, because that is what the “news” is today, is telling people to be your own god, do what pleases you and helps you with your career. Don’t worry about anyone else. No man or woman is alone in this world, at least not entirely alone, regardless of where they live unless they choose to be. God loves each person on the face of the Earth, but He doesn’t like the sins which we all commit each and every day. No person on the Earth is sinless, not even the Pope.

God is able

In all of creation, from one part of the cosmos to any other, God has placed so many wondrous sights and stars and galaxies until the pictures from our Hubble telescope astound and amaze even the scientists who study the stars. The picture below shows a star which is reported to be the largest ever found, yet we can’t see into other galaxies enough to know what might be there.

Sun;_VY_Canis_Majoris_and_UY_Scuti_size

Since God created these magnificent stars, how much could He possibly do in your life or mine? If we believed His Word without doubting and our faith in Him was unwavering how much could we accomplish for His Kingdom and glory?

Today mankind denies God and His Word so much until we can scarcely believe in Him or His ability to heal sickness and disease. Let alone change our hearts into true believers! Why do we doubt Him? Because the world around us doubts Him and His message. We are taught in school about evolution and there is less evidence of that happening than there are proofs of the Bible’s truth which have been proven by archaeology!

God is the Creator and there is no other god or gods out there who can do the things which He has already done. You can choose to believe this or not because He gives us a choice but when His Spirit touches yours and you feel the weight of your sins and know that you don’t deserve eternity in Heaven, you will choose to give your life to Him and believe in Jesus for your salvation.

How do I know this? Because nearly every person who has been touched by Him and brought to the knowledge of their depravity and their lack of righteousness have given their hearts and their lives to Jesus. I said “nearly” because some people love the sinful condition that they live in more than they do the hope of eternity. It is those few who refuse to follow Jesus and they turn away from Him, even when they KNOW they need Him!

God loved humanity enough that He clothed Himself in humanity and lived with us in our infirmity, being rejected and slain on a cross for our sins, all of our sins, so that we could have an eternal relationship with Him. It is our choice to give our lives to Him, and when we feel the need for Him in our lives most of us ask Him to come in and change us into the people that He knows we can be! Not to make us better for our sake but for us to be better equipped to be useful for His Kingdom and glory!

God is perfect in all of His ways which is why we, who are sinful, cannot be in His presence without the blood of Jesus cleansing us from our sinful stains. We can’t do this on our own but by giving our heart and our lives to Jesus we can be better than we are and we are forgiven of our sins as well. This doesn’t make life easier, in fact, it may get a bit harder because Satan will attack us when we are doing those things which God has appointed us to do.

Each of us has a gift from God. Many Christians have more than one gift and these are given to us by God so that we can do the work which He wants us to do. Please don’t turn away from His call on your life when you feel His hand on you.

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