Category: when you feel His call in your heart

Trials and troubles…


All of us go through these at one point in our lives. Sometimes they actually help and sometimes the lesson which comes with them is hard to see, at first. As long as we go through them with our hope and our eyes on Jesus, depending on His strength and not our own then the outcome will be assured.

The problem comes to us when we think we can get through our trials without Him. We try to “do it myself”, and we get into a really big mess at that point. True, going it alone is part of the way that many people are taught to do but it’s not always the best option. The thing you need to remember is that God will allow you to go it on your own even though He knows what is best. Then when you do realize that “I messed this all up” you will turn to Him and just like a loving parent, He will guide you back to where you need to be.

Many people are too stubborn and prideful to allow Him to help them. Sometimes they won’t let anyone give them advice whether it is a friend or a pastor. They would rather suffer in their trials and troubles until one day they realize that they don’t need to do it this way anymore. It reminds me of the parable of the prodigal son. He wanted his inheritance and he wanted to live it up the way he wanted to without his father or his brother getting in the way (or so he thought).

If you have heard the story it goes like this: he went away with his inheritance and enjoyed it tremendously, until he ran out of money. Then there was a famine in the land and all of his new “friends” left him. He began to be “in want”. He got a job feeding swine and he was so hungry that he wanted to eat the food which he was feeding the swine. For a Jewish boy, this was the worst possible thing that he could do. Well to shorten the story, he went home and his father welcomed him with open arms and a party!

Many of us get so far down, just like he did, until there is no way to go but toward our Father in heaven. Which is exactly what the point of the story is. Our trials and troubles don’t define who we are and we shouldn’t allow them to. But in your life walking with Jesus as your Savior, you shouldn’t take your eyes off of Him either. If you don’t know Him as your Savior, the troubles which you have to go through may be His way of bringing you to the realization that you DO need Him in your life.

I hope that all who read this may come to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior. If you have any questions about being a Christian or want to know more, please don’t hesitate to leave it in the comments. Jesus died to pay the price for our sins and He is coming back soon to take His Church to be with HIm. I pray that you will be counted in that group and in eternity we can get to know one another. In His Love and grace until He comes again. Amen

Life ahead


Are you prepared for life ahead of you? Most people today are not. Mainly because they don’t see much life ahead of them, particularly if they have a terminal illness or maybe they are advanced in years. But God says that eternity is in front of us even after this body is gone. Jesus told the thief on the cross that he would be with Him in Paradise that day. The cross and the death which it brought was not the end of life. Even though it was the end of the body, the Spirit would live on into eternity.

Most of us seem to have trouble preparing for retirement for the end of our working years (so we are told). Many don’t save up or invest enough to carry us into our later years and we miss out on the travel and the “golden years” as they used to be called. Nowadays people are working at Walmart or some other part-time job just trying to make it during those years after the job that they may have been lucky enough to retire from. Some don’t even get that luxury. They are laid off at such a late age until finding a job is next to impossible.

Your life with Jesus in eternity is something which we should be preparing for well ahead of the time, even when we don’t know when we may die. We should still prepare for it and we should start doing so as soon as we hear the gospel message and determine that we truly need Jesus! Many of us have been in church since we were children especially if we live in the South, the so-called “Bible Belt”.

But do we prepare for crossing over into eternity?

Unfortunately, most of us don’t consider our mortality until a near miss on the highway or when we get a disturbing diagnosis from our doctor. Until some of our friends begin dying before we do, death is just not part of our thinking process. Then when our grandparents and our parents die, we begin to consider that our life could end at any time as well. Even then some of us still put off any kind of preparation for eternity. I suppose we think that we will have time to do it just before the end.

The people killed on 9/11/01 didn’t have any warning that they wouldn’t be going home that night. People who are killed in car wrecks don’t have time to “fess up” before the car flips over or a truck hits them. Most of the time people who have a heart attack don’t even have the time to do more than die. The end of our life usually takes us by surprise. So much so until there is no way to prepare for it or the eternity which comes after it unless you have done so by giving your life to Jesus ahead of time. I pray that anyone reading this will seek Him out as their Savior today because tomorrow is not promised to anyone.

The Word


Have you heard that Jesus was the Living Word made flesh? Considering that He was with the Father in the beginning and it was the Word of God which brought everything into existence, I would believe it! John’s gospel tells us that He was with God and the Word was God and He was manifested with us as a man, the only begotten of the Father.

He is our Savior and Lord and He is our Creator too. There are many people who don’t want to believe in Him or the grace and salvation that He brings to us and all we have to do to receive it is believe in Him for our salvation. Then, to grow in His Spirit, we should choose to follow Him, reading His Word and studying it to know Him better and to be known by Him. This site is my only way of reaching out to the world and I pray that anyone who may be searching will seek Jesus out as their Savior and believe!

God loves us and He has loved us since the very beginning. That is why the Seed of the woman was promised so many years ago. Jesus came as the Son of God through His love for us so that we could regain our place in His house and His garden one day. Living your life as if the Word of God is null and void only makes your eternity an endless point of pain and suffering. Not because of your sins but because of the simple decision which could’ve saved you from that place!

God never intended for humanity to go to that place of torment, at least that is what I believe. But by deciding to do things your way and not His way, you are aligning yourself with Satan and his rebels. Eternity in heaven is only a decision away and I encourage you to make that decision soon. None of us are guaranteed tomorrow let alone next week. Make sure of your eternal destination soon because you may not get another chance.

and three nails. He did this for you, don’t turn away from Him.

Trust God


He is our Creator and our Savior so why don’t more people trust Him? He came to us, clothed in humanity and lived with our limitations for the majority of His life here. He knows the suffering and pain which we experience every day. He got rocks in His sandals and likely even a few bruises on His feet and hands while being a carpenter. Even though He didn’t sin in anything that He did or said in His lifetime, those limitations of being a human being made things a bit hard I would imagine.

Could He have done things as God in the flesh? Of course, He could’ve but He didn’t because “showing off” as God would’ve been a sin. He could’ve given His parents every advantage in life as He grew into manhood but that would have been favoritism as well as a sin. He couldn’t do this because He had to go to the cross as a sinless, spotless Lamb of God. He was tempted in every way that we are and yet He was true to His nature as the Living Word.

If you are searching for freedom which can only be found in Christ then believe in Him for your salvation. Satan and his demons believe in Jesus because they know Who He is but they won’t serve Him as disciples or “slaves” as some writers put it. They know in their mind and in their heart that Jesus is the Holy One of God because they said so when He sent them into the swine.

God has made a way for anyone who is seeking salvation to find it IF they will seek out the Source of Life and the Author of our Faith, Jesus the Christ. I pray that all who read this will seek Him out while there is time. Don’t condemn your soul to hell just because you can’t humble yourself and repent of your sins and ask Jesus to make a new heart in your soul.

Ask Him to come into your life and change you from the sinner that you are to the saved son or daughter that you can be!

Human wisdom?


There have been many “wise men” in history and we have their speeches and their wisdom to prove it. Some of them truly are inspirational and many of their ideas and sayings are very wise, especially by today’s standards. But…have you ever considered the fact that our wisdom is foolish when compared to God’s wisdom? I used to wonder exactly what that meant until I found out that when God told Abraham to circumcise his son after 8 days and there is a medical reason for doing so, because it proves that God is our Creator and the One in charge of all things.

A baby doesn’t have platelets to clot blood until the 8th day and if God had not told them which day to circumcise any child on, the boy would’ve bled severely or possibly have died. Abraham couldn’t have known about the platelets in the child’s body and very few at the time would’ve known about it otherwise. What is my point? Only the Creator knows things which we don’t. God told this to Abraham thousands of years before any “doctor” found it out.

Human wisdom is almost a joke today because wisdom just doesn’t seem to be a part of our culture anymore. Much of what is taught in schools is human “wisdom” and thought. Very little of it is actual history and the ideas which are taught in science class and in math class are not much better. Some, I will admit, are actual science and math but there are other concepts which are hard to accept.

The real truth of wisdom is contained within God’s Word and since we have tossed it out of the curriculum of learning these days, there seems to be very little wisdom in our society anymore. Wisdom in the book of Proverbs is characterized by God’s Word because it is said to have been part of the creation process by which He founded all of Creation upon. It truly was part of it because His Wisdom was His Word.

Regardless of what the world thinks about the Bible and the Truth contained within it, the fact is that it is God’s Word and He can’t lie! Whether you think it is His Word or not doesn’t change the fact that it is. The prophecies which are in the books of the Old Testament have all come true with the exception of those which pertain to the time of Tribulation. The nation of Israel being born in a day and the Jewish people coming back to their land with their ancient language intact were both foretold a very long time ago. Those two instances are miracles from God since no other nation or people has ever done such a thing.

God’s Wisdom is complete and comprehensive and there is no denying its Truth or its power in the world or the universe itself. If you are looking for a Savior then you don’t need to look any more, Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life and no one comes to the Father in Heaven except by believing in Him for salvation and choosing to walk with Him until that Great Day!

What else do I need?


If you are searching for salvation there is only one name under heaven that can bring it to you, if you believe. His name is Jesus (Yeshua) the Christ! God knew a long time ago that mankind could not follow His instructions to the letter. That is why He purposed, far ahead of time, that Jesus would come into the world and be the perfect Sacrificial Lamb for all of mankind!

There is nothing that we can add to His work on the cross to be saved, but once you are you can work for Him to tell others about Him and what He has done for you. Jesus is not a taskmaster who forces any kind of work or burden upon us. He is our Savior. Truly we should do His work on Earth because we owe Him for our salvation and not because we have to do it in order to gain our salvation.

There is nothing which we can do to add to our salvation nor to gain it. It is a gift from God to us through Jesus…period! We should be grateful enough to work for Him because of our salvation and His grace toward us and that is exactly how I tell others about my Savior. God loves each of us in a specific way. He doesn’t have to and for some who refuse His offer of grace and salvation, I do believe it hurts His heart as well.

God loves each of us but He also knows which person will accept salvation through Jesus and which ones will not. But, God doesn’t force anyone to accept salvation. It is an offer through Jesus the Christ and His atoning sacrifice on the cross which has paid for your salvation. Whether you accept it and live in Him and in your salvation is up to you.

Do I need to do anything else for salvation?

In order to gain your salvation, there is nothing that we can do or add to it in order to obtain salvation. The only requirement is that when you feel His touch in your Spirit or your heart, don’t turn away from Him. Accept it as your day to be saved. Walk with Him from that point on and don’t look back for the life you had before. Make sure to keep your life and your spiritual eyes focused on Jesus, no matter what happens in your life.

What do you feel?


Have you ever wondered aloud about how God might feel about the state of the world today? What do you think He would say if you could ask Him? You know what? You can. Prayer is powerful and He does listen to all of them, but He also answers you back. Sometimes you will get His answer by the Holy Spirit and sometimes it will come to you by reading the Bible.

God’s Word is powerful and to the point in many ways which most of us don’t pay much attention to. Usually, it is because we don’t read it. Most people who go to church read scripture when the pastor tells them to and most of the time they only read the verse which he reads. So, how are you going to know how God feels about any subject if you don’t read what HE says about it?

I know there are some Christians who do read their Bibles regularly and it would be great if everyone did but the condition of our world and our society just doesn’t bear the evidence which comes from doing so. If we are going to ever have a world which reflects God’s kingdom, then we need to live every day as if we want to be a part of His Kingdom.

Truly, life is hard at times but with God on your side it is bearable. Don’t turn away from the love of God because He never turns away from you. So, how do you think God feels about the times when He really would like to hear from you…about anything but you’re too busy? You don’t have time to pray to God or you don’t feel the need. God is not a man and He is also not like us with our selfish ways. He is our Creator and He is holy, so we are to strive to be more like Him.

But in our culture and our society, most of us tend to place Him in a box or we try to squeeze Him down to our size, to be more like us so we can relate to Him better. What if God were like you or your best friend? What if He were more like your enemy? Then how do you think the world would be?

Thankfully, God is not like us!

He is perfect and holy and cannot look on sin in any form, so He can’t be like us. Jesus was more like us because He was born of a woman but He had the nature of His Father, God. It is that nature which makes a difference between us and Him. Human nature can be good but it has to really try to do well most of the time. It is easier to do bad things. When you give your heart to Jesus and learn to live like He taught His disciples to do, then those bad things which were easy are not so easy anymore.

Seek Him out while there is time to do so because none of us have been guaranteed a certain number of days. We don’t know when our last day will be, so seek out the One Who can make your days better and lead you into eternity.

Come…


Jesus sought out disciples with a simple request, “Come, follow Me”. Sometimes He chose to say it a bit differently depending upon which disciple He was seeking but essentially it was just “Come, follow Me”. Even today when He touches us and we feel His call in our heart and our lives the request is still “Come, follow Me”. Why is it so simple? Because, when you are speaking to a child, that is what you say and we are all His children.

So why are so many of His children, who claim to be Christians and followers of Jesus, NOT following Him or His teachings? There are so many who do know of Him because of things that they have been taught by parents or in Bible school or Sunday school but are they truly followers of Jesus? Do they know Him as their Savior and Lord? Even the demons in hell know Who He is but they don’t serve Him. Satan knows Who Jesus the Son of God is and can quote you every scripture which points to Him from either the Old or the New Testament but he doesn’t serve Him nor will he ever.

One day every knee will bow to Jesus as King and Lord but not all of them will do it willingly, especially Satan. God knows this to be true and there are many people in the world today who will not ask Him to be the Lord of their life, not because they don’t need Him but because they are too proud. They look at Christians and weak because we submit our lives to Him willingly. Do we fail at serving Him? All of the time! Many of us “lose our religion” on multiple occasions during one day but we are forgiven and all we have to do to claim it is confess and ask for His forgiveness.

Will we fail again tomorrow? At some point during the day, we will. We won’t do it willingly or on purpose but at some point, we will think a thought which we know we shouldn’t. God knows we are human and that our will and ability to serve HIm can only be accomplished through the strength which we get from Him! Because, trying to live the life of a Christian is impossible without faith and without Him in your heart and a mind which has been washed in the Word of Truth and by His saving grace.

Being a disciple of Jesus is an ongoing process because it is a life of surrender to our Risen Lord and Savior. Submitting our will to Him every day, reading His Word and studying it is something which we do because of His love for us. This is the love which sent Jesus to die on the cross and pay for our sin debt, every one of us, just for the privilege of being His. We don’t become Christians just by our decision or by anything which we do. We feel God’s touch in our heart giving us the faith which carries us from today until tomorrow and then the next day and the next until we know that we NEED Him in our lives. When we come to that point we will know and seek Him out!

I pray that you will seek Him out for your own salvation because one day soon I will be gone and this site will only have enough information to point you in His direction. Seek Him while you can because when the “world order” is taken in by the man who claims to be our Lord, many people will follow Him but they are on the wrong side. God wins.

Amen

God is still in control!


The sun is still shining and the moon is still in its orbit. If they had actually been around 4.5 billion years, the moon would be a bit farther away from us than it is. There has been some research into the stars in our galaxy and the number of supernovas which have been counted and it doesn’t add up to the number which would be present if the amount of time suggested by the Big Bang is true and correct.

The universe was designed by God to support life and God is Life. Regardless of how out of control your life may feel at times, our Creator is still watching over you. Specifically, if you are a Christian and believe in Him for your salvation. Now, I am not saying that God doesn’t care about His creation outside of those who are Christians because He does. But, He knows which person will give their life to Jesus and which ones will not. That doesn’t mean that He chooses which people will be saved and which ones won’t but it does show that God knows your heart and which choice you will make.

There is a big difference between knowing which direction you will take and forcing you to take it because God will not force you to make one decision over another. Consider that the decision to follow Jesus is one based on faith and on the grace that you realize you have been given. Each of us who have given their hearts and their lives to Jesus knows the love which God has poured into their lives because of the gift of salvation. In the Bible, you can read about the depth of God’s love toward us and know that returning that love is not enforceable, it is made by decision of those to whom it has been given.

Giving love back to the Author of Love only makes it better and makes us feel His love for us even more. Sometimes it is a small gesture of love toward someone you may not know well. Sometimes it is a prayer or a hug to a friend who is going through a hard time. Being the hands and feet of Jesus in a world that is truly DESPERATE for the Love which He embodies is the kind of mission and ministry which all of us should try to be a part of. Sometimes it is only through prayer that we can make a difference or even through a post like this one which may bring hope to someone who feels that they don’t have any.

Each person who is a Christian knows someone who isn’t or maybe they have been away from the church for a long time. Invite them to church or to a Bible study, have coffee or hot chocolate ready to warm them up on a cold night. Because it is the little things that most people notice about us who follow Jesus, not the big show of the service or how beautiful the sanctuary is. Jesus didn’t preach in a beautiful church. Most of the time it was in a field or even at the beach and He was sitting on a boat. It was the love which He showed toward those who had little or none in their lives that got the most attention.

Are you His?


I ask this type of question because people, in general, don’t believe in God or the prophecies in the Bible. While it is true that there are many in the world who claim to believe in God, the “God” which they believe in is just a generalized idea of the real God and Creator of the universe. Even Satan knows Who God is because it was God Who created him! My question is in reference to your salvation or lack of it. Are you His and do you truly know Him?

The most important part of this is does He know you? Your eternity depends on the answer to that question. Granted, your soul is eternal and if you do not choose to serve Jesus and accept Him as your Savior, you will be in eternity one day but your eternity will be in punishment. Why? Because you have refused the offer of grace and mercy when it was offered to you.

I truly pray that more of you who read this will seek Jesus as your Savior because that is the ministry which I was called to. I was called almost ten years ago to be a voice telling others about our Lord and Savior, hoping that the Holy Spirit would draw at least some of you to Him. This is not a light nor easy ministry because there are so many who truly need salvation. I am not able to go to those places which this medium can reach, but I do pray that He will reach you.

God does love each of us but it’s up to us to love Him enough to ask Him into our lives and our hearts. He doesn’t force us in any way to come to Him because love and devotion cannot be forced, they must be given willingly and humbly by those who know that they don’t deserve the grace that they have been offered. The most well-known verse from God’s Word says it all:

John 3:16

Amen!