Category: when you feel His call in your heart

So much needs to be said…


In the days of Noah, he taught his sons about God and His mercies. He tried to preach to those around him about God but they wouldn’t hear the message, not even after a century and more had passed. When God sent him into the ark or boat, whichever you want to call it, the time for repenting was over. God shut the door.

noah-symbolic of JesusOur world is coming very close to that time. There will not be a worldwide flood but when God’s patience has reached its limit, people will know. When believers who have accepted Jesus as their Savior have been taken up into heaven, then the whole world will know. When is this going to take place? I don’t know.

In the Bible, God expressly says that it will happen but only He determines the time and the hour when it will occur. Just as He did when it was time for Noah and his family to be saved from the flood, we will be saved from the Tribulation. God has provided a way for us to be saved yet there are still many who either don’t want to believe it or they think they have plenty of time.

God sent His Son to take the punishment which all of humanity deserves so that some could be saved if they would believe in Him. The apostle John writes it so clearly in his gospel, telling anyone who reads it that salvation is possible if you only believe in the One Who provided it.

Repentance is necessary for us to belong to the family of God, yet many do not want to repent. Because it means that they will have to forgo their sinful ways and many do not think they are living a sinful life. The world is being deceived by Satan and his principalities, but they don’t want to believe that he even exists. Which is exactly what Satan wants us to believe. If we deny the deception that many are under today, we will be part of the ones which deny Jesus as the Christ as well.

Life is in Jesus and we need to learn this truth. The whole world has denied that the Bible and its truth is the whole Truth of God because they, meaning the unbelieving world, refused to accept His Word as Truth. God has always sent prophets to bring His Word to those who are perishing, yet most of those who heard them didn’t believe their words even when their prophecies were proven true.

Our job, as Christians and believers, is to let the light of Truth and our Savior’s grace toward all to shine through our lives so that others would want what they see in us. The big question is this: Do we live our beliefs in view of others or do we keep our salvation and our beliefs to ourselves?

God has made our world perfectly capable of being our home forever, yet we are fighting over crumbs and squabbling over doctrines of men! If we could only live as God commanded us to, the whole world would be a much more peaceful place, but we haven’t been able to bring about this utopia. Why? Because we can’t do it on our ideas of good intentions. Mankind has always been incapable of being without greed and malice toward others simply because we want what someone else has.

If it were only coveting the peace of God then we might be able to talk in a civil manner and bring about peace on Earth. But, our greedy, covetous ways extends to many more things than just the peace which is found in Jesus. Pride and vanity, along with greed and a host of other nasty sins drag many into places where God’s influence isn’t felt at all. In most of these places bringing the Truth of God into contact with their way of living causes even more pain and suffering because they can’t stand the Light of Jesus and the Truth of God!

Please pray about your relationship with Jesus and seek Him out because the time which we live in is grievous and coming to an end soon. Don’t ignore the prompting of the Holy  Spirit on your heart, seek Jesus for your salvation.

How BIG is God to you?


Remember that God told Moses, “I am Who I AM”; He did not say, “I am who you want me to be”. In our world today, many people look at all of the sufferings in the world and say things like, “My god would never allow that to happen”, to which I would like to ask “What god are you talking about?”. Life, as we live it on Earth or in whichever country we reside in, is sometimes hard. But…God is still in control. He always has been.

Much of the suffering in our world is because of lack of rain or wars or famines and poverty. Does God allow this to happen? Yes, He does, but He is not the cause of it. Can God do something about these things? Yes, He can, but our sin and our unbelief limit Him in the ways that He can work. Just as when Jesus went to His hometown of Nazareth, He could do no great miracles there because they knew His father and His family. Nobody believed that He was a great prophet, let alone the Messiah!

When we imagine God or Jesus as smaller than they are, trying to make them more like us, then we limit our belief and our faith in what they can do. We put them in a box of a size that we can handle. We make God smaller and more manageable to our minds so that we aren’t overwhelmed by how awesome He actually is!

There is a star, a sun like our own, a few thousand light-years away, which is so much bigger than ours until it would boggle the imagination and the minds of us mere humans. Yet, God made that star too. Here is a link to an article about this LARGE star. Here is an image which may give you an idea of how much bigger this star is than ours:

Sun;_VY_Canis_Majoris_and_UY_Scuti_size

That tiny speck at the bottom of the picture is our Sun, at almost 1,000,000 miles across, yet it is tiny in comparison. God is much bigger than we can imagine but when we limit Him in our own minds we also limit what we believe He can do in our lives. Don’t make that mistake.

God loves you and me enough that He provides for our needs every day, but we don’t acknowledge Him or His part in our daily lives. We wake up from sleep and go about our day as if we have control over every part of it. But have you considered just how much of your day is actually under your control?

If you are not working for yourself, then you get up in time to be at work on time. You take your lunch break when you are allowed the time for it and you get off work when your day is finished. Then you drive home, eat something for supper or dinner whichever you call it, watch some mind-numbing TV shows and go to sleep and then repeat the process tomorrow.

Does that sound like you really control your life and the time spent living it? It doesn’t to me. Seek out the Creator of everything and be in awe of His grace and love for you. Give your life to Him and ask Him to help you to learn more about Him from His Word. You won’t be disappointed at all…ever!

The Book of Life


What is the Book of Life? I am writing about the Lamb’s Book of Life, written from before the foundation of the world. God has placed each person’s name there who will accept Jesus as their Savior. Because He knows who will and who will not accept Him. The offer of salvation is given to all, but God knows who will accept it and who will not.

God has always known the names of those who will accept Jesus as their Savior. Now, I know that some of those who read this may not believe in something called “predestination”, I don’t either but God still knows which of us will accept Jesus. The big words and doctrines of our denominational associations actually are not written in Heaven. Those are man-made ideas and “laws” of which few are found in Scripture.

IamtheWayWhy am I writing this today? Because it is needed! You and I and anyone else who reads this blog need to know that God has always known which person will accept His way of life and who will follow Jesus. None of your ideas or doctrines which are written in the bylaws of your church are written in God’s handwriting! Many of them are based on what we think we have learned from reading His Word, but you don’t find all of them in the Bible.

While it is true that the word “predestined” is in the writings of Paul, the meaning of that is what God said years before Paul ever put it down. In the book of Jeremiah God told him that He knew him before he was born and before he was formed in the womb. He also said that He (God) had ordained him to be a prophet at that time. God determines who will be His prophets or His disciples and He knew us before the Garden was created!

It is the same with the Lamb’s Book of Life! He has known for many thousands of years whose name would be in it and those who would not be in it. Even though Jesus came and  paid the penalty for ALL of us to receive salvation and have access to eternity, God and by extension, Jesus already knew which person would accept Him as Savior. Our Creator is in control and He knows your heart and mine before we even realize Who He is.

God wants all of humanity to know Him as God, but many outside of the organized church just don’t want to know Him. They have their own idea of who their god is and it doesn’t fit with the God of the Old or New Testament. I am not speaking of any specific denomination in reference to an “organized church”, but those who do not attend church it seems they refuse to listen or attend a service. You will never know Who God is until you read His Word and feel the conviction of His Spirit in your life to know that you are a sinner according to His holiness.

One lie, one thought, just one is all that it takes to separate us from God but the absolute sin which will keep you from Heaven is not accepting Jesus as your Savior. All of the sins of the world are sins as far as God is concerned, whether you consider them to be significant or not. The ONE sin which condemns you to an eternity in hell is not accepting Jesus as your Savior and repenting from your old ways and follow Him in your life from that point on!

What is wrong with this world?


Here’s a bit of a conversation that I read earlier, let me know what you think about it: I used to think that the communist totalitarian regimes were much worse. I’m having second thoughts, not because those got better, but because the US has gotten so much worse.

Be careful of your words and how you speak, remember Jesus said this in Matthew:  “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words, you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:36–37)
Why is our world, especially the United States, become so much worse in conduct and corruption as well as in having no respect for each other or even for life itself?

whats-wrong-with-the-world-3-638Truly, it is because of the place where we are in history. It is not because of the number of countries with nuclear capability nor is it because of Communism or Democracy or some other political system, no it is because of how close we are to the second coming of Jesus!

I know there are many who don’t subscribe to this belief because they either don’t believe in God or they don’t believe in Jesus and His second coming. But, God doesn’t lie and the Scriptures have held true for all of the past four thousand years or so because scientists have proven the existence of the people in the Bible and because it was predicted that Israel would get its land back. How many other nations have done that after two thousand years? None!

The world and the people in it have gone astray from their Creator and the religion or philosophy which they are following now is not one which will bring them into His Kingdom. So what can we do to help them? Well, other than telling them about Jesus and His grace brought to them by way of His death on the cross and His resurrection three days later. But their salvation depends upon their belief in Him and their acceptance of His grace through the Holy Spirit. If they are convicted of their sins and repent of them to follow Him, then they will be saved! It doesn’t take a baptism nor does it take any amount of work or money given to any church..belief in Him and repentance and moving to follow Him every day will bring salvation to them.

The big problem today is that much of the world doesn’t want to know Jesus! They are very tied to their religions deeply. So deeply in fact that they persecute any Christians in their countries and in some places they imprison them or kill them. God honors these martyrs for His Kingdom truly but none of us really want to be a martyr but for our Lord and Savior it may be necessary one day.

All of the problems in our world today can be traced back to the Garden when one incidence of disobedience caused our separation from God and it has progressively gotten worse since then. I pray that many who may read this might use it for inspiration to lead someone to Jesus or maybe they will decide to follow Him. In either situation, you or the person who comes to know Jesus, it is a winning situation.

What is true love?


We search for a feeling similar to the feeling which we felt from our parents and grandparents when we were growing up. But how do you identify the real thing? How do you know when you have found it?

What is true love?

The love which is expressed by God is True Love. He gave His Son as a sacrifice to pay for all of the sins in the world from the beginning. God doesn’t ask for anything from us, except for our belief in Him and our faith in His faithfulness toward us. Jesus paid for all of the words that have been said in anger and rage. He paid for all of the murders and the rape and all of the worst sins which people have committed since the beginning of humanity until now.

True commitment to Jesus takes concentration on Him and His message, regardless of the people in the church or what may be going on around you in the church. Here is a bit that I found on Facebook which brings this point home a bit more clearly:

A man went to the Pastor of his church and said, “I won’t be attending Church anymore.”
The pastor said, “May I ask why?”
He said, “I see people on their cell phones texting and typing during the service, some are gossiping, some just aren’t living right, some are sleeping, some are staring at me, they are all just hypocrites.”
The Pastor was silent. Then he said, “Can I ask you to do something for me before you make your final decision?”
He said, “Sure, what’s that?”
He said, “Take a glass of water and walk around the church two times and don’t let any of the water out of the glass.”
He said, “Yes I can do that!” He went and got the glass of water and walked around the church two times. He came back and said proudly, “It’s done.”
The pastor asked him these questions; “Did you see anybody on their phone?; Did you see anybody gossiping?; Was anybody living wrong?; Did you see anyone sleeping?”
He said, “I didn’t see anything because I was so focused on this glass so the water wouldn’t spill out”
He told him, “When you come to church, you should be just that focused on God so that you don’t fall. That’s why Jesus said, ‘Follow Me’, He did not say follow them.”

Don’t let your relationship with God be determined by how others relate with God. Let it be determined by how focused you are with God.

The reason that I bring up commitment is that love and commitment go hand in hand in a relationship, which is what we are supposed to have with God and His Son. Give your heart to Him so you can find out what true Love really is because He will never leave you!

Cold as ice


I think that this winter we can all identify with the cold outside whether we would like it or not. It has been cold this winter and it isn’t over yet. So, how does this phrase “cold as ice” have anything to do with following Jesus? Well, if you have a few minutes to read and ponder this I will try to tell you.

GodcantakecareofyouThe global climate changed, past tense, after the Flood and it was very cold in some places and warmer in others than it had been previously. For the record, I don’t believe in the so-called global warming that you hear about in reference to almost any climatic change these days. Earth has always had its cold spells and warmer spells in the past and will likely keep on doing that for many years to come.

The reference which I am making today to “cold as ice” is the way which many people turn away from the love and peace offered to them through Jesus. It is a gift which you can’t afford and there is no price which you can pay to buy it, it is actually free to each person IF…they will only believe that Jesus did this for them and accept it. But, many people in our world want to find their own pathway to Heaven, one which they can travel when they want to and take a detour off of the path when they feel like it.

Living a Christian life with Jesus as your Savior is not an on again/off again affair. It is not a take it or leave it idea or decision, it is a life choice. Not a lifestyle, but a choice just as most other things in life are which have a true and lasting effect on your everyday life. The problem is that people in our world today are cold toward God’s Word and His Son. They don’t want to believe that He is the Savior that they have been searching for during their lifetime.

Most want their salvation to be a 50/50 partnership where they do so much and God picks up the rest of the tab for their salvation. But, just as in marriage, this is not a partnership where it is split down the middle. God and Jesus paid the WHOLE price for you and for every person ever created and the only thing that you can bring to the table is a heart and soul which knows that it NEEDS Jesus! Whenever you get to that point, the Holy Spirit usually lets you know, you only have to ask for Him to come in and save you from yourself, your sins and the consequences of them.

There are no amount of “good works” that you can perform which will make your salvation more real or lasting because Jesus did everything needed on the cross. We can’t add anything to His work any more than you could add fuel to the Sun and make it hotter. There are enough which has been done to pay each of our sin debts because the blood that Jesus shed paid for each person’s debts from the beginning of the world until the end.

It is the coldness of our hearts which cause us to ignore the gift which is offered for our salvation. It is also our own selfishness which puts us in that shape as well because we want to keep doing things our way and we don’t want to change. Nor do we want Jesus to change our hearts so that we are comfortable with Him being in our lives to make us more like Him.

So, how much of the world is selfish enough to be described as “cold as ice”? If you search for the answer on the Internet it will be somewhere between two-thirds and three-quarters of the world’s population who really don’t want much to do with Jesus. Many of them will actually say that they attend church weekly or pray to God daily, which is nice but where does their heart belong? Does Jesus know them well enough to have them written in the Book of Life?

Those questions can only be answered by God and they will be answered when they stand in front of Him, but at that point…it will be too late to change your mind or ask Him to come in and fix your sinful heart. Make sure that you know without a doubt where you are in that relationship because when you truly find out it may be too late to change.

Is your life in balance?


If you asked that question to a room full of people, whether you were at a church or a school, I would be right in saying that few, if any, would say “Yes”. We do try to keep our lives in balance but most of us don’t even know what we are balancing on or the actual part of our life that we are trying to balance.

Can we do this balancing act ourselves, without God’s help or presence in our lives? The answer is, absolutely NOT! Yes, I could balance my checkbook or maybe stand on one leg for a little while, but balance my life, that is something that only God could accomplish in my life and yours. Although it wouldn’t be instantaneous. Allowing God into your life and into your heart does begin the change, but it is a continuous change. It is something that people call a “work in progress” which doesn’t really become complete and finished in this life.

God’s finished work in each of us who accepts Jesus as our Lord comes when we enter into Heaven. The learning and the work for God’s Kingdom don’t end at that point, but we are more able to do the right and correct things in His will from that point on. Balancing your life is a goal which many people reach for, trying to attain it in this life under their own ability. But, until they come to the realization that it cannot be done without God in their life, that goal will be out of reach regardless of the amount of time or money spent to attain it.

Balance in life is about as unattainable as the fictional balancing of the Force in Star Wars. Because…without God in your life and without Jesus in your heart, it truly is something which you cannot achieve your own power and wisdom. Learning from God’s Word and learning how to apply it to your life is a process, much like learning history and philosophy in college. You don’t get it all at once, but you study and read and learn. Sometimes you may have to go over the material again in order to “get it” better.

The best part of learning from the Bible is that you are learning from God’s Word and wisdom and not from man. His wisdom is far beyond ours regardless of the number of degrees that you may have. Please, consider giving your heart and life to Him and learning from His Word. There is no better education than His and the Teacher is very good at what He does too. The Holy Spirit will teach you and guide you in all things through the Word, bringing to mind different lessons each time you read a passage.

Simple salvation


Have you ever been to an evangelical service anywhere and heard that it was simple to become a child of God? In many churches, you will never hear such a thing, but that is exactly what Jesus came to bring to everyone! The Jewish leaders of His day had over six hundred laws which they encouraged the people to keep (even though they couldn’t or wouldn’t keep them).

They asked Jesus what was the greatest commandment and He told them this: “Love the Lord with all of your mind, soul, body and strength and the second is like it; love your neighbor as yourself.” The law and the prophets hang on these two commandments. Much simpler don’t you think?

Salvation comes only through faith and belief in Jesus and the atonement which He bought for us with His blood and His resurrection from the tomb. Faith comes from hearing the Word preached and your soul responding to it, then belief comes when the Holy Spirit touches your heart and breaks it, showing you where you have failed to be like Jesus in your life. Why does it happen this way?

Because until it is broken just a little, there is no opening in your heart for the Holy Spirit to gain entrance. Being broken doesn’t mean that you are beyond repair because with God all things are possible! I mean, He made the first man from the mud and breathed the breath of Life into him. God called up the cattle and other animals from the ground and caused the waters to teem with all kinds of living creatures, certainly, He can take a small crack in your heart and mend it to make you into a new creature in Christ!

Learning about Jesus and His love for you is not the end of your life but the beginning! How can I say this? Because this pitiful seventy or eighty years of life is nothing compared to eternity! Which is where you will spend the rest of Life with Him and with all of those who have given their lives and their hearts to Him! Don’t throw eternity away because of a small thing or some amount of money here on Earth! The streets of Heaven are paved with gold and the doors leading into the Temple in Heaven are made out of 12 ft. tall pearls! What can wealth here give you that you can’t have in eternity? Absolutely nothing!

Make sure of your salvation simply because, after your last breath in this life, you won’t have a chance to change your mind or destination in eternity.

Which gift do you have?


When we become Christians and allow the Holy Spirit into our hearts to change us from the inside out, God grants us each at least one gift and possibly more. So, which gift do you have? In the Bible they are called the fruit of the Spirit but we all exhibit at least one of these nine gifts: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Paul said that “against these there is no law”, so which fruit do you have?

In truth, we should all exhibit each of these to a certain extent. If you have truly given your heart to Jesus and allowed the Spirit to come into your heart and change you into the child of God that you are supposed to be, then at some point in your life, whether it is daily or weekly, you should express at least one or two of these. Yes, the world around us does not like Christians today and many of them don’t want to hear about Jesus or see any expression of these gifts, but that shouldn’t keep you from using them.

These gifts are, many times, the evidence which separates believers from non believers. I don’t mean to imply that people of other faiths can’t be loving or joyful or kind because anyone can exhibit those traits in their life, they are not unique to Christians. The difference is that we can do so even in trials and heartache because we have hope in Jesus! He went through many heartaches in the time that He lived on Earth so our Savior knows what it feels like and He cares for you and me!

The spiritual gifts which Christians have is part of our salvation through Jesus, what we use them for and how we express them is part of our service to Him. Pray about your life in Jesus and ask Him what you are to do with your gifts.

Seeking your Savior


Have you thought about your need for a Savior? Has it ever come up in discussions around the house or with other family members? In much of the world’s cultures, individuality is expressed and encouraged more than a need for a savior so many people never search for one.

themissingpieceUntil that day comes when you feel that there is something missing and you can’t put a finger on what it might be. Sometimes this feeling hits us when we are teens or young adults and we try to fill that space with many things. Sometimes we try to fill it with sex or drugs, other times we try drinking, but eventually (if we survive all of the experimenting) we begin to look for something or someone meaningful to fill that void.

The problem rises up again when we find that people can’t fill that area of our lives. The only Person Who can is Jesus. “I’ve been down this road before, I don’t want to go again.” or something like it is what many of you are thinking right now.

The problem with that kind of thought pattern is that it doesn’t come from you, it is coming from a demon or another spirit which is trying to lead you away from Jesus. Following those thoughts can lead you to a life with many rewards, as far as the world can see. Like money, fame, a good marriage maybe, prestige but all of these are also patches or things which make you feel good about yourself and your place in the world but they have no lasting benefit.

What do you mean “lasting benefit”? If I had a million dollars in the bank, what else would I need?

See…that is the focus which Satan and his demons try to get you to focus on! Money is just a tool and it is mostly a tool of Satan because he can dangle all sorts of bills in your face and they look really good for a while, but just like the prodigal son, when the money runs out so do many of your friends. In spite of what you think about your friends, if you are wealthy to any degree, many of them are only there because of the money and the good times afforded to them by your money.

So, what can you do? Money can’t give your life meaning on its own and people can’t or won’t do enough for you, particularly in a time of trouble. Even your spouse can’t help you when you truly need his or her compassion and support, even though they will give you both of those if they love you truly. Who can help in these desperate times then?

Jesus can!

Jesus came to take God’s punishment on Himself for ALL of mankind, past, present and future. He did this on the cross and then was raised again on the third day, finalizing the victory for us! When the Holy Spirit convicts you of your need for Jesus, listen to Him and seek out a Bible teaching church and read your Bible! If you don’t have one, there are quite a few online but you can buy one easily enough, if you don’t live in a country where religion is restricted. Find out about His sacrifice for you and believe in Him for your salvation. All you have to do is ask Him to save you and He will!

God loves you more than you can realize and He doesn’t leave you in the cold when you need Him! He is always there, even if you can’t feel Him, pray to Him that He will be near you in a stressful situation and ask for His help in every situation and He will always be near you. He said that “I will never leave you or forsake you”; He is always near those who believe in Him and will give them strength to get through whatever is in your path, amen?