Category: when you feel His call in your heart

Why did you bring me back?


I have read some books from doctors about patients who have asked this question. Patients who had experienced death or as it is called in the media a near death experience. That is not exactly the right name for it, it is death but with a spiritual twist. If God had wanted that person dead then nothing that the doctors or anyone else did for them would matter. God allowed them to return because their story needed to be told, the feelings and experiences which they had in a few minutes or seconds needed to be told.

Many people experience peace and joy and a feeling that everything is fine. Some experience a horrifying and agony-filled few minutes which may change their beliefs after they return for their second chance. The point of this is that the veil which separates this life from the next is very thin spiritually speaking. We can’t see through it, although at times we feel things or see glimpses of someone or some place. We just brush it off as “it’s because I am tired” or “I didn’t really see that, did I?”.

Most of us forget those glimpses through the veil after a day or two, but for those who have crossed through the veil during a heart episode in the hospital or died on the operating room table and are brought back, the experience is too real to forget.

Is there life after death? YES! Jesus said so and He was and is alive now to prove it! He also told His disciples that He would return to take His church to be with Him. The veil which separates our earthly bodies from that eternity is thin and we are surrounded by spiritual beings all of the time. Do I have proof of this? No, I just have faith in God’s Word and it seems that the realm of the spirit was always there, even when Elisha was facing an army in the Old Testament. He asked God to show his disciple that they had more protection than the ones coming against him and he saw them!

The demons were and are everywhere in our world, yet thankfully we can’t see their form and their actions as we go about our daily lives. In Jesus’ day, a whole legion of them had taken over one man and when He told them to get out, they entered into a herd of pigs and the pigs drowned themselves in the lake.

My point is this: don’t discount the words of someone who has come near to death or has been brought back. They have seen something which few people see and live to tell of it. Does life continue after this shell of our bodies dies? Yes, it does. The enjoyment of life with Jesus is there but there is also a place without Him and it is a terrifying place without Jesus.

Our minds can barely imagine a few hundred years forward or back from our point of reference. One thousand years is a long time, but if you begin to think of one million or try to consider it then you can’t take it in. Any amount of time beyond one thousand is just a number to us, our minds can’t process it.

Why would someone who has been brought back to life be angry about having another chance at life? Because, for a believer the other side of the veil is so much more than we can comprehend now! Even a few seconds of life with Jesus away from the pain and mental anguish in this life would make you long to be with Him even more! But, when God sends a person back to this life, it is for a reason…His reason. Others need to know about the spiritual life that waits for them whether it is a life with Jesus or not!

john317Please, read God’s Word prayerfully. Seek Him out and His Son’s Life which is in His Word. Ask Jesus to come into your life and open your eyes so that you can experience His Life for eternity. God doesn’t want you to go to a dark place where He is not, because it is your choice if you refuse to allow Him into your life.

What do you see?


When you look at the world today and the news and all of the terrible things that are happening in it…what do you see? Is it evidence of how corrupt and perverted humanity has become? Is it prophecy coming true on a daily basis or is it just our evil and corrupt world and the people in it who are doing all of these things?

Actually, it is prophecy coming true AND it is the people in the world who haven’t accepted Jesus as their Savior who are fulfilling those prophecies. The evil and corruption and violence in our world are part of those prophecies which are coming true.

Yes, they are coming true every day and it seems with more frequency. The signs from the heavens like the solar eclipse this year and the next one in seven years, both of which will be seen in America. Then another pair of eclipses which will be seen in northern Egypt and Arabia beginning seven years after the two in America and the second seven years later. Both of the pair of eclipses are total and will make an “X” in the countries where they are seen.

The signs are showing up and are increasing. Please, don’t ignore God’s Word and the signs which He is using to bring attention to His Creation and Himself. God loves each of us and has provided atonement for each of us but if we don’t accept it and live according to His Word then it is as if the provision is refused and you are on your own. Just like someone telling you that you have an inheritance that you can claim but they won’t tell you what it is or how much. If you don’t claim it for yourself, then it is given to someone who will claim it.

Salvation through Jesus blood is the same. If you don’t claim it and live according to His Word, then it does you no good at all and it is the same as not having it at all. God knows who has taken His offer of forgiveness and who hasn’t or won’t, whether you believe it or not, He will judge you….not someone on Earth. Your own decision about what to do with Jesus’ gift is the very decision which will condemn you or bring salvation to you. The choice is yours.

In truth, the very person who decides that they will wait until later to get saved, “when I have got my life on track”, is the one person that will end up dead far sooner than they ever thought. They will be standing in front of God and that question will come up: What did you do with your knowledge of Jesus? So…what will be your answer?

Anything besides, He is my Savior, will not be enough and will not get you inside the gates of Heaven. If Jesus doesn’t step forward and claim you as His own, then your eternity will be without God, without His Love being expressed in your eternal home. That is just a taste of what hell will be like. Then, there is the heat and the flame and the pain of separation which will haunt you throughout eternity. God did not send you to hell. Jesus did not condemn you to hell…you did. It was your decision…it is your decision today.

The signs are all around us today that the age is coming to an end. So, what will you do with Jesus? Is He your Savior or will you continue on your own?

Truth or Consequences


Living the life of a Christian has never been easy. From the time of Jesus’ departure, the apostles and disciples were persecuted by the local priests and by Rome and the Roman government. This has never really stopped, but the face of persecution is different today.

We sometimes hear it from friends who believe that we are judging them when we aren’t. We see the persecution from groups of radicals in other countries and in our own country of America.

Now, it seems to be coming home because if you preach or tell someone a Truth from the Bible, it is labeled as hate speech and you could be put in jail. Can anything be done to stop this? I don’t think that it will get better before Jesus comes back or at least until those who belong to Jesus are taken up to be with Him.

Yet, many Christians in other countries are being killed or put into “work camps” or into prison and much of their suffering doesn’t reach the news outlets. So, unless the Voice of the Martyrs or some other organization brings it to our attention, we don’t hear about it unless it is a bombing that kills many in a church or an open area. If it happens in a jungle or in the mountains of Nepal or North Korea, the country controls the news media, so it doesn’t get out.

Life in “developed” countries like England or Europe or America hasn’t gotten to the point of people dying for their beliefs…yet. We do hear of isolated cases of “radicalized people” killing others who don’t believe like they do, but those are few right now. How will our Christian nation react when violence against Christians gets worse? What will be done to help us? Or will our so-called “leaders” in Congress turn away and deny that it is a problem?

Christians in the past, like five or six centuries in the past, did some horrible things in the name of the Church or even in God’s name. I won’t deny that. But, making all Christians pay the price with their lives today for something which was done during the Crusades in the 12th century is ridiculous. God will punish those who have done things like killing witches who were NOT witches or killing people in the Middle East because they wouldn’t convert to Christianity. That is just as appalling as 9/11 or any of the other atrocities that are happening because of ISIS now!

Seek out the One, true God in the Bible, not one in a book of made up “holy words” by a pedophile who hated Jews and Christians. I promise, God will avenge His own and it doesn’t involve bombs or cutting their heads off!

God has provided a way for eternal life through belief in Jesus and His atoning work on the cross. Seek Him out in His Word for it is the true Word of God. Pray about what He says in it and learn from Him because in the end, all of us will bow and say that Jesus is Lord and King of all!

Our Risen Savior!!


empty_tomb11Christian holidays are not meant to bring shame to other religions, but to bring hope! This holiday is about our Savior, Who gave His life on a Roman cross so long ago. He gave it in order to be the sacrifice which was able to cover all of humanity’s sins. Not just for those who believe in Him now, but all the way back to Adam and Eve. So that salvation could be offered to those who looked for the Promised Seed of the woman, but who died in faith knowing that He would come one day!

Christmas is the celebration of His birth, even though He was born at least three months before we celebrate it because we don’t know the exact date of His birth. Anyway, He came to Earth in order to bring salvation to all people. The Jewish people were offered this gift first, but their high priests didn’t recognize Him as the Messiah. So, the gift was offered to the gentiles, everyone else in the world, who gladly accepted Him because of His offer of salvation and because none of us can be righteous enough on our own!

When you accept Jesus as your Savior, His righteousness is imputed or given to you at no cost. It is by God’s grace that we have this gift and all that we have to do is believe in Him and in His atonement for us. It is that belief, even without evidence through faith, that we have our salvation!

It is God’s gift to us, which none of us could possibly afford, that we have eternal life through Jesus and His atonement for us by His blood.

There is no other explanation of Easter’s importance other than His resurrection and His appearance to His disciples to prove that what He had told them about had come to pass! He had told them that He would be crucified and die, be buried and then rise to Life on the third day and HE did just that and more!

It is true that there are many disputes about which day He was crucified on or if there was a High Holy Day (another Sabbath) prior to the weekly Sabbath. It could’ve been, in any case, He spent three days and nights in the tomb before being resurrected, period. Jesus didn’t lie or make anything up, much of the squabbling and error has been introduced by human interpretation and superstition.

Most of us can barely keep up with a work schedule or school schedule let alone figure out which day the actual crucifixion took place on! It is Jesus’ resurrection which gives us a hope of eternity and forgiveness, so to me it doesn’t matter what day or how many days it was, just that He came out of that tomb and He is coming back one day!

Consider this…


We are living in a time of wonder and amazing technology, but it is also a dangerous time with many pathogens and bombs and all sorts of natural as well as man-made problems. What can we do about this? Is it possible for us to fix most of our problems or not?

Consider this:

timeline

 

In the past, life on Earth was segregated. We didn’t have the technology to be close, regardless of where we lived. Even if it was just a few hundred miles away, that was a week or more of travel by horse or camel or carriage. In the past 130 years we began with trains then came automobiles and airplanes and motorcycles, not exactly in that order but you get my meaning.

Most of our “problems” began to be real worldwide problems when we began to have transportation which could move us faster and farther to places that we couldn’t get to in a reasonable time before. Now, I’m not saying that advancing in technology and transportation is a bad thing but it does seem that when we began moving into each other’s back yard more easily, that is when we began to have more and more problems.

Besides, God’s Word predicted that knowledge would increase and with that knowledge our technology increased, just as the timeline shows. Yes, we are nearing the “end of the age”, and it is getting nearer all the time. How soon will the “catching away of the Bride” be, I don’t know. We may see a “new messiah” appear on the stage of the world, who will begin to “fix” things in miraculous ways so as to fool even those who believe themselves to be the elect.

In the days and weeks and months that we have left, I suggest that many of you who read this should be studying the Word of God. It is our most powerful link to the Creator and He knows when and how things will turn out for all of us. Seek His Wisdom, not the so-called wisdom of man because man’s “wisdom” is foolishness to God and God’s wisdom is foolish to mankind because without faith it can’t be understood.

Look up all of the signs that have been foretold in the Bible. See if the “fig tree” hasn’t bloomed again. This is the prophecy of the nation of Israel coming back into its own country after nearly two thousand years. Also, which nation on Earth has been scattered all over the Earth and brought back into its own country which God gave to them thousands of years ago and they are still speaking the language that their forefathers spoke and wrote down? Only the Hebrews and their nation and language have survived so long and it isn’t by accident, it is by God’s grace!

That is evidence of God and His miracle-working power because no other people and their language has ever survived so long as the Hebrews and their language to be brought back into the land which was promised to their father, Abraham over four thousand years ago!

Acts of kindness


No matter how small they may be or what they may cost, any act of kindness is a blessing. If the world could experience more real acts of kindness, especially in places where even the smallest act of kindness would mean a lot… it could mean living just one more day for a child and we could change the world!

But…what do we see today? Murder, bombings, shootings, suicide bombings killing twenty or more people, wars, famine, diseases…can we do any act of kindnesses to help with these?

Other than prayer, I am not sure what can be done until Jesus comes back.

You hear about these in the news and on social media about “random acts of kindness”, but why do they have to be random? Do we as people, who were created in the image of God, have to be kind on a random basis? I think we could be kind and caring to each other on a regular basis, if we had the Holy Spirit living in our hearts and we were truly living the way that Jesus told us to be!

I know, it is corny and a pathetic way of being in our world today, but why do we have to hate each other so much? Can’t we show the love of God to others like Jesus did? You know, love isn’t deadly and it won’t cause cancer, as a matter of fact love and laughter makes most healing processes move along faster.

Life comes from God through His love for all of His Creation. Every being on this planet was created with a purpose, many of the more disgusting ones we don’t know their purpose but God knows why He created them. He is still creating because every year science finds some new creature which has never been discovered before. Some of these live in places where we thought that there was no way for life to be, yet it is.

It is likely that the moons of Jupiter and Saturn have some form of life. I don’t know if we would recognize it as life if we saw it. But I feel sure that God didn’t put those moons and planets out there just to look pretty and make us wonder about the universe that we live in.

God’s act of kindness toward us is this: we are still here. He shows His grace toward us every day that we are alive and we have another day to live for Him. If we aren’t, then we should be. When your life is over, do you think that you are good enough or righteous enough to merit stepping through the gates of Heaven? God’s grace toward each of us is His kindness and love allowing us enough time to hear His voice and to understand that each of us NEEDS Jesus in our heart and in our life!

It doesn’t matter if you have had ten years, twenty or fifty or even one hundred years on this Earth. If you have lived here and have heard His Word preached or read the Bible, then you know about His love for you. All He is asking for you to do is to return some of your love to Him by following Him and doing His will in your daily walk with Him. It doesn’t cost you anything, but in return you will have eternity with Him to do even more!

The Word of God


john317At the very first chapter of our Bible, God spoke into the void and into His creation His will, the breath of God filling all of Creation with all kinds of potential life and good and the possibilities of death and evil too. His very voice is the most powerful force in all of nature because He is the Creator of natural laws and nature itself! Because, the energy of every star, every galaxy and any powerful structure contained therein is only there because of God and His Word being spoken into the cosmos!

In the gospel of John, the very first few words tell what is believed about Jesus, the Word made flesh:

John 1:

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

Jesus was and is the Living Word of God, so it is by Him all things were made and through His power all things, including you and I and every other living being on Earth, live and have their being even now. It is by God’s Grace that we are here to do His work and His will in this life while we yet live. Not the grinding away that we chase after money and fame and family, but living for Him and to spread His Word and wisdom in this cold world that doesn’t know Him.

That is the will of God for all believers and whether you embrace it or not, it is still true. God intended for us to have a relationship with Him and through Him in this life into eternity. We should be receptive of that grace and His gift because it is something which we can’t afford in any way, yet it is given. We are loved by Him enough that He gave Himself, His Son, to pay the debt that we cannot. A debt that He didn’t owe but He knew that it was the only way to balance out the debts owed by all of humanity.

By giving His life, His blood and the suffering which went with it, that debt was paid for all of us. When the Spirit convicts you that you are a sinner in need of Jesus, then you will and you should seek Him out at all costs, even your life. Because He is the Pearl of great price and the lost sheep that was found, He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and He is your Savior and mine, all we have to do to receive His grace and the gift of eternity is to believe in His work and in Him. Like a child believes her father will catch her, we should believe in and trust Him.

Please, take the time to read about Him and learn about Him because He is the ONLY way to be forgiven and to obtain that which cannot be bought…eternal life with God.

Easter…did it happen?


empty_tomb11We celebrate Easter by doing some strange things like dying eggs and watching for the Easter bunny, but those things have nothing to do with Christianity. So why are they and this holiday part of our religion? Partly because the early church wanted to bring pagans into the church, so they adopted the spring festival that the pagans used to celebrate the renewal of life in the spring as the holiday to represent the resurrection of Jesus.

Jesus’ resurrection did not occur in the way that many people think, at least not according to the Easter celebration. Yes, Jesus was raised to life after three days. Yes, He walked out of the tomb with a new body, but still bearing the scars which He kept because of His sacrifice for us on the cross. Those from the scourging that He bore, were gone. None of the gospel writers tell of any of those scars being seen, which is interesting because the prophecies and some historians of the time said that He was unrecognizable from them.

God can and does heal any disease, even today, and those scars were healed because He bore them for us. God hasn’t stopped healing people and it confounds our doctors today because they can’t understand how someone who was so near death could show no sign of cancer or any other disease, without treatment. The love which God has for us is a type of love which we can’t understand with our mortal, human minds. But…God can work through our prayers and by our faith in Him and His power to work things in such a way that we can’t explain it.

That resurrection morning, when Jesus came out of the tomb, the stone was rolled away by God’s power. It may have been an angel who rolled it away, so that Mary and the disciples could see into the tomb, but it was still the power of God that worked through it all. Your sins and mine were taken away with that resurrection and the work of Jesus Who gave Himself as a Perfect Lamb and sacrifice for all of humanity’s sins. All that we need to do is to listen to the Voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to us and when we hear it, we should respond in faith.

When you do that, your heart is changed into a new creation and you are too. You are no longer the same person who came to church or was reading the Bible and felt the touch of God on your life. You did not do anything other than believe in what you heard or read and the Holy Spirit touched your spirit, your heart, and you accepted the greatest Gift that has ever been given to us! Each of us who have accepted that Gift never have to worry about our eternal reward, because it is sealed in the Blood of Jesus!

When you know that you have given your heart to Him, then the only testimony needed is your baptism. It is a symbolic of your death to sin and then rising to walk in the newness of Life with Jesus. Is it necessary for your salvation? No, but it is a testimony to others of what has happened. Then, read God’s Word and pray about what you read so that He can teach you from it and reveal His Truth to you. While you do that, tell others about Him and what He did for you.

Because, God loves you and He did all of this for you and for me and for everyone who has given their lives to Him through faith. Seek Him out in His Word and at a Bible teaching church, learn about your Savior because He already knows you better than you know yourself.

What will you do?


Jesus_Loves_UWhat will you do on the day that Jesus comes back? What about the day that the trumpet sounds and many people in the world vanish? Will you be one of those who vanish or will you be left here wondering what happened?

What will you do? How will you feel about being left behind?

Life on Earth is going to get hard and very dangerous for anyone who decides to become a follower of Jesus. Especially after the “new” messiah shows up.

The time to decide to follow Jesus and ask Him into your life is today! There is more persecution and problems for Christians today than it has ever been, and the time is running out. Now, I don’t know when He will come for the church and I am not going to speculate, but you can see the prophecies coming true today. There are more wars, small though they may be they are still wars and many of them are because of religion and religious reasons.

Although, the wars which we hear about are not because of Christian beliefs. The conflicts which we hear about in the news are from parts of the religious spectrum which are usually against Christians entirely. They are persecuted, killed and some are put into prisons. Some are burned alive, some see their children killed because of their faith, but they don’t give up their faith.

God doesn’t cause these problems in their lives, the world just can’t handle the Truth of His Word and His offer of Grace and mercy. Therefore the world punishes our brothers and sisters all over the world, regardless of the country they live in. We may not hear about their suffering because it isn’t in the Middle East or maybe it isn’t part of someone’s agenda right now, but that doesn’t mean that their suffering is any less. Those Christians in Sub-Saharan Africa are being burned out of their homes and many of them have lost their families because of the hatred that others in their country have for “Jesus followers”.

We don’t hear about it because it isn’t sensational news, it won’t bring in the ratings, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t there.

Is there anything that we can do to help them? We can pray if we can’t do anything else! Pray for God to protect them or to help them to escape their circumstances. If you can give money to a reputable organization which can help, then by all means do so! The things which are happening today are the “beginnings of sorrows“. Jesus said that we should be watching for these signs and be watching for His coming and be ready for it.

When the believers are taken up one day, the world will wonder what happened? They will be searching for answers and of those that are still here, only the ones who have read God’s Word and heard it preached but chose not to believe will be the ones who have the answer. But, most of the world will not listen at that point. Many theories will be put forth on the news for the violence and the disappearances and the many deaths which happen when a pilot or a bus driver vanishes.

This time is coming. Seek Jesus and His Truth in God’s Word! Pray that you are among those who vanish because afterwards the world will blame Christians and God’s Word for all of the hate and the deaths and the broken families who are left. The hatred toward those who believe after this will be very violent. Look into the Bible for your Savior now, because tomorrow or next month or next year may be too late.

Daily living


Why are we so perplexed with the idea of living with Jesus, when we are supposed to be Christians if we believe in Him? Do you believe or not? Children can believe with no trouble at all, so why do we, as adults, have so much trouble?

Mostly, it seems to be our own brains. They become so full of information from college or work and news and emails or the Internet, until we have developed a type of information overload disorder. We have so much information from our life and from other areas of our lives rattling around in out heads until it keeps us distracted from keeping our focus on Jesus. Then, just as Peter did when he was walking on the water to Jesus, we get our attention diverted and we lose our spiritual focus.

Like looking for a deer or an elk in the forest when the leaves are still in full leaf, there is so much foliage breaking up the picture until we miss the deer or the herd of elk in the background. The same principle keeps us from concentrating on Jesus, keeping our focus on Him…we have bills to pay, then a friend has an accident in their car or our child needs us at school, there are deadlines at work and we only go to church once or twice a week.

How does a relationship work if you only see or listen to the other person’s voice once or twice a week? It isn’t much of a relationship at all! A husband and wife or any significant other wouldn’t consider themselves a couple if they only saw each other once or twice in a weeks time! So how can you have a relationship with your Savior and Creator if you only open a Bible or go to church once or twice a week? YOU CAN’T!!!

Even in the Garden, the Lord visited with Adam and Eve in the cool of the evening. I know it doesn’t say that it happened every day, but why not? This was before their disobedience, before the “eating from the tree that I told you not to eat from” incident, so don’t you think that God had to teach them something about their jobs? He had told Adam to care for the garden and the animals, so how would he know how to do all of this without God’s teaching him? By mind-meld? I don’t think so.

God loves all of His Creation, including the animals, the trees, the ocean and the fish and birds as well as us, humans. He had to teach Adam how to take care of all of this, so the walks in the cool of the day were teaching sessions most likely. That relationship, which we are supposed to be a part of, doesn’t work very well unless you get to know each other. God already knows you, so the only one in this relationship who needs to learn about the Other is each of us! You can’t learn about God or Jesus and the Holy Spirit by ignoring His Word or the teaching in a Bible teaching church.

Having a Bible in the house or on a table doesn’t count any more than having a medical textbook in the house makes you a doctor! We don’t learn by osmosis and you can’t sit in a church with other people and be a Christian, you have to seek Him and answer when He calls you to Himself! You can’t be forced into a relationship and God doesn’t do that. He will call you and you will know that it is His call but unlike some teachings out there which say that it is an “irresistible” call and that you can’t resist it, you actually can and many do.

The problem with that resistance is that eventually you may not hear it at all and your heart will not respond from that point on. Just as in a human relationship, if you keep pushing the other person away long enough, eventually they won’t come back. When you read the Scripture which reads “and God gave them over to their lusts”, that is what has happened. Please don’t make that mistake with your eternity.