Put on the armor of God

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6:10‭-‬12 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/eph.6.10-12.KJV

There are many times in a Christian’s life that we feel like we’re being targeted by Satan, at least I do. Sometimes he will target people who are not Christians too but the point is that without faith and prayer and our knowledge of God’s Word, we have no real weapons to fight him with. God gives us faith when we are convicted of our sins and turn to Jesus for our salvation. Sometimes we feel that it isn’t very much faith but even a little bit can go a long way if we use it without doubting that God can bring us through our problem whatever it may be.

Why is the church today so ineffective in reaching out to people? It is because the body of Christ, the church, isn’t using His Word effectively and defending itself from Satan’s attacks. God has given us a way to triumph in every situation that Satan can throw at us but until we use the spiritual weapons that we have access to we will fail every time. We are able to be victorious in the fight as long as we have faith in Him and use that faith to call on Him to fight for us. God doesn’t leave us defenseless against the enemy.

But, like any weapon, if we don’t use it correctly it doesn’t help us. A gun can’t kill people unless there is a person behind it aiming it and pulling the trigger. In the same way, the weapons that we can use against Satan are useless if we don’t know how to use them. An excuse for not knowing that we have them will not help us. Just as not having a life preserver won’t keep you from drowning if you don’t have it. We don’t have an excuse for not having faith if we are Christians. We have faith but we don’t know how to use it.

Learn from God’s Word about the weapons that you need before you need them because getting them after being attacked will not help you at all.

What will it take?

There have been hundreds of sermons preached in America and around the world, maybe even thousands since the time that Jesus Christ was here. How much more preaching will it take to get people to realize that God’s Word is true? God inspired the men of Israel to write the books that they wrote and yet we think that the Bible is just some old, dusty book and nothing more.

Consider the parable of the pearl. A merchant found a pearl. Perfect in all of its dimensions and without a flaw. He sold everything he had in order to purchase this pearl. This is exactly how God views each of us. Our soul is worth more to Him than all of the wealth in the entire world and in today’s economy that would be in the trillions of dollars. I’m not speaking of the human race, I’m talking about your soul or my soul. God values each of us that much. So much in fact that if I had been the only person to be saved by the death of Jesus on the cross…He would’ve still died just for me or you or any one of the billions of people on Earth.

Not only does God value us that much but He loves each of us that much. It doesn’t matter if you are Jewish or a Gentile, God still loves you that much. Just think about that for a moment. Is there anyone that you would give your life for like that? I can think of a couple of people but to do it for someone I don’t know…I don’t think so. The thing that we have to remember is that God knows each of us and He knew us long before we were born. He knows each person intimately enough that He doesn’t wonder what kind of person we will become because He already knew that long before we were born.

I pray that each person that reads this will think about this for a few minutes. Consider how much God cares for you and that He would’ve died for you even if you were the only one that could be saved by His death on the cross.

Love each other

Hobbled, but not done

I broke four of my toes on my left foot yesterday afternoon. Now, I’m getting around with a cast on but I’m not done yet. God still wants me to work and post for Him and for you too. Life is not over, I’m just having to move a little slower these days.

He is working on healing the fractures and I’m still putting His message out here so people can read what He gives me to say. God is good even when things go a little sideways. Job got through His ordeal and I will too. Thankfully, I haven’t lost everything the way he did but I’m used to getting up and walking without problems or a cane. I guess I’m going to have to slow down and be a little bit more careful from this point on.

God provides for our provisions in this life as long as we live according to His commandments and follow Jesus as your Savior. There is nothing that can stop you when Jesus is your Savior. He is on your side when you have given your heart to Him. It doesn’t matter if my legs are broken or my foot is broken, I will be in His house to worship Him regardless of the pain or difficulty. God loves you more than anyone on this Earth could ever love you and He cares more about your little problems than you do.

Give your heart to Jesus and follow Him for your life and it will be more than you can ever manage or imagine. You may not be wealthy in this life but your home in Heaven has been built by the Creator of all and the road going to your home is paved with gold. His authority is over every sickness and ailment in our lives and everything in the universe does as He intends and tells it to do. My fractures will be healed and I will be walking without these implements before my birthday on November 1st.

Praise God today!

Many of us would ask, “Why should I?”. Life is hard, we are having problems every day. Health problems, financial problems, relationship problems, national and international problems…all of these are happening every day, everywhere, so why should we praise God? Because God is still in control and He gives us the strength and the ability to get through all of these days.

God never promised that we would not have problems but He did promise that He would be with us going through every problem whatever they might be. All of us have had sad days and depressing days, but God is beside us as we walk with Him. If you are an unbeliever, just ask Him to come into your life and help you with the problems that you have. He won’t take the problems away but He will give you the strength and the ability to get through them.

The Bible says that “God inhabits the praise of His people“. When we praise God in prayer or in worship or song, He is very attentive to every word that we are saying. God loves you and cares for you far more than you can imagine. Giving your life and your heart to Jesus will not take the troubles away but it will give you the strength of Jesus and His Holy Spirit to get through whatever comes against you!

Christians don’t get a pass on trouble. Jesus told His disciples that they would have trouble in this world but He said, “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world“. Give your heart to Jesus and ask Him to give you the strength for today and then ask the same for tomorrow. Walk with Him every day and the troubles that come won’t be so troublesome. He will get you through each day when you depend on Him.

God is still working!

Many people, pastors included, think that God stopped working after creating everything…He didn’t stop. He has been working behind the scenes and in every country, nation, government building, and office in the world. It doesn’t matter if it is a country that rejects Him and His message, He is still working in the lives of people everywhere. He is drawing them to Himself and bringing those who will come to Him into His family.

Sometimes we think that God is not in control because of all of the evil and hatred in the world but He is still there and in control. He protects those who know Him and those who will come to know Him. The land of Israel is His and the people there are His too, even if they don’t accept Him as their Savior and King. One day, they will. There are miracles every day that many people don’t notice but if you know God and how He works, you can see them. There are people who are alive today that wouldn’t have been alive if He wasn’t in control. There are places that would be in much worse shape spiritually if He did not have control of Satan and only allowed him to do whatever God told him to do and not do.

Life itself would not be possible if there weren’t specific parts of our world that He keeps in running order. He controls the Sun and the weather and everything around us but there are so many who do not see it. It wasn’t an accident that our planet was placed here. Jupiter and Saturn help keep many hazards from making a run toward us and God placed them there for that purpose. Scientists don’t want to acknowledge it but it is true. Even the moon protects us from many threats that we might never know about.

Jesus came to pay all of the penalties for the sinners of the world, past, present, and future. He did exactly that and then was raised on the third day giving us the opportunity to enjoy eternity with Him if we believe in Him for our salvation. God had this planned a long, long time before any of us were here and He loves us in more depth than we can understand. It seems that many people think that our universe was brought into existence by the “Big Bang” and God may have used something like that to begin but I don’t think it was fourteen billion years ago. The Bible says that God stretched out the heavens and that is why they are finding galaxies that are way out there but they look just like our galaxy.

God’s creation is awesome and all of His attributes are shown in it every day. From the blue whales on Earth to the rings around Jupiter and Saturn and Neptune, He created all of it to cause us to have wonder and awe at all of creation and for us to give praise to Him. Seek Him while there is time to do so because the age of the church, the dispensation of grace, is coming to an end. When it does, the whole world will know it and those who haven’t made Jesus their Lord will have to endure the Tribulation.

The Lord’s will prevails

Pray and sing to Him!

We are forgiven

What can God do?

It seems that many people look around and see all kinds of problems like drugs and alcohol, and then they say “why won’t God do something about it?”. The problem isn’t God, it’s us. We were given the power of choice and the ability to choose our path. Just as the angels in Heaven were given a choice to serve God or not. Some did choose to and about a third of them didn’t want to and followed Lucifer in his rebellion against God.

When we make bad choices we are living in the same way. We are rebelling against His way of living because we want to do things our way. God created the entire universe. He created every atom and particle all the way up to the largest stars and galaxies so He can do ANYTHING! There isn’t anything that God can’t do except lie or go against one of His promises. Anything that would cause Him to be out of character, He won’t do. Other than that…He can do anything.

God loves us, He just doesn’t care for the sinful lives that we lead. Even if you are a Christian, you still sin every day. It may not be the same sinful things that you were doing before but thoughts and behaviors and words are not easily captured. We are forgiven but when you feel that you are being convicted of some thought or action that you did before you realized it, ask for His forgiveness and ask for the strength to resist the temptation of it the next time it comes around.

Jesus came to die for your sins and mine and He paid the price for all of our sins. He also conquered death so that we could live in eternity with Him when we accept Him as our Savior. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and you cannot come to the Father except through Him. Make sure of your eternal home before tomorrow because none of us are guaranteed to wake up in the morning.