Category: Anger toward God

Ooops!


Do we have times or places or even events in our lives where “Ooops!” would be appropriate? All of us have these at one point or another. The only person that hasn’t had a day or even a minute where this would be part of the vocabulary would’ve been Jesus.

I know, many of you would say “What about the scourging or the cross?”; those were already planned and part of His life before they came to be. Those of us who watched cartoons in the seventies and eighties learned from the master of “Ooops”, Wile E. Coyote. He always got the bad end of gravity or a falling rock or even an explosion which didn’t go off at the point where he wanted it to.

What do you do when this happens in your life? I know that most of us don’t have problems with gravity or with bombs going off unexpectedly, but just walk with me down this memory lane a bit. Do you fret over it or worry about it? Sometimes it is too late when you realize it, so what can you do about it? Most of the time, you can’t really do much about it. If the “ooops” has already happened, then you will just have to deal with it in one way or another.

Sometimes it is caused by something that we say, in my case it is most often done this way. My mouth gets in a gear that is running faster than my common sense and I say something that I should’ve thought about a bit before it came tumbling out in the open! Does it cause pain or anguish, sometimes it does, at other times it just causes someone to giggle or laugh, depending upon what my mouth blurted out at the time.

A moment of “ooops” can cost a lot in the long run, down the road of life but at times it can also put you in a place where things can change. Sometimes…even you change. Sometimes…I change. So many times an “ooops” moment can even make a difference in the long run, if you use it in the right way.

But, you have to follow-up and work with the feeling that this moment caused in you. Don’t think about it and then let it get away and forget about it, use it to spur you on to fix the problem whatever it might be. God uses moments like these to show us what to do or what we should do, it is up to us to realize that He is part of the equation and the answer to it as well.

Why do I bring this up? Because He is always the One in control of the outcome, whether we believe it or not. If you believe in God and have learned that you need Him in your life, then follow through and make sure that He is your answer to your life’s problems. He wants to be that answer and the One that you call on in all things, not just when there is an “ooops” in your life.

Time is short


We have a tendency to think that we have a long time to make decisions and to live our lives, but when you think about it…we really don’t have that much time at all. Sure, when you are a child it seems that school will never be over or this class that you hate will never come to an end but both of those circumstances do end. The older that we get we realize that time slips by much faster than we realize and after you have added a few years to your life then you realize that it does go by faster than you thought it did.

We live one sunrise at a time, one meal at a time, one child’s laugh at a time, and all of those go by too fast for us to place those memories in permanent storage sometimes. We wonder where the time went, but we lived through it and it is gone. Those moments won’t be back, the words that you said or that your mother said can’t be unsaid, the anger and frustration that prompted those words will fade but the hurt and the pain caused by words spoken in anger won’t go away and the scars will be there for a long time.

Even when you tell your Dad or your friend that you forgive them, the scar from the words is still there and may come back later in life. Words hurt far more than guns or knives because the pain is emotional and it is hidden inside. No one knows the pain that is felt nor the damage that it has done, but it is there. Why do I speak on time and reference pain and suffering? Because we all go through those things at the same time.

Life is lived one day, one hour at a time and our words and the building up that we can do or the tearing down that can be done happens right along with us. If we could control our tongue we would be better and in better shape than we realize. If the things which we write were filtered through God’s peace and His Word, then much of the hurts and pain caused in the world would cease. But, even the Bible says that no man can control the tongue. Which is true, we can’t control it unless we allow Him to have our minds and our hearts every day, not just on Sunday morning.

Even when we allow Jesus into our hearts and our minds, our tongue is not easy to control but it can be tamed to an extent. God loves us so much that our life is in His hands at all times and He can see the things ahead which will happen in your life. All that you need to do is to trust in Him and let Him be the pilot and the navigator of your life. Give Him the control over your mind and tongue so that what comes from your mouth or your hands will be words that He sees are necessary and good for the situation at hand.

Writing these words so that you might come to know Jesus, I pray that you will. In His Service!

Who is in charge?


Have you ever wondered about this today? In the world, in America and other countries, who really is in charge? Do you wonder about this at times? I do.

It seems that many people are against one thing or another, especially when it involves religion and its viewpoints and in particular the Christian religion. An interesting article was on ministrymatters.com about the American Library Association’s list of books that were challenged due to their content. Here is a small sample of that article:

“The Christian Scriptures are a “regular” among the complaints forwarded by public libraries and schools to the ALA, according to James LaRue, director of the association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. But it’s been seven years since the Bible received enough complaints to make the Top 10 list, LaRue said.

“There’s almost a little retaliatory feel to people speaking up against the Bible because they want to go on record as being opposed to Christian opposition to LGBT (issues) or Christian opposition to Islam,” he said.”

So, who do you think is in charge in this situation? God is still in control whether we see it or not. He knows the reasons and the outcome of these opposition matters which are against the moral laws brought out by the Bible. He knows which parts that every person on each side of this discussion are against and which ones they are for. So, in today’s world as the sides draw lines and begin pounding on desks with gavels, how can we understand the part about who or Who may be in charge?

Truthfully, our understanding is limited by our own viewpoint and on which side we may be standing on. Our understanding is also limited by our knowledge of Scripture and what it tells us that we should do and how to do it. The problem with this lack of knowledge is that it involves each of us and how much we have studied God’s Word. Not just read it, but actually, prayerfully, study it word for word. Asking God to reveal to us what He wants us to know about Him and what we should do with this knowledge in our world today.

Why do I say we need to do this? Because our world, everywhere around us and where we work or go to school, NEEDS Jesus! The more we know from His Word, the better we will be prepared to defend our faith or tell someone about our Savior. Time is growing shorter, and many people are searching for Him. They may not realize that Jesus is the one they are looking for, but He is the One that they NEED!!

Drama and life


It seems that today with the Internet and all of the social media outlets that we have, there is more drama than ever about things which are happening all of the time. I know, years ago this was all gossip on the phones. The problem with today’s version is that this stuff never really goes away! Births and deaths, accidents and graduations, heart attacks and strokes, family reunions and funerals, they will ALL be there until the Internet and Facebook are gone! Even then, some trace of this will be available to future generations to read and wonder about.

Dramatic situations and life seem to go hand in hand today, but they really shouldn’t. Yes, life goes on no matter what is happening around us and we can make it dramatic or dramatizing if we want it that way. But…why? I know that tragedy strikes and yes, that can be dramatic and traumatic at the same time but God will see you through it! If you haven’t given your life to Him, then you really should. If you need to know why you should do so, then you haven’t gotten there yet.

God doesn’t want us to go through life alone without Him, yet we merrily do so thinking that we can do it all on our own with no help at all. Many times, we are right…as long as everything is going smoothly. Get one of those phone calls from the doctor or a pink slip from your job, and things could change in a hurry! If you have a teen in the house and you get a call from the hospital or the police or sheriff and your life may change forever.

God is there with you through these times, and all that you need to do is call on Him. His Strength is available to you through the Holy Spirit and His Grace is always available, just ask Him for it! There is no shame or disgrace in admitting that you need Him because we all do!

Granted, He doesn’t shower us with gold or silver when we ask for it but that is because He knows what is best for us at any given time. His Grace and mercy and His Peace is always available through His Word, the Bible. We don’t have to pay much for it, we don’t need psychologists or self-help books to find the wisdom for life’s problems because it is all found within the pages of the Bible.

Seek Him first for your needs, your peace, your health, your life and He will provide all of those and more because He loves you! Any who have lost children or spouses to an illness or death, seek Him out and pray for His peace and comfort and He will gladly provide it. Though it won’t rid you of your grief and the pain that you feel, it will make it more bearable because He loves you!

Think about it.

Rights in America


Are we secure in our rights today? Whether the rights are involved with religion, race, marriage, or racial equality, in America these are supposed to be part of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights that was adopted when our country was founded over two hundred years ago! You have the right to do many things in America today which grates against the beliefs of many different religious groups and their doctrines. So what is the fuss about in our nation’s capitol?

There are so many different voices and constituents speaking up in Washington, until many of our law makers can’t hear themselves think let alone be able to make any sense out of what is being said. So many voices and opinions in Congress and the Senate are speaking out, and very loudly too, until I wonder if many of the Senators can concentrate on their actual job. I wonder sometimes whether they got elected to do what we, the voters, thought they were running for?

Yes, my blog is a religious blog but sometimes I have to get up on a box and speak out. I get so tired of hearing our news media speaking like politicians. They talk for thirty minutes or more and never really say anything. The thing that many don’t seem to understand is that our rights and laws are all based primarily on God’s laws in the Bible.

It is God that established our land through the faith of the pilgrims and our forefathers, so all of America owes its existence to God’s grace and provision. Like it or not, America was founded upon God’s principles and not some secular principle or belief. America wouldn’t have lasted this long had it not been for the grace and mercy of God.

Of course, in the past sixty or so years our country has been steadily pushing God and prayer and the Bible out of government and schools and out of the courts as well. Our country has passed laws which go totally against God’s law against killing, especially children. Abortion has taken the lives of multiple millions of babies and it seems that everyone thinks that they were just clumps of cells. Doctors know better because the heart begins to beat in the first month or so. A beating heart signals life, so that means it is a little person!

We have gone a long way from being a society which reveres life and family and we need to come back to those beliefs.

The End Game, what is it?


There are always end games in movies, in computer games of all kinds, in business deals and in life itself. So, what is the end game from God’s prophetic point of view that is told in the book of Revelation? It is very simple actually, to bring about the end of Satan’s reign on Earth and to restore Earth to its pre-fall condition.

Humanity fell when Adam didn’t obey God, not just one couple, but also the entirety of creation itself. Before the fall, there was no corruption of the Earth, no weeds or thorns or creeping vines which were of no use except to cover everything. All of this came to be afterward. Death and decay began after the perfection of creation was broken by disobedience.

God knew that it was coming and when. He also knew who would be responsible for the fall, not just Adam but Lucifer too. It was he in the form of a snake which tempted Eve and then Adam decided to go along with his wife instead of following the command of God. Then the Seed of the woman was foretold and we waited for about four thousand years for Him to come into the world.

When that happened, it was still a few years before His ministry came to its conclusion but when it did the endgame began. Bruised by the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus, Satan has been attacking humanity for the past two thousand years. Bringing war, disease, famine, infanticide in the form of sacrifices to demon gods and abortion, the list of tragedies and heartache goes on and on, all because he knows that his time is coming to a close.

Regardless of his pride and his boasting, Satan has already been defeated but he hasn’t stopped trying to get as many people away from God as possible. If he can keep you or me from asking for Jesus to come into our lives, then he will find a way to do it. He is not above killing your family or taking your job or your home either. Any way that he can get to you, to keep you in the place of blaming God instead of asking for His help, then he and the fallen angels that followed him will do it.

Humanity has always had a special place in God’s eyes and if Satan can hurt God by hurting us or causing us to miss the calling that God has for us, then he will do it. The thing to remember is that he is already defeated! The battle is won because Jesus was triumphant over sin and death on the cross! All that we need to do is to believe in Him and His grace that has been given to us.

God did have a Son and He came to bring salvation to us by His death and resurrection at Calvary. He was foretold at least four hundred years before His birth and all of the prophecies about Him were fulfilled by Him when He came! We are important in God’s Kingdom, each of us, and there is something which each of us can do that God knows only we can do. Pray that you can and will find that point in your life, find that place which will bring you to know Jesus.

Because when you do, nothing else matters except doing something, anything for Him and His Kingdom, no matter what it might be, no matter how insignificant you may think that it is, because for Him it will be significant and you can make a difference. Why would anyone do this? Because, Jesus died for you to be able to do it, that’s why! He paid the price so that you can be the person that God knows you can be with His Spirit guiding and helping you to be that person.

What can we do?


There are wars and murders, attacks from terrorists, human trafficking, threats from all sides it seems and this is just from one day’s news broadcast! How can people be so hate-filled and mean in this day and the time that we are living in? What in the world has happened to humanity in the past fifty or one hundred years to cause us to be this way?

I am not sure anyone has an answer to those questions, at least or even at best they don’t have an answer that really makes sense. Some would say it is because of the Muslim threat, but they seem to be attacking their own people as well. Some might say it is because of poverty and hunger, but the danger is in the streets of developed countries as well. Does any of the problems have to do with race relations? It seems that it does in some places, but mostly it seems that people are angry and upset, frustrated about something. What that might be I have no idea.

I do know that we are in a period of time which was spoken about during Jesus’ time. Where He told His disciples that all of this would be happening and that it would get worse before it gets better. This is an answer which many people in the world today reject because they don’t want to hear it. They have heard at some point in their lives that the time that He was speaking of is the time of the tribulation and the time of the Anti-Christ. Fewer and fewer people believe in the real Jesus Christ today and even fewer think that we are going to come to a point of being in a seven-year period that Jesus said “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.” Matthew 24:22

There are too many people who choose not to believe this or maybe they want to believe some other religion or doctrine. This is fine for them because that is their choice. But…what if all of us who are Christians are right about the Bible and everything contained in it? If we are wrong, no harm to anyone but ourselves I suppose, but if you died tonight or tomorrow and realized that you were standing in the Presence of God, what then?

Unfortunately, it would be too late at that point. You can’t get forgiveness after you are dead, your life is over at that point and your choices were made in this life that you will live with through eternity. Yeah, there are many who don’t believe in eternity either or even in Heaven or hell. You have been given this life as a dress rehearsal in a way, one in which you have a choice to make. One which will impact the rest of your life here and those that you may have an influence over. It will also have an impact on where you spend eternity, but that choice can only be made while you are here.

Since none of us know how many days we have until our death, the day of salvation is today…now preferably. Life is short, especially compared to eternity, so don’t waste your time trying new things and getting all that you can get now! When you are gone, someone else gets all of it anyway. The real choice that matters is your belief in Jesus and asking Him to change you into the man or woman who He knows you can be. That’s it.

Pray about it, read God’s Word if you have a copy, get a copy if you don’t. Seek Him while you still can, because your life is ticking away day by day and once your life here is gone, you don’t get a do-over.

This is the day


A verse in the Bible begins this way, “This is the day…”, but it is not the only verse that has those words as its beginning. One verse says: “This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118: 24

Another says: “This is the day of your salvation”, (2 Corinthians 6:2) , maybe not in those exact words but the idea is there nonetheless. The Bible is full of verses which have “this day” or “today” contained within them and the meaning of them in relation to your salvation is that you shouldn’t put it off at all, not even one more day! God loves each of us, which is why He came to Earth in the person of His Son so that He could pay the price for our sins, not just yours or mine but for the entire world! Your sins have been paid for, you just have to accept it, believe it, and allow Him to change you into the person that He wants you to be.

There is nothing that you can do to add to the work that He performed on the cross for you, it has been done and it is finished. All that you have to do is accept it in faith and ask Him to forgive you for your sins, then seek Him out in His Word so that you can come to know Him better and more completely. It is not required of you to do this, but in gratitude you want to because of the grace and the love that has been shown toward you and the whole world. I did.

Oh, when I was younger I didn’t understand the Bible and I didn’t take the time to ask Him to help me understand it. But, later on I realized that I needed that wisdom, His wisdom for life, for living, for being a better husband and father, for being a better representative of His grace and mercy toward us, toward me.

I lived in a broken home for a long time and I blamed my life on God. I blamed Him for my parent’s divorce, and for the fact that I grew up without a father at home. I was a rebellious teenager all during my teens. I drank alcohol, I smoked pot, I ran around with a bad crowd. It would’ve been worse had I lived in a larger city, instead of the small town where I was. But, the worst of it was that I thought I had accepted Christ at the age of 13. I had gone forward and I did all of the things that you are supposed to do, like come before the church and get baptized. I went to Sunday school and church all during my school years from the seventh grade on, but when Friday night came around and I had my drivers license I went to town to get drunk. I didn’t go to watch the game, I didn’t care about the game.

I had some wrecks in my Mom’s car before I graduated, because of my drinking. But, I still thought I was saved. It wasn’t until twenty years went by that I realized that I had been playing a game doing all the outward things which looked like I was a Christian, but inside I hadn’t changed at all. Essentially, I had put on a coat that said “Christian” on it, and when I go ready to do something that I knew didn’t fit in that coat, I took it off and did what I wanted to do. It wasn’t until I became a father that I realized that I needed to change my life so that I could, at least, be a real role model for my child. That is when I became a Christian. I had been going through the motions for a long time, and it still took some study and some real, honest prayer between me and God before I truly felt Him touch my heart and my life and make me realize that I truly needed Him. That, I couldn’t be a Christian without Him and without giving up my “life” so that I could put His on.