Category: Be useful to God

What are you thankful for?


Psalm 107

1Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.

2Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story— those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,

3those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south. a

4Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle.

5They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away.

6Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.

7He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle.

8Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind,

9for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

10Some sat in darkness, in utter darkness, prisoners suffering in iron chains,

11because they rebelled against God’s commands and despised the plans of the Most High.

12So he subjected them to bitter labor; they stumbled, and there was no one to help.

13Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.

14He brought them out of darkness, the utter darkness, and broke away their chains.

15Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind,

16for he breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron.

17Some became fools through their rebellious ways and suffered affliction because of their iniquities.

18They loathed all food and drew near the gates of death.

19Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.

20He sent out his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave.

21Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind.

22Let them sacrifice thank offerings and tell of his works with songs of joy.

23Some went out on the sea in ships; they were merchants on the mighty waters.

24They saw the works of the Lord, his wonderful deeds in the deep.

25For he spoke and stirred up a tempest that lifted high the waves.

26They mounted up to the heavens and went down to the depths; in their peril, their courage melted away.

27They reeled and staggered like drunkards; they were at their wits’ end.

28Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress.

29He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea b were hushed.

30They were glad when it grew calm, and he guided them to their desired haven.

31Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind.

32Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people and praise him in the council of the elders.

33He turned rivers into a desert, flowing springs into thirsty ground,

34and fruitful land into a salt waste, because of the wickedness of those who lived there.

35He turned the desert into pools of water and the parched ground into flowing springs;

36there he brought the hungry to live, and they founded a city where they could settle.

37They sowed fields and planted vineyards that yielded a fruitful harvest;

38he blessed them, and their numbers greatly increased, and he did not let their herds diminish.

39Then their numbers decreased, and they were humbled by oppression, calamity, and sorrow;

40he who pours contempt on nobles made them wander in a trackless waste.

41But he lifted the needy out of their affliction and increased their families like flocks.

42The upright see and rejoice, but all the wicked shut their mouths.

43Let the one who is wise heed these things and ponder the loving deeds of the Lord.

ThankfulLivingThis Psalm is all about being thankful in all circumstances. This is what we should do every day and yet many of us don’t. We grumble and complain and gripe about one little thing or another when we should be thankful to have another day to live and serve our Creator and Redeemer! Seek Him in His Word and get to know your Redeemer and your Savior because it doesn’t matter what kind of car you drive or how big your house is…on the day that you die those possessions will belong to someone else. Make sure of your salvation in Jesus Christ so that your mansion in Heaven is assured and where you will spend eternity with Him!

God’s names


El-Shaddai: My supply. My nourishment, Almighty God. Genesis 17:1.

Jehovah-Jireh: Provider and my vision. Genesis 22:14.

Did you know that many people do not believe that the history which is portrayed in Genesis ever happened? Also in the schools today much of our history is being played down or not taught as it was forty or fifty years ago. 

So, why did I name this writing, this article as “God’s names”? Because in the book of Genesis God’s names are shown to us and they show different aspects of Who God really is. Jehovah is the covenant name of God so with the -Jireh added onto it then it literally means “God my Provider”. As you can see from the two examples above, God supplies our needs and He is our Provider.

So…why do people in America and around the world see religion and specifically Christianity as a religion which marginalizes and excludes others? The only reason that they think this is because they don’t like the Book that we use as our Bible, it is God’s Word and the Truth. They don’t like an absolute Truth which can’t be changed because it is absolute!

The Bible is God’s Word and His instruction book to the whole world and it was inspired by the Holy Spirit and given to the men who wrote it down. It is immutable and it cannot be changed nor is it a document which gives us His wisdom for living. Although some have changed the words in the Bible for their own purposes, God has said that this will bring punishment to those who add to or take away from His Word.

This promise is in the book of Revelation, but I believe that the punishment will not be applied to only that book but to the entirety of God’s Word. I pray that all of those who read these words or those from God’s Word will seek Him out as their Savior because He is the only way to eternity in Heaven.kid_reading_bible

Read His Word as a child because His Word is good for instruction and for teaching and for your growth in faith and in the knowledge of Him. Don’t neglect the reading and studying of His Word because it is food for your soul and for the cleansing of your mind.

 

 

 

 

Is God in control?


First and foremost, God is sovereign. Nothing that happens in the whole universe is a surprise to Him. Not one sparrow falls to the ground apart from the Father’s will (Matthew 10:29).

So, why do we look around at all of the tragedies and the aborted babies and think that God either has a part in it or He doesn’t care about them at all? God does care and one day soon the whole world will see this and understand. They may not like what they see or how they come to understand that He is in control…but they will come to that conclusion.

Is our life in His control as well? Not in the sense that He makes us do things in our everyday lives, but He does cause things to work together for our good in the trials which we face. We may not see that this is happening and it may not feel that way at the time but God is in control. Whether the outcome is good or bad or better than we expected it to be, it is He that directs our path and the outcome as well.

There seem to be more people in America who think that they know better than God about how to live their lives, especially when it comes to being “moral” or “good”. God is still in control and always has been yet people want to argue with Christians about the “mythical” book which is the Word of God. There are too many archaeological proofs which have been found all over the Middle East which point to verses in the Bible. Proving that a city or a place which was mentioned in God’s Word actually exists.

In America, it seems that since our country has always been identified as a “Christian nation” many people here seem to take the message of Jesus for granted. We don’t seem to put much weight in preaching or learning about Jesus or about our own sinful condition which He came to save us from. Also, it seems that nobody looks at or even cares about where their eternal destination may be, even though that is what most of the New Testament was written to prepare us for!

Our lives, as short as they are by comparison to eternity, are the spiritual proving ground for that life which we enter into after this one is done. The problem in America seems to be that nobody wants to learn about it (eternity) and they don’t want to hear about their own sins or how to live righteously while going through this life. I did not say that we could live without sin, but living a righteous life is possible even when we fall and make mistakes in this life.

Living a righteous life is actually what we are called to do as a Christian. By prayer and telling others about Jesus, essentially showing the fruit of the Spirit in your life and in your walk with Jesus every day…that is living a righteous life in Christ!

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Jesus, our Redeemer, and our Shepherd knows His own and He can see the fruit which we produce in our lives and in the lives which we live through Him while we are walking with Him in this life. Is it easy to be fruitful as a Christian? That depends upon your priorities. If you place more importance on life around you or your career or your family then this life is going to feel like a burden. Some people even treat it as a hindrance to your happiness, but when you do this you are only thinking of this life and not eternity. Live with eternity in your mind so that the life around you doesn’t get in the way.

God did not spare His Son


“He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all,
how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”  Romans 8:32

God did this so that we could be redeemed from our sins, no matter what they are or were! Have any of you ever considered that our Creator, God, gave the Life of His Son for each of us! That is a kind of love which I can’t fathom and never will understand, but I am thankful for it and for Him! Amen!

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He sacrificed His life on a cross after being scourged almost to the point of death and yet He still went up the hill of Golgotha to be hanged on a cross. He did this because He loves us. Why would anyone do this? Especially the Creator of the Universe!

Jesus did this so that we could be adopted into the family of God because He loved us even before the world was created. The Author of Life did this for you and for me and for every person in the world…because of His love for us. Can you understand this? I can’t.

But we don’t have to understand it, He did it so that we could have fellowship with Him for eternity. God provided the way for us to be saved from the second death and be able to enter into His house which has many rooms. Can we understand this great Love of God? No, but it is provided for us in more ways than we can ever understand in this lifetime.

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Our sins are forgiven and taken away from us just as in Pilgrim’s Progress. When we give our heart and our life to Jesus, those sins are taken away and put as far away from us and from God as the east is from the west! Eternity is waiting for you and me to enter into His house and be in fellowship with Him forever. Won’t that be awesome?!

Remember, we are only passing through this world. Heaven is our home. If your heart belongs to Jesus and He is your Savior, then your home is there with Him in the Father’s house. Nothing in this world is worth losing your salvation over! God values our souls as worth more than all of the riches in the whole world. That is not collectively, that is the worth of one soul to God!

God provides the path for us to take to be saved from death particularly the second death of hell and that pathway is through belief in Jesus as our Savior and by following Him each and every day until God calls us home. Because Heaven is our home when we belong to Jesus since wherever He is that is our home for eternity! This world and all of its pleasures and pains and the fame and fortune are perishing and temporary. Everything that is available to us here is just rusty and junk, God’s treasures and gifts to us are eternal and they are in Heaven where we will be one day if we are His.

How do you see Genesis?


The first book of Moses. The beginning of the Bible. The beginning of everything. All of these are true! Historically and physically and as the very beginning of Creation, that is how I view the book of Genesis. There is no discontinuity or falsehood in His Word, from the beginning to the end. Because if any part of it is false then that makes all of it false.

Genesis is the beginning and the story which was written was given to Moses during those forty days which he spent on the mountain with God. How do I know this? Because that is the only way that he could’ve been told of all the things which happened prior to his birth. The Creation story, the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, the Flood and Noah, the Tower of Babel, the call of Abram and then the miraculous birth of Isaac to a man and a woman far beyond the age of childbearing.

The Bible is the history of the world and of the Jewish people but it is also the story of God’s love for mankind and the lengths that He would go to in order to bring salvation to mankind too. His patience and mercy toward us are so great and powerful until we cannot understand His reasons nor His love for us. The rest of the Bible shows us that He is patient and loving toward us in ways which we cannot understand or even fathom with our limited minds compared to His!

We are His creation, made in His Image and given a special place in this universe which nobody else can claim. God loves each of us and He gives us a chance to live our lives for Him because His Son gave His life in order to bring us salvation. What we do with our lives after we accept Him as our Savior and believe in Him for our salvation is largely up to us. God shows us the path to salvation through His Son, it is our choice to follow that path every day and show that path to others so that they can find it too.

That is our job, our purpose on this Earth. Not living to make as much money as we can or to have as much stuff as we can get, but to be as useful to God while we are still here! That is our true calling and purpose as Christians and followers of Jesus.

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What are you doing for God’s kingdom?


Do you just live your life day to day and never think about it? Why would you do that?

God has given you so much in this life, why not give something back? Our lives could be so much more fulfilled and fulfilling if we would take His message with us every day! So, what is holding you back?

There are some reasons why many of us don’t live our lives as we could. Some of those reasons have a lot to do with feeling rejected or being looked at as a freak or a Christian.

So what’s wrong with that?

God can use us as His representatives just as He did with the disciples. Granted, nearly all of them were martyred while taking His message to the world, but they went to be with the Lord! Wouldn’t a trip to heaven be better than a trip to Mexico? No crime, no death and no disease for eternity! No place on Earth can beat that!

We are here to be His people and to do His will until our lives are finished. If your ideas or your “job” is better than that and has better benefits I’d like to know what you do for a living? While it is true that we have to be taken to Heaven to enjoy eternal retirement from the problems of this life, I don’t really see a problem with that.

Seek Him in your life and give your heart to HIm because He is the ultimate Boss that you could ever have.

A message of freedom


Jesus came to set the whole world free from the bondage of sin, and yet today people are still seeking to discredit the church and the Bible and even disbelieve in God Himself. Even when there are proofs all around them of God’s majesty and His love toward us. Scientists have proven this with the fact that our solar system is so perfectly balanced in gravity and in the distances of the planets from the Sun.

Yet, there are many in the world who don’t want to see God’s Hand of Design in these things. Even the astronomers and other scientists who can calculate the intricate details which hold our solar system and our galaxy together. They may recognize that without a Designer to put these things together, most of the universe would just fly apart but they don’t want to admit that there is a Creator like the Bible says.

Our freedom from sin and its consequences came to us by the price which was paid by the Son of God and His reward of eternal life is with Him and for those who believe. Yet, most of the world rejects His teaching or even the fact that He existed at all. Why? Because the world doesn’t like the very idea of absolute Truth which is found in the Bible! It is not because the Bible teaches that there is only one way, one path to eternity. It is because the path that is True comes from Judea and from the Jewish people in Israel. Every war and skirmish and terrorist action in the past forty years which has happened in the Middle East is a reflection of this.

In reality, it is a family squabble which has been going on since the time of Abraham. His two sons have been at odds with and at war with each other in some fashion for this whole time. If you watch the news much, the whole world is focused on the conflict in the Middle East in some form or fashion. God is keeping His attention on Israel and on those who bless them or those who curse them in any way. But, the world doesn’t see it this way.

Unless you are a student of the Bible and look at the news through that lens, most of the prophecy about this time is lost. Much of the world doesn’t look at current events and see them as the fulfillment of God’s Word, but those of us who do see a very different picture from what most of the news media tells us. I realize that there will be a few who will read this and ask “Why is this so important now?”; it is important because we are very close to that time which Jesus called “the end of the age”.

Our time here is growing shorter and life will not get any easier for anyone, Christian, Jew, Muslim or any other religion in the world. The birth pains which Jesus spoke of include all of the things which we are experiencing even now and they will only grow more powerful as the time gets closer. When Jesus sends for His church and it is taken up, these wars and famines and other problems will only get worse from that point on until the Tribulation is finished.

Beware that no man deceives you about Who the Christ is during this time, because if they are saying that he is in the desert or in the mountains, don’t believe it. Jesus will return physically to the Earth at the end of the Tribulation and He will do so riding a white horse from the heavens, not on the ground until He stands on the Mount of Olives once more.

Are you expecting Him?


GodISGoodIn the world today many people are not looking for Jesus’ return. It seems that many people have all but given up on His return, even though it is promised. Most of the signs which Jesus told His disciples about have already happened and yet people, mainly Christians, just don’t believe that He is coming back in their lifetime. God’s Word is Truth and since Jesus cannot sin and tell His disciples and by extension us a lie so, therefore, He is coming back. When? I have no idea but it will happen.

The ten virgins were waiting for their bridegroom to come yet half of them weren’t ready when He showed up. Is that going to happen this time as well? Will only half of those who claim to be Christians be taken up when the dead in Christ arise? Nobody knows the answer to that question except God. We will not be given that answer because it will happen in a moment, in the twinkle of an eye. Nothing is impossible with God.

The expectation is the key because when the lame man was healed at the Beautiful gate, he was expecting something from Peter and John. Although he was expecting money, he got a healing. He was expecting to get something and he was likely surprised by what he received from Peter and John. Even though the healing came through the name of Jesus of Nazareth, the man was in an expectant state so he received something because of it.

We, in today’s church, don’t expect enough it seems because our faith is focused elsewhere. We are looking toward our jobs or the government or some other person or vocation which will provide for us. We still don’t put our faith, our expectancy in the only Person Who could provide for us which is Jesus the Christ, the Son of God. We can’t see Him or think of Him as a Person that could provide because we’ve never seen miracles happen. But…they do happen today.

The miracles which God performs today are not dramatic enough to draw much attention but they happen. Cancer shrinks and goes away without much treatment or even any treatment at all. Babies are born with no problems to hinder them in life and although this doesn’t seem to be a miracle it really is. I would venture to say that we are all a recipient of God’s protection in many ways which we may not see at all. But His angels are there protecting us on the road and in shopping malls more often than we think or even imagine.

So, do miraculous things happen today? I think they do. Very likely more than anyone would believe or imagine. It is our belief and faith in Him or possibly His hand guiding us which brings His actions to bear in our life each and every day. His guiding hand in our decisions every day may be what keeps each of us alive in situations where we may not have recognized as being dangerous.

Don’t discount His Presence in your daily life because even though you can’t see His hand or His Presence with your normal eyes, He is always nearby. So make sure of the places you go and the things which you do, because of your need to remember that Jesus is there in the life of a Christian every step and every hour of the day. Think about His Presence which is with you regardless of where you go each and every day.

Do you feel broken?


I do, sometimes. There are days when I feel broken to the point of being depressed. Then there are days when I feel as if I can’t reach out to God. He feels distant, and it makes the day feel empty and cold. The only redeeming knowledge that I can bring to the day is that God is always near me. But, even in knowing this sometimes I can’t shake the feeling of being alone, even when I know I am not.

Many of us feel this way but we don’t know what to do about it. Brokenness is the feeling of being…well not whole. It doesn’t have to be caused by any specific thing or person, it just happens. It happens to people who aren’t Christians as well but their lives are already in a state of being broken anyway. Because there is Someone missing in their lives. It is the absence of the Holy Spirit and Jesus in your life which causes us to feel broken before we become Christians.

We search and seek all kinds of stimulants and sometimes people to take the place in our life which feels empty. The problem is that nobody on Earth can fill that space and no amount of money or drugs or alcohol or sex can fill it either. The drugs and alcohol may give you a whole feeling for a while, but it eventually wears off and the hole feels bigger somehow. It is a vicious cycle which Satan lures us into before we accept Jesus as our Savior.

After we accept Him it is still Satan who makes us feel worthless or alone and even depressed and that is when we feel broken and without God. We need to remember that He is always with us regardless of the situation we are in or even how far we feel from Him. God never loses sight of you nor does He let you out of His hand. When you have given your heart to Jesus for real, not some emotional experience, you can never be taken away from Him. You may walk away from the church and you may stop reading your Bible for a time but He is still near you and only a prayer away from your side.

BeautifullyBrokenGod mends us when we are broken and when He does this we are made more whole than we were before. God has never made a mistake and nothing ever catches Him by surprise. Don’t think that just because you may have made a mistake or thought something or even did something wrong, that God won’t take you and make you better than you were.

Even when your idea of being broken seems to be too bad for anyone to fix, God can. He can take a murderer like Moses or a Pharisee like Saul, who hunted down Christians to be put in jail or stoned, and He can make them into men who were changed into His most useful servants. God can make a universe out of nothing, what can He do with you?

Do you seek God’s counsel?


Many of us pray and ask for God’s help in our lives, but are you listening for His counsel? Or are you just giving Him a list of things that you want, and then ending the prayer with “in Jesus’ name, Amen”?

Prayer is needed in our world today and it is necessary for us to communicate with God about our lives and our needs (although He knows what you need). But our prayers shouldn’t be like a child’s list to Santa in Jesus’ name!

Seeking the counsel and the wisdom of God can and should be done through prayer but in order to hear God’s counsel you have to be willing to do something…listen! You don’t just spout off a prayer and “thank you, Lord, in Jesus’ name, Amen” and then go about your business as if you haven’t engaged God in your day!!

When God called Gideon he gave him a command but He also gave him the ability to perform that which He was calling him to do. Read it here:

The Call of Gideon

11 Then the Angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the Angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon and said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.”

13 “Pardon me, Sir,” Gideon replied, “but if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all His wonders about which our fathers told us, saying, ‘Has, not the LORD brought us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hand of Midian.”

14 The LORDa turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Am I not sending you?”  Judges 6: 11-14

Gideon tested the Lord after this to be sure he was hearing Him right, but the point of this passage is that Gideon listened and obeyed God. It is likely that many in Israel had been praying for deliverance from the Midianites, but God chose someone who would do what He told him and how He told him to do it. God knew that Gideon would listen and obey and that is what is needed in the church today!

Our churches do some great things by shepherding the people who have been called by God to be the church. Teaching them from God’s Word and teaching the next generation about God and what His Word says. But…how many of the churches in the world today are stepping out in faith and walking with God in these things? Are the churches today more interested in how many people show up for services on Sundays or do they go out at all into the community and take the love of Jesus with them to those who need to hear it?

Those in the church may say, “Well, that’s the preacher’s job.”, today most preachers are busy trying to take care of their own families. Paying bills, working a second job just to make the ends come close during the month, that is what most pastors are doing. Some have the time but aren’t able to get out and make house calls on those in the community.

What would Jesus do?

If I asked that question today, most would say that He is God so He can do anything for anyone. Well, didn’t He tell us through His disciples to go and tell others about the gospel and take it to all generations and to all the world? Are we doing that or do we eat lunch and go home (or go home and eat lunch) and think that’s for someone else to do? Do you leave church feeling inspired to do something for Jesus and then the fire goes out on the way home?

Seek Him in His Word today, pray about what you read and listen for His voice in what you read and when you pray. Actively reading God’s Word with prayer is the best way to hear from Him that I know. Then, if He tells your heart to do something…go out and do it! God told Gideon to save Israel and he did, if He tells you to go and tell someone in your family about Him then do it!