Many times I have been asked to pray in church, even when I was a pastor and the facts about our Savior just overwhelmed me and I would choke up. Some people may have thought I was weak or just a “cry-baby” by doing this although none of them would admit it. But when you consider the pain and suffering that Jesus had to go through on the day He was crucified to pay for all of our sins…it is overwhelming. God loves each of us who will give our hearts to Him and repent of our old ways and His love is so overpowering until we can’t understand it.
Why would God send His Son to go through all of the suffering and pain as a man in order to pay our penalty for our sins? It’s because of His love for us and nothing else. Every time He disciplined the Jewish people in the Old Testament He was trying to get them to turn to Him for their provision and for His love to be poured out on them as blessings. Sometimes they recognized this and sometimes they didn’t so for a while they would follow Him or the person that He sent to bring them back into a relationship with Him. But as soon as that person died, they would turn back to the idols that they had rather than continue to follow God’s leading.
God has always been close to our little world and He has protected us from many dangers that we never know about. Can I prove this? Not really…unless you look at the surface of our moon and see how many hundreds of asteroid impacts have ended on its surface rather than hitting Earth. I would guess that there have been a few extinction-level impacts that were intercepted by the moon instead of impacting and setting our world back a few thousand years or more.
The love that God has for us, each of us, is so magnificent and deep until we cannot possibly understand or even comprehend it and it was because of that love that He came in the guise of Jesus to pay our debt so we wouldn’t have to. Just consider His love for each of us because He even knows how many hairs are on your head and mine! He knows when a bird falls from the sky because in the Bible Jesus said that “not even a sparrow falls without the Father knowing it”. If He cares enough to watch a small bird and know when they die, don’t you think that each of us is worth a little more than a little bird?
When you or I consider the deep and abiding love that God has for each of us, how can you not shed a tear or get choked up a bit? Not one of us deserves His love but He thinks that we do and He does care for us more than we could imagine or hope for. Give your life to Jesus and ask Him to come into your life and help you clean out your heart because your future depends on this decision. He has already paid for your past mistakes (sins) and for any future ones too, all you have to do is repent of them and ask Him to come into your life and make it useful for His Kingdom.
We live each day as if nobody sees what we do or knows what we say, yet God knows all. He sees and hears every thought, word and deed that we do each and every day. We will be judged by those words and deeds even if we are saved through Jesus Christ because many times we do these things not considering that many of them are wrong in God’s eyes. If you are to live a life that shows others that you have given your heart and your life to Jesus and that you follow Him daily then your life must show it. If you don’t want to live a Christian life following Jesus and His teachings each day then don’t give your heart to Him. There are only two choices for your life…salvation through Jesus or life without Him. One you get to live here in accordance with His teachings so that others might see Him through your life. The other, life without Jesus, you can live without ever knowing Him or going to church or serving others but your life will end with your death.
A life approved by Jesus and through His Holy Spirit is a life that never ends. You will seek Him each day, living life here as a disciple and a follower of Him so that others will see the effect of Jesus Christ in your life. Hopefully they will see the peace that He gives you in times of trouble or the strength that you get through Him when you go through testing. The greatest gift that you have is the gift of eternity with Him because your life will go on after this body and this life is over. Our life will go on to be present with Him in Heaven and we will have an immortal body that will never know pain or disease ever again. The few years that we have here on Earth are the proving ground and the testing of our faith in Him and whether we will give our life to Him or not.
Does it matter if we live a life approved by Jesus Christ? Yes! If you would like your child or your children to know Him then you must live a life approved by Him. Children will follow in your footsteps whether you want them to or not and they will see the things that you do or say and learn from them whether you intended for them to or not. They will find out your past in one way or another so be careful to show them that you may have been a reprobate in the past but you have given your heart to Jesus and you have truly changed. You are no longer that person from your youth because you are a new creation in Jesus Christ!
Being a Christian in truth and in deed means living your faith everyday, not just on Sunday or on a particular holiday. It is not something that you can put on for weddings or funerals and on Sunday and then take it off when it isn’t convenient for you. When your heart is changed by Jesus, you are changed from the core of your being. Sometimes it takes a few years for the change to become visible to everyone because it is a process. Your heart is changed but the maturity comes from studying the Word of God and prayer to give you the strength each day to walk with Him. The Christian life is not an easy road to walk on. There will be trials and days when you do stumble and make mistakes. You will sin with your cuss words and thoughts but you will seek forgiveness and help in repenting from those mistakes. As I said, it takes time.
For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works. 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/2co.11.13-15.KJV
When you call something one thing and it turns out to be something else entirely. Like “playing” with a puppy or a small dog, aggravating it and laughing at it. That is cruelty disguised as “play”.
If you would do that, you would do the same to a child. Turning them into abusive children, bullies without friends except others like themselves.
Jesus never taught anything except tolerance and patience with others. Being a bully for any reason is unacceptable. If you were ever the object of a bully and you didn’t like it then why would you want your child to be one? Being a bully and racism are learned at home from parents who think they are doing their children a favor or teaching them “just how it is”.
You think you are making them tough but they are just learning a behavior which could get them killed in the future. God doesn’t like bullies whether it is in the form of slavery or oppression He will make them pay for whatever they have done. Life is too short to be cruel and if you don’t know Jesus then you need to turn to Him for your salvation soon because He is coming back. If you are left here after He takes His Bride to heaven, you may find out what kind of bully Satan and his group can be. The seven years of the Tribulation will not be a good time, so make sure that you are on the winning team. Give your heart to Jesus and turn away from your “friends” that encourage your behavior now whether they are family or just friends.
Hurting people physically or emotionally is another form of being a bully. It doesn’t prove that you are tough or strong, it actually shows that you are weak and afraid because you are imposing your will on others in a way that they have to take it or leave. In the case of a child or a dog they really have no choice. Seek healing for your soul from Jesus soon because we will all answer for our words or the wrongs that we have committed one day.
Some people accept the truth of God’s Word. Some people only believe parts of it. Even today people who have heard God’s Word preached in churches for years and yet some people won’t believe that the Bible is true from beginning to end. Why? Because of the lies of Satan and even those in the church today who tell or preach partial truth with just enough Scripture mixed in until it sounds good. It sounds like it came from God’s Word. Some of it did and some was just the wisdom (foolishness) of the person bringing the message.
Many of the “sayings” that we hear today are attributed to a verse in the Bible but they didn’t come from the Bible at all. One, in particular, is this: God helps those who help themselves. This sounds like it’s giving the OK to stealing and being a thief. First, this “saying” is not in the Bible at all. Second, God would not condone breaking one of the Ten Commandments.
Jesus came to seek and to save the lost, not just of Israel but those who are lost in the whole world. He died to pay the penalty for our sins and He did but many people still don’t believe in Him for their salvation. Many of them can’t believe that it is that easy. “All I have to do is believe in Jesus’ sacrifice for me?” There has to be a catch.
No catch. That is why Jesus said that even children understand Him and His plan for salvation. It doesn’t take a degree in theology to get the message. When the Holy Spirit touches your heart and opens your eyes to the fact that you are lost and a sinner and that you NEED Jesus as your Savior, there is no question of “I can do it myself”. The thief on the cross couldn’t do anything except believe in Jesus and he went to heaven with Jesus that very day!
God has never made salvation or righteousness in His sight very hard. You either believe in Him and it is counted as righteousness or you believe in Jesus and you are saved from your sins. Belief and obedience go hand in hand in God’s economy and when you do both you are rewarded. God’s love is free to all if we will accept it and salvation is too when we feel the call of the Holy Spirit on our lives and in our hearts. He is always as close as a prayer, whether it is a prayer of repentance to become a believer or a prayer of need, He answers both.
Daniel wrote in chapter 3:16-18: I will begin in verse fourteen: . 14 Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?…but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?
16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. 17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
This is one of my favorite stories in the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament. Because it shows just how much our Lord loves each of us who serves Him and boldly proclaims it to those who deny Him. Even Nebuchadnezzar admitted that the “fourth man looked like a Son of the gods”, which it was the pre-incarnate Jesus Who had come to rescue them from his furnace. They came out with no evidence of smoke or hurt or burning on them or their clothes.
The world around us is in turmoil and we have to flow right along with it but God is in control and our faith in Him can carry us through the problems and the turmoil that is ahead of us regardless of how bad it may get. Keep your faith strong by reading God’s Word and praying to Him so that you may be counted worthy to be taken in the first coming back of Jesus in the clouds to take His Bride away!
The Living Message of Christ 