Category: Believe in the One Who saves

Our Savior and the American flag


In many ways today’s flag and Jesus have many things in common.

The flag of America has had blood shed for it and on it. In America during the Civil War and during the war of Independence years before. It was carried with our troops on the field of battle overseas in Europe and Asia and across the seas. On Navy ships and troop carriers and subs that old flag has taken its hits from fire and oil and gun shots and at home from crooked politicians and those who hate us because of what it stands for.

Our Savior shed His blood for all of our sins, to make men free from the slavery to sin. Our Savior went through some terrible trials before He was crucified. He was spit on and beaten by His own people and priests. They made a mockery of a trial to show that what they wanted was right and that He was a threat. They accused Him of crimes against the Roman state and cast a dark shadow over His fate. He allowed this to happen because He loved them and had He wanted to He could’ve wiped them out with a word but He didn’t because He came to do His Father’s will and not His own.

So, you see that America’s flag has a lot in common with our Savior. They have both been beaten, torn, ripped apart and yet they both were victorious in the different ordeals that they went through. Our flag has been worn down during the wars that she has fought in through the years and the country that she stands for isn’t the same as it was once before. But there is still pride in our country and in that flag that stands for freedom that has suffered so for it.

Jesus and our flag have been through a lot but He came out of the grave triumphant and whole to stand at the Father’s side and to intercede for us when we don’t do the things that we should. Our flag still stands for freedom and human rights although they are being worn away little by little today. Those of us who remember history, our actual history, look at that flag with pride. So, yes I am proud to be an American and I am proud to say that I am a Christian too. Will life ever return to normal here one day? I don’t know, but I will never give up my freedom willingly and I will not renounce my faith in Jesus Christ.

Time…


Scientists say that the universe seems to be winding down. Winding down to what exactly? Well, the answer to that would require you to have faith in the One Who made all of it. The Bible is full of prophecies and the only ones that haven’t come to pass yet are the ones in the book of Revelation. Truly, there is nothing standing in the way of His return except He may be waiting for one more soul to decide to follow Him. That’s about all that could keep Him from calling His Bride, the church, home.

Time is winding down to the “end of the age”, the church age, and that is where we are right now. How much more time do we have? I haven’t a clue. It could be a day or a week or six months or three years, only God knows the exact day and hour. We should be doing the work that Jesus gave us to do until that day comes. Keep looking for Him, studying His Word and be in prayer for those who haven’t made the decision to follow Him yet because it could be someone you know that is the last person that God is waiting on.

The parable of the ten virgins tells us what we need to do and that is be prepared for His return at the time of His return. You can’t get ready when the trumpet sounds, you have be ready when it sounds. Because once the call goes out for those who have passed on before us to rise and then those of us who are alive will meet them and the Lord in the air, there will be no getting ready. It will happen “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” and then we will be gone.

At that time…the world will change so drastically from that day on until the Earth will not seem to be the same place at all. From that point things will get progressively worse for those who are left. God has not forgotten you and you can still give your life and heart to Him but it will be much more difficult. People will turn in their own family to the authorities when Christian beliefs are outlawed. Many other things will happen during those seven years after the taking away of the church and all of them are outlined in the book of Revelation.

I pray that anyone who has not made their decision to follow Jesus and have Him come into their heart and change them will do so…soon. We are not guaranteed tomorrow so make sure of your salvation while you can.

Place your trust in the Lord


Amen

The King is coming!


“Then, the Arrival of the Son of Man! It will fill the skies—no one will miss it. Unready people all over the world, outsiders to the splendor and power, will raise a huge lament as they watch the Son of Man blazing out of heaven. At that same moment, he’ll dispatch his angels with a trumpet-blast summons, pulling in God’s chosen from the four winds, from pole to pole. “Take a lesson from the fig tree. From the moment you notice its buds form, the merest hint of green, you know summer’s just around the corner. So it is with you: When you see all these things, you’ll know he’s at the door. Don’t take this lightly. I’m not just saying this for some future generation, but for all of you. This age continues until all these things take place. Sky and earth will wear out; my words won’t wear out. Matthew 24:30‭-‬35 MSG https://bible.com/bible/97/mat.24.30-35.MSG

God’s provision


When you have given your heart and your life to Jesus, He gives His Life to you. You are a beneficiary of the Lamb of God and you have been adopted into God’s family. God loves each of us dearly, whether we love Him or believe in Him or not. The problem that many people have with God and His provision for them is that He knows exactly who among us will accept His provision and His salvation through Jesus and His sacrifice for them. He also knows who will not accept it. This upsets some people. Because they think that they might be in the group that won’t accept it, they choose not to and go on with their lives. The problem with this is that He knows but you do not and it is Satan who is telling you that you aren’t wanted by God so go back to your life like it was before.

You are wanted by God but it is still your decision to make. He doesn’t force or try to manipulate you into giving your heart to Jesus it must be a willing decision on your part. Satan knows this and that is why he tries his best to convince you to go back to your “old life”.

God provides us with every imagined good thing in our lives. Some of it is our stuff that we are able to have because of the gifts and abilities that He has blessed us with but most of these blessings are because of His love for us. The air that we breathe, the ground that we can walk on and the planet that we live on are all provided because of His love for us. I know that some scientists say that God didn’t have anything to do with our planet or the universe’s formation. It just happened because of the “big bang” and chance. Really? How many mountains have you ever seen form because a bomb was dropped and exploded? I haven’t seen any.

Things, like stars, planets and galaxies, do not form from gas and dust for no reason. Some of you may not want to hear or read that but it is true. There was and is a Designer in charge of all of the matter and “star stuff” that is present in our universe and His name is God!

We have been given far more than we deserve in the lives that we live, whether we live them for Jesus and His Kingdom or not. Our problem is that mankind has been in rebellion against God almost since the very beginning. We are like little children. We want it now and we want it our way, not the way that God wants us to do it. I pray that each of you who may read this will consider giving your heart to Jesus for your salvation. Then get into the Bible and read two books first afterwards. Read John and Romans. John because it will give you and good foundation in what Jesus’ teachings were and Romans because it goes into depth with those teachings and gives you a better understanding of why they are important to your Spiritual life in Christ.

God made you for more than a good time


There’s more to sex than mere skin on skin. Sex is as much spiritual mystery as physical fact. As written in Scripture, “The two become one.” Since we want to become spiritually one with the Master, we must not pursue the kind of sex that avoids commitment and intimacy, leaving us more lonely than ever—the kind of sex that can never “become one.” There is a sense in which sexual sins are different from all others. In sexual sin we violate the sacredness of our own bodies, these bodies that were made for God-given and God-modeled love, for “becoming one” with another. Or didn’t you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don’t you see that you can’t live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body. 1 Corinthians 6:16‭-‬20 MSG https://bible.com/bible/97/1co.6.16-20.MSG

Punishment and payment


We are a race born with a natural bent toward sin because of Adam. If you told a little child not to eat these cookies and you caught them doing so, most would tell you that they didn’t eat the cookies. Even if you caught them with crumbs on their clothes and their hand coming out of the jar! They’ve not been taught to lie but they will when they are caught doing something they know is wrong. It is this natural tendency that stays with you and me for our entire life and that is the reason Jesus Christ had to pay the penalty for all of our sins.

So why was it so important to God for Him to do this? Because He wanted our relationship to return to the way it was in the Garden.

He wants the relationship to be as it was because it won’t be tainted by the stench of sin and rebellion. That is the only kind of relationship that will be present in Heaven. We will be able to go to Him at any time and He will answer us even before we ask our question.

Oh, how I am looking forward to that day! When the sky opens up like a scroll and the Trumpet of God sounds and the dead are raised to immortality and those who are alive and have remained faithful to Jesus will follow them. The whole world will know that our God is True and faithful and there will be no denying it.

I pray that anyone who reads this will seek to know their Savior before that day comes.

Faith walks…


When Jesus looked for followers, before He called His disciples, He knew He needed men who would follow Him every day during His ministry. He knew that He would find them because His Father had sent Him to Israel to teach, preach and touch the lost children of Israel. The only way that this ministry would last and make a real difference in the world would be men who would have faith in Him and His ministry but also men who would walk their faith in and around Israel so others would see that what they believed about Him was true.

This is what James talks about when he wrote “faith without works is dead“, not because you have to have works to be saved but because your faith should be a working, walking faith. One that gets your Spirit moving in God’s direction and in His will. I used to wonder how could Jesus sleep in a boat which was being tossed by the waves in a storm but as I’ve grown in my faith and in my walk with Him I realized that His ministry covered many hundreds of miles. Not every day naturally but all of it was by foot! He and His disciples were bone tired by the end of each day, regardless of the miracles they saw or the healings that He performed. Jesus was the Son of God but He was also the Son of Man, human in all of its respects except that He didn’t have our sinful nature.

So He was tired every day what does that mean to me? It means that we are supposed to be tired from telling others about Him. We should walk with Him each and every day because He said that we would do “greater things than these” if we did. Does your faith in Jesus walk with you each day regardless of the circumstances? It should. If you are a born-again Christian your faith should take you through each day and each trial in your life, regardless of the circumstances or problems that you may face. While it is true that there will be some days that are better than others, for a Christian there is no way of avoiding the bad and the good days. All of them go together and He will see you through each of them.

God loved each of us even before He created the universe and our planet and He had determined at that time that He would come down and save us from our own sinfulness one day. He did it as the Son Who gave Himself as a ransom for many. Make sure that your life in Christ reflects the gratitude of one who has been saved from the fire of hell and eternal separation from God so that others will want to have your hope and your Savior as well.

Can you tell the difference?


My dear children, you come from God and belong to God. You have already won a big victory over those false teachers, for the Spirit in you is far stronger than anything in the world. These people belong to the Christ-denying world. They talk the world’s language and the world eats it up. But we come from God and belong to God. Anyone who knows God understands us and listens. The person who has nothing to do with God will, of course, not listen to us. This is another test for telling the Spirit of Truth from the spirit of deception. 1 John 4:4 MSG https://bible.com/bible/97/1jn.4.4.MSG

Sometimes we can hear it when someone else talks about something that they have an opinion about. The truth is evident in the words that they speak about their beliefs. Then you come across someone else who is not speaking of what they know but what they want from you. Deception can take all kinds of shapes and change them to fit whatever the agenda may be, make sure you know the Bible well enough to spot the difference.

Be thankful in all things


Amen