Category: Believe in the One Who saves

Walking with Jesus


Each of us who answer His call has to learn how to do this. The Lord does give us an idea of how to do it, but it’s up to us to figure it out. It does take reading His Word and learning from it and this is a lifetime process. Some people think that going to church gives them the key to heaven or maybe reading the Bible gives them a special place in heaven. Those actions have no real bearing on your eternity although they do help you to be the person that you are supposed to be in Jesus Christ those actions do NOT save you!

Faith in Jesus and believing in His atonement for your life, your sins and all of the words and things which you have done or said in this life. The Holy Spirit comes to live in your heart and you become a new creation from that moment on. We become more like Him by turning away from our sinful lives and truly following Him daily. God called you to be His and it is His call on your life which allows you to be saved because He gives you the faith and the grace to become His child…but only if you answer that call by accepting it and moving toward Him and away from your old life.

But…what if I don’t want to give up my old life?

Then it is likely that you won’t accept Jesus’ call on your life! It is a sad position to be in from an eternal standpoint. If you have felt His touch in your heart and you know that you are a sinner and you need Jesus as your Savior, yet you love your sins and your “regular” life more than you feel the need of salvation…it is very possible that you will just walk away from Him. What would’ve happened to the church if the disciples had turn away from Jesus? There wouldn’t be a church today.

Could Jesus have found other disciples? Of course, He could have but it would’ve been very different from the ministry which He had with the original disciples. People are very different and shepherds or other disciples would have learned from Him in different ways from the 12 which He chose. Even His betrayer would’ve been different, but God knew which men would follow Him and the ones who did were the disciples which were needed.

God knows our hearts and our usefulness to Him, not because He forces us to be His disciples because gratitude and love cannot be forced in any way! We serve God because He loves us and because we love Him in return for everything that Jesus did for us. But, our life with Jesus brings with it a responsibility, and that responsibility is to grow in our faith and our spiritual strength as we go through this life with Him.

Reading the Bible and praying for the Spirit to teach us the meaning of it as we read is part of our life and our walk with Him. It is not really an option and it gives us the ability to resist the temptations and the “fiery darts” which are sent our way as we live in service to Him. If you don’t grow and learn from Him in your daily walk with Him and in reading His Word, then you will be overcome at some point when temptation or trials come your way.

Amen

Death…


This is one of the least prepared-for parts of our lives. Death is one thing which nobody can escape yet everyone seems intent on putting it off as long as possible. Even though it happens to be the doorway to eternity, nobody is willing to step through it nor are they ever truly ready for it. But in today’s culture, it seems that many people are fascinated by it except that they want to choose how they die. This is one of those choices that most of us really don’t have the will or the ability to choose how we die.

So, what should we do or is there even something which we can do about this? Can we live a life of purpose and meaning and then, when we come to the end of our life, have a “good death”? It is a question which is perplexing and troubling at the same time. How do you have a “good death”? It depends upon your life and the quality of it, I think. A Christian will look at death as a doorway to eternity, regardless of how the person dies. Others will look at it from their perspective of religion or belief or the lack of belief which the person had.

If it is an unexpected death we look back at the life of the one who died. If it is the death of a loved one who died of cancer, then hopefully it was not a lingering death and one which was mostly free of pain. Hopefully, it will be a death which the person who is dying will choose not to prolong the process nor to hasten it by the use of drugs or other means.

Life is given to us by our Lord and our God and we should cherish it but when the end of our life comes around, regardless of how that may happen, we should accept it and help those of our family to accept it as well. Those who are surviving us will grieve and they will feel the loss of our life but we should try to help them to do so if we can. Remember, death is a part of life it just happens to be at the end of it, hopefully.

So, why am I writing about this today? Because, at any given time in the world, there are many who are experiencing the death of a loved one. It happens much more than we realize because the media tries to hide this fact from most of us unless it happens to be someone famous and well known. All of us have to experience the loss of a spouse or a child or a parent at some time in our lives. Some of us don’t have to experience it until later in life and some experience it far too soon in our lives or in the life of the one who has died. Their death may come due to accident or disease and it could come too early in their life for them to truly have lived, which happens too often in our world today.

God is still there with them and beside you to comfort and to strengthen you in order to help you bear the loss and the pain. Some of us tend to blame Him for a loss which was too sudden or unexpected but He knew when their day was and how it would happen long before we find out about it. God loves us and He does care for each of us whether we die in our old age or if we die in the womb, of natural causes or for convenience. God loves you, so don’t look up and blame Him when a life comes to its end because He already knew the day and the hour. But many times He wasn’t the cause of their death unless it was His mercy toward them and you as well.

A successful life


Can you live a Christian life today and be a success? Yes, if you live according to the Word of God. We are to renounce our “old ways” of living and turn our eyes and our hearts toward Jesus and living His way. What does that mean exactly? Here is what God told Moses during the Exodus from Egypt beginning in Deuteronomy 10:12-13

12And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, 13To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?

Some of you might say to me “But that’s in the Old Testament, we don’t have to follow those rules now!” Why not? God hasn’t changed. It is only our perception of Him which has changed. We try to make Him into a “politically correct” god but He is God and He doesn’t change…not for you or for me or anyone else in the world!

In order for us to be forgiven and live a Christian life we are supposed to live according to His Word and follow Him every day of our lives until our death or until He calls us to Himself. It is not negotiable and He doesn’t conform to our ideas of Who He is! Until we realize that there will be many standing in that day saying “Lord, did we not prophesy in your Name?“

Make sure of your relationship with Jesus now while there is a chance because if you are one who is saying those words in His Presence and He says, “depart from Me, for I never knew you.”; it will be too late to change anything about your salvation or lack of it at that time.

Make sure of what you believe and in Whom you believe.

Forgiveness


Did you know that we cannot do this by our own strength but only by the strength of Jesus Christ? God forgives us because of Jesus’ work on the cross and the blood that He shed for you. We are not supposed to keep or hold grudges against others, we as Christians are supposed to forgive even the most hurtful sins which have been done against us. Why? Because every sin which we have committed has been forgiven through the blood of Jesus, no matter how bad they are…yes even rapists and murderers are forgiven if they repent and give their hearts to Jesus.

Is forgiveness easy? NO! When someone has wronged you in any way it is very hard, almost impossible and it usually is impossible for us, in our own strength, to manage to truly forgive someone. We can forgive through our faith in Jesus and by His Strength only! There is no real forgiveness in a human heart until Jesus is in your heart. Because without Him in our heart, we will not forgive or forget.

God loves you and has provided a way for you to be forgiven and by the grace and faith given to you through Jesus Christ, you can forgive others. Refusal to forgive others who have hurt you, no matter what the pain might be, will cause your health to become worse. We must live humbly by the Word of God and live out the forgiveness in our lives toward others. This is not a suggestion but a command. If there is something between you and your brother, leave your offering and be reconciled with him.

Forgiveness is a thread which is throughout the Bible and it is a powerful one between God and mankind. It is part of our life when we have Jesus in our heart and we should practice it for the small things as well as those things which hurt us deeply. Think about the pain which Jesus went through to gain your forgiveness and mine! It was painful but He did it anyway.

Life after life


If you have ever been to a church and heard a sermon or if you heard one on TV, then you have heard of the life to look forward to after this one. Have you given your heart to Jesus? Salvation is available for you if you will give your heart to Him. So, what will you do with your life here that will take you into eternity? Your own “righteousness” will not do the trick, just as Jesus told the Pharisees and as it was told in the Old Testament, “your righteousness is as filthy rags“.

God doesn’t want us all to go to hell, but there are those who will not accept Jesus as their Savior. God knows who will and who will not give their life and their heart to Jesus but it is not set in stone. When you feel the touch of His Spirit in your heart and you feel that you need Him in your life, don’t turn away from Him. Jesus paid the price for our sins on the cross and we are able to be saved from the punishment which comes from refusing to accept the gift of salvation.

Granted, your punishment in hell is not just for refusing salvation but that is the main one which will send you there. Any sins in your life which aren’t covered by the blood of Jesus with your acceptance of His gift of salvation will be paid for in hell. But if you decide to give your heart to Him and confess your sins then your eternity is guaranteed in Heaven with your Savior.

Your salvation is available to you when God touches your Spirit and brings you to that place where you truly know that you need Him. You can’t just decide to be saved or ask Jesus into your life, He touches your soul and draws you to Himself. I pray that all who read this will seek Him in a church or in the Bible and come to the realization that you need Him in your life.

The end of the Age


Learning about this from our Lord Jesus Christ is easy, just read Matthew 24 or the book of Revelation. But…how many will believe what they read? There are many who don’t think that the Bible is even trustworthy much less the actual Word of God. My point is that we are truly living at the end of the age. Look at the news and watch everything that is going on around us. Then, read Jesus’ words in Matthew 24 and at the beginning of the book of Revelation. See how much of it actually does sound like it came from the news today, then make your decision.

Have you trusted Jesus as your Savior? If you haven’t then you need to seek Him for your very soul depends upon it! God cares for and loves each of us, even when we are sinners. He knows which ones of us will hear His call on their lives and those who will hear it and ignore it. But you need to be seeking Him to find Him and that is what this post is about.

Eternity is ahead of you regardless of your eternal destination although you do have a choice of where you will spend eternity. God doesn’t send you into hell, that is your decision because it is due to your rejection of Jesus as your Savior. Whenever you feel the call on your heart to give your life to Him, please don’t turn away from Him. Remember, He paid the price for your sins and mine but it is up to you to accept Him as your Savior.

The Way to Life


Have you found the path which carries you to Life itself? Some of us tend to get lost while trying to find it when it is right in front of us. Life with a capital “L” is the life which you will have in Jesus and the pathway carries us through this life until we get to the next one. So…what is the pathway? Following Jesus and not listening to Satan’s lies about your life and your ministry being useless and worthless!

Jesus gives our life, here and now, a meaning and a purpose. We are to live each day, each moment striving to be more like Jesus than trying to be like the world around us. Is this hard to do? Sometimes it is. Usually when we feel down and depressed life seems hopeless and you feel useless, like I did yesterday. But Jesus said that “we can live a life more abundantly“! By following His example of living for the Kingdom of God, even though you can’t see it yet.

God loves you and has provided a way for each of us to have a life of meaning and purpose through Jesus our Savior. He is the pathway to life everlasting and He is preparing a place for us to dwell with Him forever. Some people might want to know, “Why would I want to live in heaven forever?” Do you really and truly believe that you will have nowhere to go when you die?

God’s Word says that we all face His judgment when we die so what have you done in this life to give you an eternity in Heaven? None of us, not even one person on this Earth, can be perfectly sinless because we are sinners and we are that way from birth. Jesus came so that we can have a life with Him into eternity but apart from being saved through faith in Him not one of us will get there.

Your life here is like a puff of smoke compared to eternity so why waste it chasing after stuff which rusts and fades away or is given to someone else when you die? Money doesn’t last and neither does gold or any other type of wealth but it seems that in the world today these things are what defines us. Why not define your life by the example of Jesus and His teachings? Live your life as His disciple and tell others about Him and what living for Him means!

Why? Because God values your soul more than all of the wealth in the world! Each individual person that He calls to become an adopted child of God is worth more to Him than all of the wealth that exists in this world! Why is that? Because each of us has a specific purpose ordained by God and that purpose is to reach one other person that only we can reach.

If we tell thousands of people and they turn their lives over to Jesus that is wonderful, but there is one person that each of us can reach that nobody else can. That is the person which God has placed you here to touch and show the love of Jesus to them so that they can come to know Him. There are many people who need to know Jesus as their Savior but until their spiritual eyes are opened and they know that they need Him, they will never seek Him. Live your life in view of eternity because this one is going away but your life in Christ is eternal.

In My Father’s House are Many Rooms

1Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe in Me as well. 2In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and welcome you into My presence, so that you also may be where I am. 4You know the way to the place where I am going.”b

The Way, the Truth, and the Life

5“Lord,” said Thomas, “we do not know where You are going, so how can we know the way?”

6Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. 7If you had known Me, you would know My Father as well. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.”

8Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.”

9Jesus replied, “Philip, I have been with you all this time, and still you do not know Me? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words I say to you, I do not speak on My own. Instead, it is the Father dwelling in Me, performing His works. 11Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me—or at least believe on account of the works themselves.

God’s warning shot


The lunar eclipse, which is happening now, is the last one for at least two years. God is not being silent about how He is warning us but most of us don’t seem to be listening. What is He going to do after this “Blood moon”? I have no idea but I do believe that our country and the rest of the world should notice that this is happening and at least try to do better at being believers.

We have had a warning before and it seemed that nobody even noticed. In late 2014 through 2015 there were four blood moons, and a solar eclipse yet few people noticed. So, America is getting one more such warning. Why? Because we don’t take life seriously nor do we sanctify life which is yet to be born. God loves children and He sent them to us for a purpose, His purpose.

They are being killed by the thousands each day and nobody cares enough to put a stop to it. Children are being taken from loving parents and sold into slavery in the sex trade and it seems that we are just becoming aware of it. Yet this has been happening for decades. Those who claim to be Christians and every church member should be rising up and at least writing letters to stop this…but it is not happening.

Will it ever be stopped? Yes, but I hope that we as Christians will do it before Jesus calls us home. It will stop when He comes to rule the world but we should be upset and outraged about this NOW!! Yet the world travels on as if nothing is wrong in the world. I pray that more Christians will stand up for their beliefs and begin to vote or call or write to our Congress to get something done before it is too late.

Boundless love


That is the type of love which God has for each of us. It is not one that we can duplicate in any way because we are not the Creator. He expressed His love for us by all of the wonders and the variety of life and the mystery which abounds in our universe. Why are there stars which would engulf most of our solar system? Because God wanted us to ask that question. Why are there diamonds and gold found in the clouds of nebulae in the universe? Because God wanted it to be that way so we would ask questions and wonder about it.

It was God’s love for us which sent Jesus to Earth as a man who didn’t sin and could pay the price for all of mankind. It is God’s love which watches over each of us as we sleep or as we travel on the highways. We are never outside of His love or His gaze and His protection of us as we go through life but He doesn’t force us to give our heart to Him. It must be our choice. How can we understand His boundless love for us? We really can’t, unless you know the love of a parent toward their child. That is the only relationship which comes close to by only a degree to the depth of God’s love for each of us.

Why does He feel this way? Because we are His creation, His children and He cares for us in a way that we cannot understand or comprehend yet He does so without measure. Life is a part of Him, death is a part of Him and every part of our lives is contained in a part of Him as well. Don’t turn away from Him because you are only hurting yourself when you do. Does our rejection of His love hurt Him? I’m sure it does in some way, but how deeply it hurts I couldn’t imagine. Make sure that you learn to love Him before your life ends because once this life is over there are no second chances.

Humanist utopia


This is the very ideal which “Star Trek” was pushing a little over fifty years ago. We are not even close to any kind of utopia at this point, anywhere on Earth, but this is what people would like to see. Will it ever happen? In my lifetime…I doubt it unless Jesus comes back soon and sets up His Kingdom as it is described in the book of Revelation. Humanity is not able to be like those portrayed in the Federation which Gene Roddenberry imagined. There are too many cultural and political differences in our world and in the nations of the world to achieve any utopia without Jesus.

It doesn’t matter how far we go technologically, that advancement won’t bring about a Utopian society because it can’t do away with our differences. We can’t do away with our differences because of our cultural hangups and our own pride which tends to get in the way. While it is true that many of the truths which we hold near and dear to our hearts either can’t be proven scientifically or logically but neither can the theory about evolution. Our only proof of life on this planet is the fact that there is so much of it on our planet.

God placed each of us here with a purpose in His mind which many of us seem to ignore or rather we just don’t care what it is. His purpose for each of us is that we learn to serve Him and His Kingdom by becoming more like Jesus. The problem which most people have with that is this: “I want to do it MY way!”

We are like children who are spoiled and who don’t want to listen to God or learn His ways from His Word, the Bible. Even though Christianity has been around a long time and has survived the many times that it has been outlawed or threatened there are many people in the world today who just don’t want it to be taken as the truth! They don’t want to acknowledge that it is absolutely the Truth because if they did they would have to give a reason for why they don’t live by it!

Humanity doesn’t want any kind of absolute moral compass to guide them. They only want to be their own guide and have their own rules, but the problem with that is that there will never be any lasting peace in the world while each person clings to their version of “truth”. That’s like allowing each person to make up their own laws and only abide by their individual laws, the world would be without rule and utterly without redemption or hope!

It is very true that we like the ideal which states that mankind can overcome his most basic instincts and become better than he is now but it won’t happen. The society portrayed in science fiction was only that way because every person on the planet could use a fictional machine to create as much food and clothing and wealth (gold). While that might bring about more equality between people and countries there would still be the issue of pride and greed.

The only way that the world will be in harmony and peace will be during the reign of Jesus for the one thousand years which God has foretold will come. Since God cannot tell a lie this will happen but until that day an ideal society with equality and opportunity for everyone will not happen just because we feel that it should.

Seek Him for your salvation while there is time to do so.