Category: Believe in the One Who saves

What did the cross do?


The tree that was used to make the cross that Jesus was crucified on has nothing to do with your salvation. The image of the cross that so many of us wear today doesn’t do anything except remind us of the One Who died on the cross for our sins. Some people have many crosses in their homes but not one of them helps us to know Jesus as our Savior. Crosses only remind us of the death of Jesus the Christ Who took the world’s sins on Himself to pay the penalty for ALL of our sins so that we can come to Him and be saved from an eternity of destruction in hell. Your eternal body will not be destroyed in this but it will feel the pain and suffering for eternity because your body in eternity cannot die physically. But being in hell you are completely separated from God and His love for you.

The ground at the foot of the cross is level. No person will have any special treatment at the cross or at the judgement seat when each of us stands before Him. It will not matter how much fame or money you have or even how much you have done for the poor or for others who deserved your help. What will matter is that you have accepted Jesus as your Savior and that you have followed Him daily. Some of us have tried to do this in our own strength and failed miserably at it. I did. But, when God’s Spirit finally showed me what I could not do on my own, then I gave my heart to Jesus completely. It didn’t happen on that one day of my decision. I had to read and pray and learn to be His because our hearts are attracted to the world around us. We don’t want to belong to Jesus. We want to do what makes us feel good.

By surrendering to Jesus you can become more like Him. It doesn’t happen immediately but it will happen when your heart is truly broken and you know deep down that you are doomed to hell if you don’t surrender to Him. Nobody wants to spend eternity away from God in hell, but that is where you will go if you don’t turn to Him and ask Him to take you in as an adopted child of God. He doesn’t want you to spend even one minute in hell but if you decide not to follow Jesus or you put your decision off for a while and something happens to you before you can make that decision, then you have sealed your eternity in hell.

God’s love for us is deeper than we can imagine because He is our Creator. He knows you more intimately than you know yourself but He still gives you the free will to choose to follow Jesus or not. Why would God do that? Because love and sacrifice cannot be forced they must be given freely. Forced sacrifice is not sacrifice. Forced “love” is not love at all. That is why the one verse in God’s Word that illustrates it so well is this:

John 3:16-17

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Don’t turn away from God’s call in your life and in your heart. When you feel it, act on it in faith and believe in the One Who saves completely.

He is still on His throne!


Where can I find the Truth?


You can’t find it in the disciplines of man or in any religion. The Truth is only found in God’s Word. God’s Word is the Truth and the Truth is found in Jesus Christ. He is the Truth, the Life, and the Way to get to Heaven. Without Him, you can’t get in the gate. Many people in the world today do not want to hear this truth and we don’t want to live by the Truth of Jesus Christ. If you are doing this don’t expect to be taken up when the trumpet sounds one day.

Seeking the Truth in God’s Word and living by that Truth every day, not just on the days that you worship. Every day! Thank Him for waking you up today. Ask Him to help you to walk in His ways today. Pray to Him for His blessing on your food and for your work. Seek Him during the day and on the way home from work. Being curious about Jesus and salvation does nothing to save your soul. But asking Jesus to come into your life and your heart will bring you into eternity with Him.

God knows your heart and your life. He knows exactly what you have done and when you did it. You cannot hide your sins from Him. If God has a plan for your life as a servant of His you will come to know Jesus soon. Don’t turn away from the call on your life when you feel it because you don’t know how much longer you will have to make this decision. I pray that you will soon make this choice.

Photo by Nikolett Emmert on Pexels.com

God’s love never fails!


What do you mean?


I have lived in what is called the “Bible Belt” all of my life. When I was a lot younger I never understood what that meant. But when I began driving 18-wheelers about thirty-some years ago (which didn’t last very long), I noticed that in other parts of the country there weren’t many churches. Oh, they were there but not like they were in the South. Most small towns in the South have at least two or more churches in the city limits and some communities have them scattered up and down the back roads too. That is something that is not seen outside of Dixie.

Now, just because I called it Dixie doesn’t mean I’m racist. People who live in the South and the Southeastern United States know exactly what I’m talking about.

Life in the South moves at a different pace than it does anywhere else. Mostly due to the humidity and the heat that begins in May and stays with you all the way to Thanksgiving…sometimes. Occasionally, it might begin a little earlier than May and hopefully, it won’t last into November at all. It didn’t when I was a child, but this “global warming” has pushed the heat into places where it shouldn’t be.

I used to hear about the “dry” heat out West and I did live for a little while out there. They weren’t kidding about it being dry! Coming from Mississippi I was used to more humidity than they even have when it is raining! I had my first nosebleed while I was out there and it was due to the dry conditions.

I’m not complaining about the dryness or the humidity in this post but God’s world is very different than it was thirty years ago and it will be getting worse in some ways before things get better. Why do I say this? Because God’s Word says that our world is going to pay for all of their sinful ways during the Tribulation and we are living right on the edge of that time right now. I pray that everyone who reads this will pick up a Bible and read the book of Revelation and the book of Daniel. They complement each other and will give you something to think about.

Why?


Many days we ask this question of ourselves and of God too. But…why? If you look at your hands and your feet you can see that God created each of us as unique individuals. When you look at the stars at night or at the birds and the trees you are seeing His handiwork. When you hear a newborn cry or see a baby animal of any kind, you are seeing His creation and His ability to keep all things alive and fulfilling their purpose in His creation.

God is the Creator. There is no evolution process that is going on in the world. It is His design and His ability to create that brings all of the differences and varieties of life into our world. Many of the “evolutionary” differences in all of the wonderous environments are adaptations. The universe is as it was when He created it all about six thousand years ago. You can tell me or anyone else that “carbon dating” shows this age but don’t you think that God can give rocks and stars the appearance of age? I do.

I know I don’t usually write about “why?” but the point of this blog is to make you think. Think about your Creator and your Redeemer. God cares about our little planet because He wants to. He doesn’t have to have a reason. God chooses those who He wants to choose for salvation and for the work that He needs them to do. Sometimes He chooses people, like me, who didn’t really want to work for Him, to begin with, but after a number of things that got my attention…I finally came around.

God loves us, all of us, but He knows who is stubborn enough to resist or even to walk away from HIs call. He sent His Son to bring us the possibility of salvation and an eternity in heaven. The problem is that many people don’t like the simplicity of salvation. They think that God needs their help or assistance to finish the process but He doesn’t. Remember the thief on the cross? He had no way of being baptized or of doing any “good works”. All he did was believe that Jesus was the Messiah and Jesus told him that he would be with Him in Paradise that day.

Believe in Him and you shall be saved. It is that simple.

Give Him your problems


Grief and loss…


This is something that no one can know unless they’ve experienced it. The loss of a parent or a child or even a pet that has been with you for many years is hard. Each of them had a piece of your heart and when they passed from this world to the next, they took that piece with them. It feels that way too. Thankfully, I’ve not lost a child but a dearly loved parent and grandparent both went to be with Jesus in 1995. I have only gotten to the point, in the past two years, that the holidays don’t cause the pain to resurface.

Nearly everyone has had some loss in some form in the last two years. Whether it was a loved one or a job or your health, all of us have had some loss to go through. No person has escaped this and if you have then you are very blessed indeed.

God cares for us and we truly are His creation and “the apple of His eye“. He considers Israel as the center of His eye so when others come against them it is like poking God in the eye. Not a very smart thing to do.

Deuteronomy 32: 9-10 says:

9 But the Lord’s portion is his people,
Jacob his allotted heritage.

10 “He found him in a desert land,
and in the howling waste of the wilderness;
he encircled him, he cared for him,
he kept him as the apple of his eye.

God cares whether you feel that He does or not. He is always near when you need comfort or strength and all you have to do is be humble enough to ask Him for help. Seek Him to be your Savior while there is time because the prophecies are being fulfilled every day and one day soon a trumpet will blow and the church, the Bride of Christ, will be taken up. After that day, life is going to be much worse than it is today. Make sure you are taken up with the church.

Wisdom for Life


You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore before deciding to be happy. Nightbirde

The quote above is from an AGT contestant who died from cancer. She was fighting it while trying to gain a spot on America’s Got talent. It really is true and sad at the same time that she was such a good singer and yet cancer took her away before she could realize her dream. Her attitude toward life is inspiring and humbling too but it is one that I believe we should all try to live every day.

God didn’t bring this pandemic on the people of the world for punishment, He allowed it to happen because people need to wake up and look to Him for healing and salvation. Unfortunately, many younger people seem to be turning away from a religion of any kind. In some areas, there seems to be an awakening of those who need to turn to Jesus and many people are giving their hearts to Him. The difference is in the reaction of our nation and the world itself.

It seems that many people in the media and on social media as well are turning their backs on any news that relates to Christian salvation. Whether it is happening in America or somewhere else it is a good thing, but the media is still ignoring it. This is something that I cannot understand. Why? Because salvation is good news and the media doesn’t want to publicize “good news”. I would rather hear two minutes of good news than twenty minutes of drug commercials and ten minutes of news blurbs.

Life is hard sometimes but when you depend upon God for your provision and for your salvation, life will work for you and not against you. God can make that happen if you will let Him do it. I know that we tend to think “I can do this myself”; no…you can’t do everything yourself. God loves us and He intended for us to walk through life with Him. Acting like a toddler and saying “I can do it myself” is a sure way to find out that you can’t. God gives us the strength and the ability to do everything in our life, but it works better when we realize that we need Him to be in it with us.

The entire world is speeding toward a time when life itself is going to be harder to live. Food and shelter will be hard to come by and other necessities will be more expensive. Some to the point of being beyond many people’s ability to pay. We are truly living at the very edge of the time foretold in the book of Revelation so I implore you to seek your Savior as soon as possible and give your heart to Him, repent of your sinful life and begin serving Him while there is time. The day of the rapture of the church is approaching. I don’t know when but it is not far away. It is much closer than it has ever been before.

Be courageous!