Category: Believe like a child

What do you see?


When you watch the news, regardless of the channel, what do you see? A world that is going crazy or a Bible prophecy coming true before our eyes?

I see both of them happening at the same time. It seems that the world is moving faster toward the “end of the age” than it ever has before. Disease, wars, and the threat of war are everywhere it seems. The temperature of the whole world is rising along with the level of the ocean. There are droughts and famine and inflation in our country as well as in other countries. All of this was foretold in the Bible thousands of years ago. Some of it may not have been foretold in the same words that we use today but the words of those who were writing the prophecies down can still be interpreted to mean what we have today.

God is getting ready to let the entire world know that He exists in a BIG way. Whether you believe in Him or not won’t matter especially after the rapture of the church. There will be millions who have been in church and heard many sermons but they have never given their heart to Jesus and when that day comes they will regret their decision or their lack of a decision.

It may not look like this when it happens because people will disappear in front of their co-workers and their spouses in less than the time it takes to blink your eye. Their clothes will be here along with their socks and shoes and their wedding ring but they will be gone. It will be a glorious reunion day for some and a very bad day for others. Everything will change in an instant on that day. So…where will you be? Will you be among those who are taken to be with Jesus or will you be here wondering why you didn’t make that decision while you could?

What does it mean to “be like God”?


In the garden of Eden, the serpent tempted Eve with those words to get her to eat of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil. “You’ll be like God”. What does that mean exactly? Satan was tempting them with the idea that they would have God’s power and become as He is. The problem with thinking this way is that nobody is like God except God. Nobody outside of the Trinity can be or have His power. Satan knew this but he still used these words to entice them to go against God’s commandment about this tree. Because he knew if he could cause a rift or a split in their relationship with their Creator then Adam’s claim of being the steward of Earth would be null and void.

You know the rest of the story if you’ve been in Sunday school at some point in your life. Adam and Eve did fall for it and they were put out of the garden to live and populate the Earth along with having to work for everything that they needed.

Can we become “like God” to do His will on Earth?

YES, we can if we have given our hearts to Jesus and we are striving toward that goal every day! We will not be like Him in ways of being healers or creators in supernatural ways but becoming more like Jesus is the progression that we are seeking. Becoming mature in our faith brings us toward His likeness each day but we still have to work at it. We have to become more like Him just as the disciples did. With the Holy Spirit living in us, we can become more like Jesus Christ. Using our gifts and the wisdom that we gain from His Word we can spread His message around the world even if we only touch one person each day. That is at least 365 people in a year’s time. Then if they touch only one person each that gives their life to Jesus…the church is growing exponentially from that point on. Imagine how many that could be!

365+365 = 730

That’s just the first year! You get the idea. If God used each of us to touch only one person that gave their heart to Jesus and this kept going…there would be a worldwide revival of Christians before too long. God’s math is fantastic and He knows exactly how much and how many it will take to bring about revival in this world. The problem today is that the church is outnumbered by those who oppose our message…His message.

We are blessed


The faith of a child


Why does Jesus say that we must have this kind of faith? When a child is loved and cared for the faith that they have in their parents is absolute as long as their parents don’t get caught telling them a lie. That is the reason we must have faith in God and His Son, Jesus. It is the kind of faith that we must have if we are to become mature in our faith and as His disciples. We may never walk on water but our faith should be as focused as Peter was on Jesus when he took his first steps on the water.

In the world that we live in today, it is hard to have that kind of faith in things that we can’t see or touch. It is hard to have faith at all because of all of the information, true and not so true, that is available to us every day. So, can we have faith in God? If we are Christians who have had our lives changed because of God’s call on our lives we have a “measure of faith” that He gave us to bring us to know Him. Nothing from God’s Word can be understood without faith and when you realized that you needed Jesus because of your sins it was because of the Holy Spirit placing your faith inside your heart that brought you to that point.

While it is true that the Bible doesn’t state it in those words, this is what has to happen in a sinner’s life before they will realize that they truly NEED to give their heart to Jesus. God loves each of us, whether we return that love or not. He chooses those who will obey Him and do His work while there is time and it is those who truly belong to Him. I pray that all who might read this will seek Him in the Bible and prayerfully consider asking Jesus into your heart. One day it will be much worse in the world and it will be harder to be His so please make your decision soon.

A Christian woman…


She loves those who the Lord loves and she helps in any way she can.

Have you thanked God today?


Most of us wake up and just get up, if possible, and make coffee to start the day. We don’t wake up and thank God Who gave you the breath during the night to see this morning. We don’t thank God for the strength and the health that He gives us each day to do whatever we do. God gives each of us a number of days and years to live on this Earth and He gives us the strength to serve Him every day if we will live our lives doing that. So…why don’t we?

I wake up and try to remember to thank Him for allowing me to have one more day to serve Him. There are some days that I forget to thank Him but I usually get around to it before the day is too far gone. My point is that He gave His Son to pay the penalty for our sins so we could be useful and able to be His servants while we have the time to do so. Therefore, why can’t we thank Him every day for the blessings that will come on that day? The blessings may not be financial or healing but they could be a friend dropping by or the way your dog or cat makes you laugh. Some blessings aren’t easy to see but many times you will realize a blessing after it has happened and you will recognize it because it could only come from God.

Thank God for all of the little things and the big ones and your health and your family because you wouldn’t have them if it weren’t for His pleasure in giving them to you.

Show your child the way


Amen

He will…


Amen

Do not hinder the children


People brought babies to Jesus, hoping he might touch them. When the disciples saw it, they shooed them off. Jesus called them back. “Let these children alone. Don’t get between them and me. These children are the kingdom’s pride and joy. Mark this: Unless you accept God’s kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you’ll never get in.” Luke 18:15‭-‬17 MSG https://bible.com/bible/97/luk.18.15-17.MSG

We should come to know the Lord as a child with humility and faith.

Why did God ask for Isaac?


In Genesis 22 God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, his firstborn son of his old age. Why? Many people, pastors included, preach that it was a test of Abraham’s faith and it was but there is another reason. The firstborn belongs to God, of animals and men, if the firstborn is not redeemed by another sacrifice then they must die. Now, today the sacrifice could be service to others or service to God. My mother prayed to God that my life would be used by Him when I was a baby. She told me that she dedicated me to God when I was born. When she told me this many years ago, I didn’t want to know what it meant and I didn’t really care because I was angry about the way that my parents were in court fighting over child support.

It took many years for me to realize what she was saying, but since I became a pastor I have learned what the phrase “first fruits” really means. In Abraham’s case, Isaac had not been redeemed by the sacrifice of an animal so when Isaac got old enough, he was around twenty years old at the time, God asked Abraham to sacrifice him on the mountain. I’m sure that didn’t make Abraham very happy. In fact, he likely did not sleep much during the night prior to the trip.

But his faith shows up even before they make it to the mountain. When he and Isaac leave the servants with the donkeys or camels that they were riding, he told them that “I and the boy will go to the mountain yonder and worship and we will come again unto you”. Abraham had the faith to believe that if God allowed him to sacrifice his son of promise, then God would raise him to fulfill the promise that He had made about Isaac and his descendants. Because God had made that promise and He would have to raise Isaac from the dead if that promise was real!

The promise was real but God didn’t have to raise Isaac from the ashes of sacrifice, He provided a substitute for Isaac just as God provided a substitute for our sins in His firstborn Son, Jesus. Many of the Old Testament saints and prophets looked forward to His coming and they saw Him and rejoiced. Have you come to know Jesus as your Savior and Sacrifice for all of your sins? All that we have to do is have enough faith in God and in Jesus as our Savior believing that He gave His life as a ransom for each of you. He redeemed you just as the ram in the thicket redeemed Isaac many years ago.

Give your life and your heart to Jesus because your life needs to be redeemed. If you don’t then your life, your eternity will be in hell with Satan and the rest of the people who rejected Jesus as their Savior. That is the only sin that leads to an eternity outside the presence of God.