Category: Believe like a child

Make a difference…


I watiamnotashamedched the movie “I am not ashamed” yesterday and it made me think of our impact on the world and the people around us. Rachel Joy Scott struggled with her new faith in Jesus in high school before the shooting that took her life. Most of us can relate, if we were a Christian in school, which I wasn’t. I knew about Jesus and the Bible because I had been on the drug plan for learning it. I was drug to church every time my Mom went, so I had heard all of the preaching and stuff. But, hearing and knowing about Jesus is not the same as having faith in Him, real honest faith.

I provided the link above just in case anyone wanted to know about the movie, I get nothing from your following or purchasing it. The point of this post is this: will you make a difference?

Her story and the fact that she didn’t back down in the face of losing her life, as many Christians over the centuries have done, has made a real impact on many people. At the end of the movie there was some statistics which said that her life had impacted over 20 million people since April 20, 1999. One life, just one-act of selfless faith and forgiveness can make a difference. It doesn’t take a Master’s degree or a PhD to tell people about Him and to show your faith by your life and your deeds to those around you.

God loves us even when we aren’t sure how we feel about Him. He loved each of us whether we even knew Him and before we were all born and He did so in a way that we can’t understand or comprehend! God is and should be your strength and your source of living water which never dries up and never gives up on you and your purpose in Him!

During high school, I was a very angry boy. I kept it bottled up most of the time, but I allowed it to hurt me by smoking and drinking to the point of being so drunk I barely remember the drive home, if I made it at all. At least one time, I had a wreck on the way home, although the only one that really sticks in my memory is the one where I totaled my mother’s car. I was angry at God and at my parents for getting divorced and I really didn’t care much about what happened to me. I could identify with Rachel in being a child of a broken home.

My point, as I said earlier, is that we can all make a difference in the world. Even if it is only in our immediate area. Heaven rejoices when one sinner comes to Jesus and if you or I have any part to play in that, then be grateful and willing to be useful in His Kingdom for that one person. Make sure that your life means something because we are not guaranteed tomorrow, so make today a day that God uses in your life and your witness  for His Glory!

So much hatred today…


I have seen pictures of animals, dogs and cats, abused worse than anyone would allow a child to be and yet there is very little outrage or even coverage of their suffering. I know that there are slave traders working today, trafficking in children of both sexes and women too, which should be locked ourlovingsaviorup but they won’t be. Why? Because their clientele are rich and powerful which is why the trade is not cracked down on, particularly in countries outside the United States. The worst of those clientele, I imagine, actually live in the United States, we just don’t hear about it because they are wealthy enough to keep people quiet and behind doors and walls which disguise what is happening to whom.

Why is our world becoming this corrupt and sinful? Yet, it seems that it is getting worse as the days and years go by and it seems that fewer people even take notice of these crimes anymore. Whether the media is ignoring these crimes or possibly because we have become numb to the plight facing us, I just don’t know. Has our world become so corrupt that we just don’t see what is going on around us? Do we actually care about those who are abused, whether it is an animal or a human being? Some days it seems that we don’t.

Jesus cares about them all, children and adults, and He never leaves them alone even when they feel that they are. He came that they might have life, abundantly, even if the fulfillment of that promise might be in eternity. Your life and mine are important to God and when you cry out to Him, He hears your screams and your cries. He knows your pain and suffering because He is there!

Trust in Jesus to be your Savior. Ask Him to come in and make you more like Him and to turn your heart and your life around, so that you can be useful to Him and to His Kingdom! He will do these and more, if you will ask Him. God doesn’t force Himself into your life or into your heart, because love can’t be forced on anyone! The wisdom of the Bible which is God’s inspired Word comes from Him. It is not words from the men which wrote it down, because there is no way that men could accurately predict hundreds of years ahead of the crucifixion that Jesus would be crucified.

So many prophecies which point to Jesus are contained in books which were written over five hundred years or more before His birth. David penned the 22nd Psalm which describes the crucifixion and the parting of His garments over 900 years before it took place! Read it yourself if you want proof.

Our world today is nearly at the point of where mankind was before the flood of Noah. Cruel, haters of humanity and all things created, murderers, rapists, pedophiles, honestly the list could go on and on, but my point is this: we are very close to the point where God will say “Enough!”. Then, what will you do?

Life and death…choose Life!


In so many ways, our world looks like this. Possibly not such a stark contrast in much of the world as this, but in other ways it is exactly like this. Many places in the world are or have been in a drought for a long, long time. In some areas, the drought is caused by man’s own mean-lifeordeathspirited streak in not tolerating others particularly in the area of religion.

Why?

Is it so hard to get along with others who don’t believe exactly the same as you do? For some, it seems to be exactly that point! Hindu’s can’t get along with Christians, Muslim’s can’t get along with Christians, Socialist and Communist countries have problems with Christians. Do you see a pattern here?

It isn’t hard to see, but it is hard to understand the reason behind it. It is true that in the distant past, Christian countries and those who followed the leader of the Church at the time, well-meaning soldiers who were charged by the Church to bring civilization and “right beliefs” to the heathen. This was not the way to bring Christ to other people, but it was done, so lets move on!

Our past, regardless of the country that you live in or the beliefs that you hold, is something that we should study, make note of so that we won’t repeat those mistakes, and then move toward a more Christ-like living arrangement. Jesus did not tell us to go and beat belief into the masses because that doesn’t work! It turns most, if not all, away from that belief in Him.

Jesus said for us to go and tell them the good news of His teachings and that He came to bring salvation to all of mankind. Jesus paid the price so that all could benefit from it, but it is your choice whether you accept it and respond when God calls you.

Matthew 28:16-20 King James Version

16 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. 17 And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.

18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

 

What will you do?


In the world today, there are many who wonder about a savior. One who will save them from themselves or from an eternity of punishment. Even though there are many religions in our world and some of them claim to have a person capable of this feat, the only One Who is capable of it is Jesus the Christ!

Why do I bring this up in this way? Because there are many who don’t believe what the Bible says or believe in Jesus and His life, let alone His death and resurrection which gives us our hope of eternity in Heaven. Why do many people not believe in God or His Word? Mostly because of the work done in the world by Satan and his followers. I know, there are also many people who don’t believe that he exists either but since he tempted Jesus in the wilderness then he does exist.

He, Satan, attends church services more than most church members do, which is why we have so many churches which are split up and pulled apart due to disagreements. Getting back to my initial question, what will you do with the knowledge of Jesus and your need of being saved? Do you need Jesus in your life? If you feel that you can get to Heaven all by your own works, think again because it is not possible!

The Law of Moses which was given on Mt. Sinai, doesn’t save you. It only shows you that you can’t keep the law PERFECTLY. Humanity can’t keep the law without breaking at least one or more of the laws, we just are not capable of it! The only Person able to do so was Jesus! Even in His human body, He still had the nature of God which means that He could keep ALL of the laws without sin…without breaking even ONE! Why do I say this? Because, if He wasn’t perfect enough to do this, He couldn’t be the Son of God nor could He atone for all of our sins!

Even in the Law, the sacrifice was to be a lamb without blemish, spotless and without defect of any kind. Could you find such a person to fill that requirement today? Absolutely not! There is no perfect specimen, male or female, which has no defect and is spotless in every way without sin…this has only happened ONCE in all of history!

Even as a child, we lie to our parents even when we don’t know what a lie is! We steal pencils, erasers, notebooks, and any number of things in our lifetime. At some point in your life and mine, we have coveted something which someone else has. We all have lusted after a beautiful woman or a handsome man. Many of us may have even thought that we would like to see someone die, even if we didn’t act upon that thought. If you think about your life with an honest open mind, you know as well as I that each of us has done these things at some point.

Jesus came here in order to give His life for each of us. He gave up His power and place in Heaven to be clothed in flesh so that He could pay the price for all of our souls. But, while He was here teaching His gospel to those who would listen, He still had the power over demons, disease, death, and nature itself because He didn’t doubt that God would do for Him what was necessary to bring His disciples to true belief in Him, saving faith in the only begotten Son of God.

Please, seek Him out for the answer to your life’s problems and emptiness so that you can have His peace and assurance for eternity.

Are you tired of -ism’s?


I certainly am. Racism in particular. My reasoning is this: according to the Bible, ALL of us are descendants of ONE couple! They were likely dark-complexioned so the genetics worked out to create all of the tones of skin in the world. But…we are ALL of ONE race, the human race, Homo sapiens, if you want to take it that far.

There are many of course including Communism, consumerism, Islamism, racism, etc., so why are we so intent on raising the flag of racism in our country and in the world itself. Since the races diverged from Noah’s family after the flood, the genetics of different shades of color in our skin has allowed all of the different “races” to be in all of the different places around the world.

The real “race” difference in all of us is our religious differences and cultural differences as well. Culturally the human race is very diverse in many, many different ways and it is that culture difference which causes most of our problems. Culturally, we can be very different from each other from one side of town to the other.

The differences worldwide are enormous between cultures. The barrier of languages, religious differences, cultural differences, “racial differences”, all of these contribute to our global problems. Could all of these be overcome? Yes, and one day they will be, but it won’t be due to humanity’s strength and will, it will be done by the King of Kings!

Religious differences have caused so many problems and wars in our world, past and present, until many are wondering if we should just get rid of religion altogether. The problem with that solution is this: mankind. We are a sinful race and we will all do what is right in our own eyes. It would be an anarchist’s dream! There would be no limits, morally, to what we could or would do to each other. The world would truly go insane, even compared to the chaos which is going on today.

God is still in control, no matter what, and He will allow some things to happen which we don’t like or enjoy. But, He will not allow you to be tempted beyond your ability to resist, if you will turn to Him for strength. Seek Him out while He may be found. God’s will for all of us is in His Word, all that we have to do is prayerfully seek Him out in it.

But God….


In the Old Testament, there are two words which contrast the way that God shows His love and patience for us, and they are “but God”. The third word is mostly seen in the New Testament and it is “therefore”. What do these words have to do with salvation or a sanctified life in Christ and in relationship with God?

They show us what His love for us means enough that He is about to do something which will make a difference in many lives, not just in one person’s life. The statements which come after these words most often signify a change for the entire human race regarding God’s love and patience toward us all.

When you see “therefore” in the New Testament, it means simply that whatever follows is done, period. Some examples of these words and what follows are listed here:

Genesis 8:1
But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded.

Genesis 31:42
If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands, and last night he rebuked you.

Genesis 50:20
You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

1 Samuel 23:14
David stayed in the desert strongholds and in the hills of the Desert of Ziph. Day after day Saul searched for him, but God did not give David into his hands. 

The reason that I didn’t include “therefore” statements from the New Testament is because there are so many of them. Nearly every chapter in Matthew and Luke’s gospel has one. All of the letters which Paul wrote have them, so it would be prohibitively long.

All of these examples show that God cares for us, not just the Israelites but the whole of humanity! Why? Because, He wouldn’t have sent Jesus to die in our place, to suffer the scorn and the abandonment upon the cross if He did not love us!

Why do you think that Jesus said to His disciples, “Suffer the little children to come unto me”, because children don’t need a “why” or a reason to believe…they just do! This is the kind of faith that we seem to lose as adults. We get so caught up in life and in our living until we can’t or won’t believe unless we can touch it or feel it in our hands. This is why there will be so many “Christians” in hell one day! Many of them think that they know Jesus and that they believe in Him, when they really believe in the idea of Him and His love for them. The “idea” won’t save their souls!

We have to shed our veil, the curtain which we have been seeing Him through and look at Him as our Creator and our Savior and see Him as a real and living person, not as a “quaint idea” that is spoken of in the Bible and at church. Many times during my life when I thought that I was a “Christian”, I prayed and I read a few verses of scripture. But, I never did get into the Temple. I never crossed the threshold of the outer court, let alone come into the Holy Places where God is. God enjoyed a relationship with Adam and Eve for a while, yet we don’t know how long it was. They were immortal at that point, so it could’ve been a long time. This is the sort of relationship that He wants with His church, His people today.

Do we come near to Him? Do we visit with Him every day or do we just visit for an hour or so on Sunday morning, then go home and don’t think about Him again until next week? How would you feel if that were your relationship with your spouse? Kinda cold isn’t it?

God loves you and me and everyone else on this world that He created for us, but we seem to forget that He is there. We don’t want to acknowledge Him unless we need Him for something, usually urgently…like RIGHT NOW!!

God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit don’t work like that! The Spirit comes to you when you become a Christian. He doesn’t come as a drip at a time, but as the whole package. Jesus saves you and you are to become more like Him as you mature in your walk, daily, as a Christian, studying the Word of God and learning from Him. God watches over you and me and everyone else and makes sure that all things work to our good and His glory IF we belong to Him. 

The church needs to understand that since we are the “body of Christ” until His return, we need to mature into people who are as priests in His Kingdom. We shouldn’t be acting like little children who don’t know better or who don’t know how to act like true Christians who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

Belief…do you believe?


faithbeliefIn the world today, there are many who don’t believe in Jesus or the Bible itself yet it is the inspired Word of God. Although many people don’t believe even that the Bible is God’s Word but just a collection of stories written by a bunch of men. The Bible is so much more than that!

It was written under the direction and influence of the Holy Spirit and the words which are contained in it come from God. Yes, it was written by forty different men over a period of more than 1500 years. That in itself is amazing because if all of those men from different times, even centuries apart, could write a book which told of a Savior Who would come to save the world, then how could they have made the stories up?!

Belief is also bound up in faith because you can’t believe in the miracles or in our Savior without faith even if it is as small as a grain of mustard seed. The tiniest bit of faith can be used by God to accomplish many things, far beyond what you would think. When the will of God is involved in anything, it will be accomplished no matter the size of your faith!

Give your life and your heart to Jesus, as well as all that you have, and He will multiply it back to you and into His Kingdom in ways that can’t be imagined. I pray that this will encourage you to follow Jesus and ask Him into your life. Why? Because, I have to…it is my job to tell others about Him! I can’t keep quiet because He is in control and His power goes into the world to heal from this time forward! God has not stopped healing or mending broken hearts and lives.

Thank you for your time and may God richly bless you in all of the ways that you need, in Jesus’ Holy Name, Amen.

Image problem


The idea that we can be Christians, have Jesus in our life and yet not experience the REAL relationship that we desire is never taught in church. Is it possible that we can do all of the things, be a “pillar of the church” and not be fully and totally committed to our life in Christ? Actually, it is totally possible and many Christians are doing exactly that without even knowing it. There are many who “go through the motions” for years in their self-righteous delusion and they may never find Jesus in this life!

We tend to trust God because the preacher said that we should and because it is in the Bible. But, is that enough? We also create God in our image and place our personality traits in the relationship and look at Him as if He is a reflection of us rather than the other way around!

We are supposed to be reflecting Him and His Son’s image to those who see us, not making God into an image of us. Then when something doesn’t go exactly according to the plan that we have in mind for our life, we blame Him when it is actually our “version” of Him that is the culprit and the REAL problem.

We actually have a problem with our image, not that the image of God isn’t perfect because the real image of God is actually us. The problem is that we, each one of us, tries to make God conform to our image of Him. We try to make Him look like and act like us.

God doesn’t work that way, but He will allow us to make a mess of things while we do this so that He can come in and show us exactly what He can do for us. The image that we have created of Him cannot heal us or bring us to a point of surrender with Him because our image of God is NOT God!

Can this “image” thing be fixed? Yes, but it usually gets fixed when we finally come to a point where we acknowledge that we can’t do it ourselves and things begin to fall apart around us. Then we get angry at the “god” who allowed this and hopefully we will come to the point that we see that we were the cause of our problem and also the cause of the answers not being delivered to us by God like we thought they should be. Why did all of our prayers and tithes and all of the service which we performed in His service not count for what we thought it should?

Because, we were doing all of those things for OUR version…OUR image of God, not the real God but a fake copy of Him which closely resembles us! Our idol, our image, our reflection of us into and onto God. We were trying to do pottery in reverse, and it doesn’t work that way!

Consider that we are like Adam was before God gave him the breath of Life. To a perfectly holy God and our Creator, we are like a clay man or woman. Dirty and not useful for much more than planting things in, but if we realize that God is nothing like us because He is our Creator then we can come into a real relationship with Him. We should get to know Him as a friend and our Teacher, because it is necessary that we learn from Him the way to truly live in Him and allow Him to live in us and through us every day.

Our image is nothing compared to His and we shouldn’t try to imagine Him in our image because we are bringing Him down to our level at that point, in truth we should be striving to be more like Him!

The One Who can Help…


Lord, I know that you know all things. Please, touch those who read this and let them know that you love tthemissingpiecehem no matter what.

Life is easiest when you have all of the pieces in their correct places, and Jesus belongs in your heart! You have felt that emptiness for a long time, just as I did, and you know that nothing fills it which we try to put in it.

Jesus is the ONLY Person Who fits in that spot, so if you feel that empty feeling and you know the One Who fits, then ask Him to fill you and He will!

An ending and a new beginning


We come to the end of another year. One that has been fraught with so much pain and suffering on the part of police and race relations. Also, many have died for useless reasons which did not have to happen. I pray that the next year will be a bit more tolerable in relations with others, with our police and with other nations.

God knows what is happening and He is in charge, yet the forces of Satan are influencing much of what we see and hear on our planet that is so frustrating because of its cruelty. Yes, it is being done by humans, but those are being influenced by anti-Christian forces such as Satanic spiritual forces. These forces, spiritual in nature, are around us whether you believe in them or not. Frankly, I am glad that I can’t see them because the violence and hatred which they encourage in us toward other people is unpleasant enough.

Yes, we are coming to the end of one more year and the start of a “new” year, but the problems which we all face everyday don’t change. The problems which we had last week or yesterday will still be here after midnight tonight. They don’t magically go away just because the date changes.

That is why we need to rely on God and His strength to get us through the most challenging times. We can push through on our own, but things work out so much better when He is guiding your steps and giving you the wisdom to get through life’s challenges. God loves us and He does want the best for us, no matter what, if we will follow Him and seek out His way of cultivating a relationship.

The reason I put “His way” in that last sentence is because we tend to place our ideas of God in the way of our relationship with Him. We tend to see Him in our “mind’s eye” as being like us with our faults and problems and yet we imagine that vision or idea as God. What is wrong with that? Everything! Because God is SO MUCH MORE!

He is more compassionate and understanding than we can be. He is our Creator and, if you are a Christian He is our Savior! His ways are not our ways because He doesn’t have the prejudices which we have, nor does He bring baggage into the relationship with us. Why is this true? Because, He lives outside of our time and He put us together in the womb. He knows us better than we will ever know ourselves and He knows how we think and how we can be an asset in His Kingdom.

Give your heart and life to God and let Him show you how great your next year can be!