Category: Believe like a child

A little at time


This is exactly how I recommend for people to learn about and read God’s Word…a little at a time. Why? Because our Creator’s Word and His Wisdom is better suited to learning and understanding a little at a time. That being said, we should all try to read the entire Bible in a year’s time, but it only takes a chapter or two every day!

Like the old commercial said, “A little dab’ll do ya!”. I am showing my age. 🙂

In any way that you want to look at it, God’s Word is worth more than any education, any college course you could take today! It covers finance, life situations, business, religion and relationships so there is no need for any self-help course or book! God loves us and has loved each of us since before the world was formed, He doesn’t give you bad advice and He wouldn’t harm you in any way.

Satan, the serpent from the garden, God’s adversary and ours, will seek to destroy you and he will send all kinds of problems your way in order to steer you away from God and His blessings for your life! Make sure that you know which one is hurting you or trying to steer you in a direction which is counter to what you know God would do. If it isn’t good for you and it is causing problems in your life, then it is from Satan and his demons, so get rid of whatever it is and seek God’s strength and His provision to do so!

He never leaves our side, but He will only come to your aide if you ask Him to. God doesn’t jump into your life and take over, He is only waiting to make His blessings available to you when you ask Him to, although some of our blessings are given to us as life itself. Breathing, walking, talking, thinking, going about your everyday work and play, all of these are blessings which most of us take for granted. We don’t look at any of them as blessings, yet that is what they are.

God gives us those blessings a little at a time just as we should learn more about Him a little at a time. He is the Creator in the first part of Genesis, He is a friend in later chapters of it. As the Word evolves and we learn more about Him, His attributes become clearer and sharper to us, eventually making sense to a point. Why do I say it that way? Because, we will never understand God on this side of life and we may not fully understand Him even in eternity, although we will know Him better.

God loves you and me with a love which we can’t comprehend because there is no human analogue for it. We can’t know a love as deeply because He is God! So, we can’t truly understand His love for us in the light of His being our Creator! He knows us fully and knew us this way, even before our world was made or anything in our world was even formed. The atonement which was given to us through the sacrifice of Jesus is given to everyone, freely, all each of us needs to do is ask for His forgiveness (which we have already), because we can’t receive it unless we ask for it.

Please, seek out His Truth in the Bible. There is no other book on Earth which is like it because the words in it came from Spiritual inspiration by God!

Are you sure about that?


I think many people are asking this question or they are being asked by those who are going to give them something for Christmas. Have you thought about it yourself? There are so many “deals” out there today because it is Cyber Monday and of course last Friday was Black Friday! I try not to participate in either one if I can help it. Go one step farther than just a gift at Christmas and think about a gift that has been provided for us all…and it doesn’t cost us anything!

Jesus came down from Heaven to be born as the Christ-child in a human body and from the very beginning, before the Earth was formed, He was chosen to be slain on a cross to pay for our sins! Blood from animals paid the price before He came, yet they were an imperfect payment because their sacrifice had to be performed each year, every year. His sacrifice was perfect, since He did not have a sin nature and didn’t sin during His life, yet He gave His life to the Father’s will so that we can come to the Father through belief in Jesus the Christ!

As Hebrews 7:27 says:  27 Unlike the other high priests, He does not need to offer daily sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people; He sacrificed for sin once for all when He offered up Himself.

Jesus gave His life so that we might have eternal life with Him. It is a gift which cannot be bought by us, but it had a high price. The price of the Son of God and His life, death and resurrection to purchase our pardon if we will believe in Him. This is a story which has been told through thousands of sermons over the years since His ascension to be with God, a story which many have believed in and on for their salvation.

Today it seems that we have many who have been in the church all of their lives, hearing this message, sitting in the church week after week, who have not taken the steps to finalize being a Christian! Many believe wrongly that because they have been in the church and heard the message and read the Bible that they are saved. They may even be fine upstanding members of the church, volunteering for all kinds of selfless positions and committees in the church. But…are they saved? Are you saved?

Are you sure?

Why do I bring this up now? Because, you and I need to be absolutely sure of our salvation! Why? Because, there are no second chances! If you left the church one Sunday morning or evening and just before you get home, you had a terrible accident which took your life. How would you feel standing before God and seeing your life and your opportunities shown before you, yet you are not saved. You didn’t act when the Spirit moved you in the revival meeting or when you felt Him touch you during a service because you thought you were OK. What a terrifying feeling it will be to hear, “Depart from Me, I never knew you.”

Your eternity lies before you, but it won’t be an eternity in Heaven. It will be one where you feel the burn of loss and the frustration and anger which can only be turned upon yourself because you thought that you already had something and you really didn’t. Nothing can change that now because your decision was made before your death.

Have you decided which direction that you want to go? Most everyone you ask on the street thinks that they have been a good person and they deserve to go to Heaven. How will you feel if your righteousness is not covered by the Blood of Jesus? Is your righteousness better than that of the Pharisees or about the same?

Think about it and consider doing something about it! If you felt the call of the Spirit and didn’t act, make sure that you do…soon!

Life is worth…Living!


I just finished reading one of the last entries on a blog which was written by an atheist. I didn’t know him personally, but then I read a post from a few days later which his wife wrote and he passed away four days after writing the post that I read. It was…a post which showed the thoughts of someone who was giving up on life. He was depressed and had seemingly decided that it was his time to go. I don’t know for sure if he killed himself, but he knows for sure, where his eternity is. He had asked me before to prove the existence of God and whether the Bible predicted WWII, I told him that I could not prove the existence of God and that the Bible did not predict WWII.

You cannot prove the existence of God because He is. It is a question of faith and if you don’t have faith or you don’t believe anything in the Bible, then there isn’t any proof which would prove that God exists. Even if He came to us today in human form like He did when Jesus walked with His disciples, nobody today would believe in Him except for those of us who already believe. The problem with this is, of course, that He said in the book of Revelation that He would come back as a King of Kings and with the armies of Heaven. Jesus would not come as He did 2,000 years ago.

God loves each of you, and if you can open your mind a little and read the Bible for the history and culture that is there then you will see Him. Although, reading it as a history book is good, that is not all that is in it. There are so many things which God can reveal to you if you will have faith and believe. The problem with this is that there are many people who only read it as a book which has history and poetry and lots of stories in it, reducing it to just words.

The problem with doing this is that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. Inspired by His Spirit so that the history and the stories told in it would have a line which winds from the beginning of the Earth to its end. It doesn’t go into detail about every nation or every war which happens, but it does point to your Savior and the only way to salvation and eternal life! Give your heart to Jesus, the Spirit will touch you at some point in  reading His Word, then you have to listen and open your heart to Him.

That place where you have always felt…empty. That is where the Spirit is supposed to live in you! He is the only One Who fits in that space and once you realize this and ask Him into your life, then you will finally feel whole! No more time alone. No more feelings of incompleteness. Satan will come and try to steal your joy at finding this, finding Him, but if you lean on Jesus and seek His strength to get through it then you will!

Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem and since life itself is temporary make sure that you ally yourself with the Creator and your Redeemer, Jesus the Christ!!

What?


I hear this a lot! If I had said that to my father, I would’ve paid for it and I doubt I would’ve said it again!

It seems that in today’s world, many people are saying the same thing in reference to God and His Word and the so-called “rules” that are preached in the pulpit of many churches today. Why do I say many and not all? Because there are many preachers who are not preaching from His Word like they are supposed to.

There are no “rules” in Christianity to keep, other than the Commandments of our Lord. We are not required to study His Word a certain number of hours a day, we aren’t required to wear certain clothes, we aren’t required to do anything. But, consider this: God sent His only begotten Son to give His life as a sinless offering for all of our sins. Then, He was raised from the grave on the third day and appeared to many people until just before the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came to His disciples.

God didn’t have to do this, but it was His plan from the beginning where He mentioned this:  “I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel” (Genesis 3:15).

That “seed of the woman” was Jesus Christ!

rules-for-christian-living-1024x613The reason that I said that there are no “rules” in Christianity is because once you accept Jesus as your Savior, you have the Holy Spirit living inside your heart. When that happens, you begin being changed from the inside and you want to do those things which so many people call restrictions or rules. You are changed from the person that you were into a new creation in Christ!

Before I truly accepted Jesus as my Savior, I still liked to smoke a cigarette once in a while, now I don’t have the craving to do so. A long time ago, I drank whiskey almost every weekend along with smoking illegal drugs like marijuana. That was more than 37 years ago, I don’t want to do those things anymore. I still have cravings sometimes for a smoke or a beer but God says that He won’t allow you to be tempted beyond that which you are able to bear, and He is true to His Word!

Why do some preachers preach messages which don’t go by God’s Word today? Oh, they use some passages from it, but the message doesn’t necessarily follow the meaning of those passages sometimes. Understand now, I am not picking on preachers in general, there are just a few who have done this. Some of them you have heard of in the news, some are local to me in the area that I live. My point is that if you are truly called to be a preacher for God’s Kingdom, you need to preach from His Word.

I know that some of what I write I don’t include a scripture every time, it is just the “wisdom” that I have learned from reading the Bible for the past ten or fifteen years from Genesis to Revelation. Each time that I read through it, I find something new that I didn’t understand before or maybe the Holy Spirit reveals to me something that He didn’t the last time.

That is the kind of study that God wants from His adopted children. There isn’t a rule that you have to do it, but how else are you going to get to know God if you don’t learn His voice which is revealed in Scripture? Does that make me a “super Christian”? No, just a forgiven and redeemed one! God loves the whole world, which is why He sent His Son into it so that He could live a sinless life and be the blameless, spotless, Lamb of God which would take away the sins of the world!

The offer of redemption is available to each of us, regardless of race, color, or nationality. It doesn’t depend upon your religion or your willingness to be a missionary and there are no requirements of denying yourself of food or water or anything that is available to you. The only part of you that God wants is your heart and your obedience to Him. When He calls you, answer Him. If He leads you to go somewhere to be a missionary, go without question.

This is the God that led Moses through the wilderness and helped him to defeat Pharaoh and release Israel from bondage. God also went with them through the wilderness and fed them manna and gave them and their animals water from the Rock (a type of Jesus). All of this is there to be learned. Sixty six books in the Bible tell the story of God’s love for mankind and show you the Savior Who was to come and Who did come to die for your sins. He will come again, only this time He will be King of Kings and Judge the whole world, those who haven’t accepted Him as their Lord.

What? Is an expression of surprise and sometimes frustration, but it is also used disrespectfully as well. What should you do? If you have felt His call, a small voice or a touch in your heart telling you that you need Him, don’t push Him away. Don’t run like Jonah did, because God is everywhere and He can find you. If He has something for you to do, it means that nobody else can do it….just you! Think about it while you can.

Are you sure?


 

Can you be sure of your salvation? Yes, you can. Many people seem to wonder if it is possible to be absolutely sure of your salvation and it is. If you are sincere in your repentance and your decision to follow Jesus.

Have you made that decision? Have you felt the Spirit’s call or touch upon your heart? Did you answer that call or did you do like so many, decide to wait until a better time? There is no better time.

Some doctrines claim that you can’t turn away from the call of God. These are people in our own country and in others who claim allegiance to Calvinism. Baptists are Calvinists, but there are some Calvinists who believe that there is no reason for them to call people to be converted in church, there is no reason for us to tell people about Jesus because the call of God on your life is irresistible! You cannot walk away from it without giving your life to Jesus!

I want to tell you that they are WRONG!! If one of the disciples of Jesus could walk away from the evidence laid out before him, which he saw and experienced every day for the three years of Jesus’ ministry, if you are as stubborn as he was about his life or his version of it, then you can too. If Jesus doesn’t measure up to your idea of a Savior or Lord of your life, then you will possibly turn away from Him.

Even Jesus said that on that day, when all who are on Earth will bow down that there will be many who claim Him as their Savior saying “Have we not cast out demons in your Name and healed many in your Name?” He said that He would tell them to “depart from me, I never knew you.” This is a very frightening thought, not only for them but for us as well. How do you know, without a doubt, that you are saved by Him and that you have His Spirit in your heart? Are you absolutely sure?

This is what we are searching for today…absolute assurance that we belong to Jesus! Do you have it? If not, then how can you get it?

What is a better time than today? When would be a better time than right now? We are not given a certain number of days or years to live. We wake up and we should thank God for one more day to  work in His Kingdom, one more day to enjoy our children and the world around us! Do you take tomorrow for granted? Do you make plans six months or a year in advance? How do you know that you will be here at that time? You don’t know for sure, none of us do.

Paul told the Philippians this in chapter 3:8-9:

“I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ–the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.”

Even Paul’s only hope of salvation and eternal life was found in the person of Christ and His presence and righteousness in him. Paul did not trust his efforts or beliefs to get him to Heaven, but he did trust in Jesus and his confidence was in Christ alone and the work of Christ in his life!

That is where our assurance is…in Christ alone, living and abiding in our hearts and in our lives and doing His work through us for Him.

In John 6:51, Jesus said a very hard saying for those around Him:

“I am the living bread that came down from Heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

Jesus also referred to His blood as well, for us to “drink of Me”; these sayings made many of His followers fall away and leave Him.

He was teaching that if you want eternal life, then you have to open your heart and allow Him to come in, by receiving Him and His Spirit into your heart and your life. Becoming part of your life, every day.

Some people say that they believe in Jesus so they are saved. Not necessarily. You can believe about Jesus, but unless you have the person of Jesus living in you then you don’t have Him at all!

In 1 John 5:12 the apostle writes it even clearer: “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

The evidence of His Presence in your life is seen in your life through your actions, your words, your attitude because all of these will change from the person that you were before to the person that you are because of His Spirit living in you. It is true that many of your old habits will still pop up occasionally, but if you learn more and more about Him through the study of His Word and prayer then the “new creation” will become evident. The sins that you enjoyed once will be repulsive to you. There will be an excitement about learning from the Word of God, which once was so boring.

2 Corinthians 5:17 King James Version (KJV)

17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Essentially, you will become more like Christ. If you want the assurance of eternity and of your salvation then you have to look for the evidence of the person and the work of Jesus Christ in your life! He did everything that was needed for us to have salvation, all that we need to do is stop looking at ourselves and focus on Him and on His life in us. He is making you into a new creation, a new person who is more like Himself which your old self could never be!

On your own strength and your will you or I cannot become more like Jesus. The Pharisees are proof of this because they worked hard to learn all of the Law of Moses and God’s commandments. Many of them, though not all, even tried to abide by the Law as closely as they could. The knew the Scriptures, they knew about God and His acts of forgiveness, they knew about what sacrifice to give and when to give it at the Temple, yet their faith was in the works and keeping the Law…not in God.

Misplaced faith will bring all of us to ruin. Knowledge of God, memorized scripture, tithes given faithfully to the church, attendance of church services faithfully, these are all good things BUT unless you have crucified yourself by seeking out what God wants of you, placing Jesus on the throne of your life instead of yourself, unless you have died to your selfish wants and have been resurrected as a new creature in Christ Jesus….? All of those good things that you have done are useless.

Jesus must be on the throne of your heart and your life. Doing His will by reading God’s Word and learning what He desires most above all…which is obedience to Him. If you haven’t done this on a daily basis, not just on occasions when you feel that you NEED God, because we need Him every day in order to do His will! If you neglect learning about Him because it doesn’t fit into your life or your schedule, then you may not know Him as Lord and Savior.

Those who were the “teachers of the Law” knew all of the right things to do and say and sacrifice, yet they did not obey God in all things. They had “book knowledge but not heart knowledge”.

Search your heart and your life. Does your speech and your actions reflect Jesus as your Savior? If your salvation is not evident in your life enough that people can tell that you are saved before you say a word, then you might need to pray and ask God to show you where you fall short and ask Him for the strength to give Him a place of honor in your heart.

One more year


Today is my birthday. Wow!

When I was growing up, I never thought I would get this far. But, God has given me some more years to live and to serve Him. I’m not sure if my service to Him is doing much good these days, but if He is keeping me around then something that I have written or said may be touching someone’s heart. Likely it is because of His influence, my words and my writing can’t be that persuasive.

We all have an opportunity to serve God and to see if there is a gift that He has given to us to use for His glory. God does give each of us gifts and talents to use for His Kingdom, sometimes it takes us a while to find them or to figure out what to do with them.

One more birthday…what does that mean? I have been on this Earth for over five decades and I have known Jesus as my Savior for at least fifteen of those years. I have also been a pastor in His service for the past five years, learning and praying and reading His Word and watching the news and the things happening in our world.

I say these things not to brag about anything that I have done in my life because there is nothing that I have done which has been an accomplishment to be bragged about! I have been reading and watching the outcome in all of the world which things match up with God’s prophecies about this time, and these things are happening every day. Some of them are small and do not gain the attention of the media, especially with a Presidential election to cover.

Yes, God’s prophecies are coming to pass and it seems that some are doing so at a much more rapid pace than they have in the past. It is a sign of the age of the church and of the gentile nations coming to a close. When will this happen? The Bible is not specific enough for that, but I don’t believe that we will be waiting very much longer.

I pray that many of you who read this will be in prayer for our country and for yourselves because, when that day comes that Jesus comes for His church, His Bride, the option to choose to follow Jesus will still be available but it will be harder and more costly. Seek His wisdom and His will for your life, for your eternal life depends upon it. God doesn’t want any to perish, but the choice is yours. Choose Life!

Life…


Life is a breath and a heartbeat,

It is also a time to remember.

How much you have learned

And what you may have forgotten.

 

Life is a baby’s laugh, a beautiful sunrise,

It is also the dew in the morning and a

Cool breeze in the day. Life, what does it mean?

 

It is your day beginning with a prayer,

It is you going through the day in an

Attitude of prayer and it is that day ending with

Thanksgiving to God for that day.

 

Life…what does it really mean? Time enough

To do the task for which you were born, and

To realize that you are not in charge. God is.

 

It is God who gives you each breath, each heartbeat

And the ability to take each step in your journey. So,

Where does your life take you? 

 

Seek out the Creator and give your life to Him,

So that He can give you an eternity to know why

Your life was important.

Do you truly KNOW God?


I know that none of us have met Him in person. We won’t do that until we die and stand before Him. But, did you know that you could know God? Yes, we all can if we will seek Him out in the Bible.

I can almost hear people saying “I have read the Bible through many times and I am not going to claim that I know God!”. Why not? He reveals Himself in many ways, not just through His Word but by all of nature that you see around you every day. In the Old Testament God reveals Himself as a loving and patient God Who loves His Creation which includes you and me and all other people in this world.

Yes, there are parts of the Old Testament where God tells Israel as a group to slaughter all of those in the Promised Land where they are going to live. How does this show His love and compassion? Because, those that He told them to kill worshiped demons and idols and they sacrifice their children to their “gods”! God wants that influence taken out of the land that they are to live in because it will influence their children. This is why He tells us to teach our children from the Bible. We are to teach our children its wisdom so that they will know God and not be influenced to “try” some other religion.

Can you know God by reading His Word? I would say so. If you read some letters from your Dad or your grandfather who loved your mother or grandmother, even if you had never met them, you would know that they loved her and wanted to be with her! That is what many of the books in the Old Testament are like, they are like love letters to Israel and its people from God. They are also meant for us as Gentiles too. When Jesus referred to the Scriptures He was speaking of the Old Testament because that was all they had at the time.

The most important thing to remember about God’s Word is that it is True. The entire book from Genesis to Revelation, but especially the Old Testament. Why do I say it like this? Because, in the Old Testament, God was trying to get Israel to worship Him and Him only, not some piece of wood carved in the image of a cow or a snake, or even a man.

God caused all of the miracles which freed the nation of Israel from Egypt, and they still questioned Him. The still couldn’t or wouldn’t believe in Him, even with water from a rock, walking on dry ground through the sea, the supply of enough food for all of them during 40 years in the wilderness. Would it take all of that for us to believe in Him today?

Possibly. We are just as stiff-necked as they were and we don’t believe in Him today, at least much of the world doesn’t. Most of the population worships their ancestors or the stars or a moon-god, some even believe that when they die they will become a god. It isn’t hard to see that even with miracles for proof, many people today would still choose to not believe in Him. What a shame.

It takes a small amount of something called faith to believe in a God Who truly loves us. One Who cares for each of us, whether we know Him yet or not. He has used fishermen, murderers, thieves, and a shepherd boy to fulfill His work in times past. I think that He could use us too.

What are the names for God?


The references above came from the website of the BlueletterBible.org

Why am I listing all of the names found in the Old Testament for God and His Name? Because it is needed and necessary in today’s environment and in our culture, not only because of where the world is in Prophecy but because there are so many who just need Him!

Truly, we all need Him in our lives but do you seek Him? Have you sought Him out in your trials and in your life? He is there, regardless of what you hear from people who don’t believe in Him. He hears your prayers and He will answer if you have given your life to Him. He will also answer if you repent of your sins and turn back to Him, asking Him to be your Lord and Savior.

God is a provider and a Protector and He is our Creator, we should honor Him in all that we do and in how we live every day! Being a Christian is getting harder because people don’t want to hear about Jesus anymore. The few that do want to hear are the ones that we need to be speaking to and God will lead them to you or you to them whichever is the best way. He will also give you the words to say so that they can come to know Him.

Don’t turn away from God, because He has never turned away from you! Get to know Him while you have the time.

So much discord…


Passing blame on every person, and on every religion which we don’t believe in is totally wrong! Having issues with different denominations and different religions is not the way to bring about peace. Can we do anything which will bring our world peace? In all honesty, no we can’t, at least not of our own volition and strength. There are too many variables, too much bigotry and hatred and too much pride for us to bring about peace in this world and in this time which we are living in. It is possible in individual communities, even cities, for us to bring people together and put aside our prejudice and pride, but even that would take many people who would sit down and agree. In today’s climate, this peace would only last for at most a week. Which is a sad commentary on us and our country.

All of the animosity and bickering that is going on inside the church and in our nation, as well as in our homes is causing us to be people who really don’t look much like our Savior at all! Where did all of the bitterness and hatred come from? Most of it came from the influence of Satan in our culture and in the church itself. Anytime that he can cause a crack in the Christian church, even when it is from only one member, he will do it. Because, just as in pottery, a small crack will eventually become wider and deeper and it will soon have an effect on the whole church.

It doesn’t matter if the crack in the church comes from one denomination or another, it can spread eventually to other churches. Why does this happen? How does it happen? In small ways, a little at a time, with a word or two here and there, it eventually spreads. Then, the people who make up the church begin moving to other churches or just not coming to church at all. Eventually, one church will die because of lack of people to keep it going. Then the next church will begin losing members, and the community itself is beginning to lose their faith in God.

Satan has this all figured out. Get one or two people in a church to disagree and cause some feelings to be hurt, it doesn’t matter whether it involves the preacher or not, but if it does that’s even better. Eventually, the “problem” will escalate to a point where the church will vote to find another pastor. It doesn’t matter how big the “problem” actually is, it will grow. I pray that this doesn’t happen in my church and I ask my readers to pray for me as well.