It’s all He wants

What time are you looking forward to?

I’m looking toward the time when the Trumpet of God and the Marriage supper of the Lamb. There will be much danger for those who haven’t given their lives to Jesus and many will die during the seven years of the Tribulation. But…life will go on one day if you can live through those days. The only way to live through that time is to give your life to Jesus and live during His reign on this Earth for one thousand years.

It will be dangerous because the Anti-Christ will be seeking those who belong to Jesus to kill them. But, even if you are killed by him, you will live in eternity with Jesus. If you do manage to live until the Lord comes back to the Earth and you are a believer, then you will live through the entire time that Jesus is King on this Earth. It was foretold by God and it will happen if you give your heart to Him.

Today there are so many problems and wars and other things going on but they were also foretold to happen at this time. Just before the Tribulation begins, all of the things that were prophesied will come to pass. Everything must happen as God told his prophets to write down. Most of them have happened but there are still a few more that must take place before the church is taken up. When will that happen? Only God knows the day and the hour when the church will be taken to Heaven. It could happen today or tomorrow or even sometime next year or even five years from now. We will only know when that day arrives and it will surprise many people, especially those who are not ready for it.

“But…I went to church almost every week. I’ve been in church since I was a child, why do I need to give my heart to Him?” Because knowing about Him and being in church does not save you! Keeping a place warm on a pew doesn’t make you a Christian. Even being inside a church every time the doors are open for fifty years doesn’t make you a Christian. If you haven’t committed your life to Him and given your heart to Him and made sure to walk with Him every day, then you don’t belong to Him…yet. On that day when the church is taken up, don’t be left here.

Help my unbelief

The father in Mark 9:17-27, the father of a young boy with a demon came to Jesus asking Him to drive the demon out of his son. He said his disciples couldn’t do it but when he asked Jesus “If He could” do it, Jesus responded with, “If I can? Anything is possible for those who believe!” Then the father said that he believed but he needed help with his unbelief. In other words, he had faith but it was weak. Many of us are in that same situation today and sometimes we place our “faith” in things rather than the Person of Jesus.

Some people use handkerchiefs or anointing oil to give people some “thing” to believe in but God told us long ago not to place our faith in anything but to keep our faith and our spiritual eyes focused on Him. We have a Savior, Jesus Christ, Who is the Son of God, that is Who our faith should be in and in Him alone. Jesus finished the work that God sent Him to perform on the cross and it was by the shedding of His blood that our sins have been forgiven. We can do nothing to add to it or “help” Him in any way regarding our salvation.

Sometimes, life throws some pretty hard punches our way and they can cause us to question our faith. When sickness or a death in our family breaks our resolve it can be hard to keep our eyes on Jesus and keep our faith in Him alone but with prayer and seeking His strength in the Bible, we can do it with His help. David wrote many Psalms seeking God’s protection and strength and we have to seek Him in our time of need as well. Life is hard at times and the world around us will not help us…but God will and He is always as close as a prayer.

The Lord tests us…

If the foundations be destroyed, What can the righteous do? The LORD is in his holy temple, The LORD’s throne is in heaven: His eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men. The LORD trieth the righteous: But the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. Psalm 11:3‭-‬5 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/psa.11.3-5.KJV

The Diligent Worker Shall Be Satisfied

The soul of the sluggard desires, and has nothing, But the desire of the diligent shall be fully satisfied. (Proverbs 13:4)

As I adjusted to the general education system in 6th grade, my mother taught me the principle of working hard. This is something that still resonates with me today, especially with senior year right around the corner.

Now that I am a senior getting ready to graduate high school, there comes the temptation to slack off and blow everything off to the last minute. This temptation is especially going to come with a 3-10 page research paper that all seniors must complete prior to graduating. However, every grade in the gradebook counts, because now you are looking for colleges and universities that demand such high academic standards. For many, Zoom and remote learning has created the perfect opportunity for us to be lazy and shoot for mediocrity.

However, it is the diligent, hard-working person who reaps profitable results. This attitude of diligence is what landed me on the honor roll for five consecutive school years, and what allowed me to earn the Principal’s Award for Mathematics this past school year.

When God sees our work ethic (whether in our academics, our personal responsibilies, our career, or even the way we worship and serve God), we will inevitaly reap good fruit. To be clear: You sow the seed of diligence, while God Himself produces the results.

Today, let us all use today as a day of productivity, not being idle or lax in what we done, but pour out our hearts and souls into each and every task or assignment God gives us. Let us allow the Holy Spirit to guide us and give us the wisdom and motivation to work for the kingdom of God, and for those around us. Amen!

Be faithful in all things

He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. Luke 16:10 KJV https://bible.com/verse-of-the-day/luk.16.10/46341

Praise the Lord

the voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the LORD of hosts: for the LORD is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as at first, saith the LORD. Jeremiah 33:11 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/jer.33.11.KJV

The love of God…

God’s love for you began before He created anything. His love for you is everlasting and deeper than you will know until you are in His Presence. Many times it seems that we take His love for granted and all of His blessings and mercy too but He still pours them into our lives even when we don’t acknowledge them. Why do we act this way toward the One Who loves us most in all of creation? Because, even though we may belong to Him and claim Him as our Savior, we are still flawed human beings.

Your life is precious to God and He holds you in His hand because He knows what His plans are for you. He will never leave you or forsake you even if you forget about Him from time to time. Have you considered that He holds the entire universe together but He also knows how many hairs are on your head? I’m not speaking of one or two people, I am talking about every person on the planet! Even those who don’t know Him as their Savior. God is our Savior and our Redeemer and our Creator. Doesn’t He deserve to be praised and thanked for waking us up every morning?

Thank God for your day and for all of the blessings that you have because if you truly think about it…everything that you have is a gift and a blessing sent to you from God.

Faith walks…

When Jesus looked for followers, before He called His disciples, He knew He needed men who would follow Him every day during His ministry. He knew that He would find them because His Father had sent Him to Israel to teach, preach and touch the lost children of Israel. The only way that this ministry would last and make a real difference in the world would be men who would have faith in Him and His ministry but also men who would walk their faith in and around Israel so others would see that what they believed about Him was true.

This is what James talks about when he wrote “faith without works is dead“, not because you have to have works to be saved but because your faith should be a working, walking faith. One that gets your Spirit moving in God’s direction and in His will. I used to wonder how could Jesus sleep in a boat which was being tossed by the waves in a storm but as I’ve grown in my faith and in my walk with Him I realized that His ministry covered many hundreds of miles. Not every day naturally but all of it was by foot! He and His disciples were bone tired by the end of each day, regardless of the miracles they saw or the healings that He performed. Jesus was the Son of God but He was also the Son of Man, human in all of its respects except that He didn’t have our sinful nature.

So He was tired every day what does that mean to me? It means that we are supposed to be tired from telling others about Him. We should walk with Him each and every day because He said that we would do “greater things than these” if we did. Does your faith in Jesus walk with you each day regardless of the circumstances? It should. If you are a born-again Christian your faith should take you through each day and each trial in your life, regardless of the circumstances or problems that you may face. While it is true that there will be some days that are better than others, for a Christian there is no way of avoiding the bad and the good days. All of them go together and He will see you through each of them.

God loved each of us even before He created the universe and our planet and He had determined at that time that He would come down and save us from our own sinfulness one day. He did it as the Son Who gave Himself as a ransom for many. Make sure that your life in Christ reflects the gratitude of one who has been saved from the fire of hell and eternal separation from God so that others will want to have your hope and your Savior as well.

Ask for wisdom…

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. James 1:5 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/jas.1.5.KJV