Category: By faith

Does God care?


When you see the devastation of hurricanes and flooding which is happening on Grand Bahama island you wonder if God cares. Yes, He cares because we are part of His creation. He is in control although many would look at the storm and what it is doing an wonder “Why God?”! What have we done to deserve this? The truth is that God is in control and He allows the “ruler” of this world to do these things but He is limiting the destruction which would happen if He did not.

The truth of our situation on Earth is that Satan hates us with just as much passion and vitriol that he can muster. His hatred rivals the deep abiding love that God shows toward us every day except that his hatred is intended to hurt God through the pain and suffering which he can cause to us who carry the image of God. His hatred is pointed at humanity everywhere and the more suffering that he can cause to us, then he will do so because he knows that God cares so much for us. So through the pain that we feel every day, he is striking at God.

God LOVES each person on this Earth and He does care more deeply than we can imagine. He does limit the damage which the fallen angels of Satan’s group can do to us because of His love, but that doesn’t stop them from inflicting suffering on humanity in any way they can. We are at the very edge of the time which is just before the church being taken away. There is no set date for this, other than the date and the hour which only God knows.

Don’t forget, many passages in God’s Word speak volumes about the love of God toward us and His love is far beyond anything that we experience on a daily basis, even from our own family. He sent His Son Jesus to be the Perfect sacrifice to pay the penalty for ALL of our sins! He paid for the sins from Adam all the way to the very last person who will get saved before God takes us home. Granted, there are many who will not accept His gift of grace for our redemption and our salvation but the ones who will accept it, He will not turn them away if they are sincere in their repentance.

Humanity has changed how they view the Bible and God’s promises because of our idea of what we want it to say to us and the “rules” which God has in place. God designed each of us for a purpose and only He knows that purpose until you are convicted by His Spirit and feel the NEED for Jesus in your heart. Then your life can conform to His purpose for your life. Until that point, you won’t care about His purpose for you and you won’t seek Him until the Spirit brings your Spirit in alignment with His purpose for your life and His glory!

Oops is not in the Bible!


God is not surprised by anything, least of all what happens with His Creation. That means that nothing in your life or anywhere on Earth surprises Him. God has been in charge since before the universe was brought into being. So why do we seem to think that He either doesn’t exist or that He is out of touch with us?

Even though it has been two thousand years or so since Jesus walked with His disciples, God is still in control. None of His prophecies have fallen to the ground or failed in any way. Jerusalem and the Jewish people have come back together in the nation of Israel and their language is still intact. This has never happened in history before 1948 and it won’t happen again. Many other prophecies which were foretold by His prophets have come to pass as well and the only one which hasn’t taken place is the coming of our Savior to bring His children home.

Jesus said that He would come back for us and since God cannot lie, He will. The signs of which He spoke in Matthew 24 and in the beginning chapters of the Revelation which John wrote down are all around us today. No, God is not surprised by our behavior or by anything which is happening on Earth or in the cosmos.

Do we doubt Him and His Word? Yes, and mostly it is our own ideas and faults which we see in the world. God is allowing many things to happen so that we will turn to Him and many are doing that. But there are thousands, possibly millions who are accusing Him of not caring about us or completely pushing Him away because they don’t like what is written in His Word. Remember, love cannot be forced and He allows us to follow our own path until we realize that we truly need Him.

Don’t push Him away from your life or family because of a word or a phrase that you don’t like. We can’t pick and choose which parts of the Bible to believe. Either you live by it and believe all of it or you don’t, there really isn’t another way to put it. God is in control but He still allows us to choose, so choose to believe in Jesus as your Savior. The alternative is an eternity without any life, any hope or any good thing at all.

Your purpose and your place


Many of us have often wondered what our purpose in this life really is. We have also considered what our place might be in the “great scheme of things”. Neither of these ideas or wonderings have given us much comfort though. Why is that? Is it because we aren’t looking in the right place or maybe we aren’t asking the right questions? Actually, I think it has more in common with the Person that we are searching for rather than the question or even the place.

Your purpose and your place in this world are found in Jesus alone. There is no other name by which we can be saved from eternal wrath because of our poor choices in life. Your salvation comes through Jesus, period. This also places you squarely in God’s hands for eternity so your place is secure because nobody can take you away from God. Your purpose truly is found in Jesus but what is it? Truly, it is being His disciple and going into the world as a reflection of Jesus so that others will see Him in your life and if they don’t know Him then they will want to know Him!!

By some of the early apostles examples and their writings, at least those who lived after the first century, we should model our Lord and Savior in such a way that people will see Him and come to you so they can know Him better. Almost like your life is your sermon every day that you live and breathe as a Christian! Isn’t that the kind of witness that we should all strive for?

I know that we can’t live perfectly walking like Jesus walked and living out our witness without stumbling and thinking or doing something that would make people question our walk with Him. We are human and we can’t be perfect in our attempts to live as reflections of Jesus but it is the striving to be more like Him that is the real witness! Living the rest of your life as a Christian is not the easy walk that some people think it is. Before we become Christians, Satan doesn’t care what we are doing because by default we live according to our own rules and ideas. But…when we truly give our life to Jesus a target appears spiritually on our head and our heart.

Why does this happen? Because we are working for Satan’s enemy when we become Christians. Our life and every word which we say should reflect Jesus in our lives from this point on. Do we fall and fail at this from time to time? Of course we do, but God still gives us the strength to overcome these stumbles and failures. Recognize that we are weak and we need to ask God to give us the strength today to get through today and then tomorrow and every day after that. Does Satan target us after we give our lives to Jesus? Yes, he does. We might touch someone’s life and bring them into God’s family. The more effective our witness is, the more numerous his attacks on our life and ministry become.

Sometimes your ministry may be world-wide as it is by blogging like this. Sometimes your ministry and witness may be limited by your geography or your ability. But if your witness is effective and draws one or two people to God, then you will be targeted by Satan and his demons. I pray that every person who reads this blog will seek out Jesus as their Savior, if they don’t know Him yet. If you do and you find something here that you could use in your ministry, feel free to use it in witnessing to others. God will bless it.

Praise God!


How many people wake up each morning and thank God that they have one more day to do His will on this Earth? I do, some days. Then there are days, more than there should be, that I just get up and go about my daily routine and I don’t thank Him for anything until I’m about to eat something or maybe I read or hear about something that causes me to think about Him and what He does for us every day that we live. So I guess what I’m saying is that I’m normal, whatever that is. God loves us when we are normal and also when we are not…normal. But, do we give Him our love in return? Do we praise Him when we see a hummingbird fly by or see a rainbow in the sky?

We live and move in this world not because of our own power and ability but because God placed us here and it is His will and purpose for us to be the person that He made us to be. Some of us may not find out who or what His will for us is until kinda late in life, but that’s okay. Maybe He was waiting until you were old enough to be the person that He knows you can be. Many of us are too ignorant to do His will when we are young because we think we know it all. We believe that we can do those things which come to mind even though we usually find that we can’t. We just thought we could. Sometimes those lessons hurt us physically and emotionally too. Usually, that is when we begin our search for the One Who can give us the ability to do His will and not our own.

Sometimes that search takes a long time and sometimes we find Him as we are beginning our search. We find Jesus when He knows we are ready, not when we think we are. Because we think we are ready at point A and He knows we won’t be ready until we reach point C or D. Wherever those points are in your life and at whatever age you reach them, the time and place was appointed by God. It did not come about because of your idea of the time and place, it followed God’s plan and purpose for your life. Whether we know it or even acknowledge it or not, God is and always has been in control of everything that happens on Earth. The election of whoever may be the President or the King or ruler in any country is under His hand and control too.

Since God knows when even a sparrow falls to the ground, don’t you think He cares about what is happening in your life and mine? Since His eyes see every life which He created on this Earth, animal or human, isn’t it wonderful to just breathe in the air which He created for all of us to breathe?

Are you searching?


I’ve noticed that many people do seem to be searching for the Reason for Life. Who is the Author of Life? Jesus Christ! He is the Creator and a part of the Triune Godhead along with the Holy Spirit and God the Father. How can I say that many people are searching for something or Someone? Because of the number of people who have visited my little website which God led me to write years ago. Also, because of a search for Bibles on Amazon or any other retail location on the web. Many editions, regardless of translation, are in short supply.

The Holy Spirit is moving in our world today drawing as many people as He can to come to know Jesus as their Savior. The only real way to do this is from reading God’s Word or by attending a Bible teaching church or website. Learn about Jesus and seek to know Him as your personal Savior because He will be that and more. Don’t turn away from Him, especially if you are at the end of your life and you feel God touching your heart. If it is because of age or by reason of some disease which is bringing you to this point, don’t let your life end without Jesus being your Savior. Asking Him to forgive you and make you a child of God is the easiest decision you can make and it is the one which will impact your life far more than you will know on this side of heaven.

We truly are living on the edge of Revelation and if you have ever read this book, the problems which are described in the first few chapters sound exactly like the news broadcasts today. Life is not going to get easier from this point forward, in fact its going to get worse. Because the intolerance of the rest of the world against Christians and their so-called “intolerant” religion is ramping up in intensity and approaching dangerous levels of persecution. In some countries Christians are being hunted down and killed just because of their beliefs and for no other reason. We are being targeted in America because of our “intolerance” but the same thing could be said of their opinion and intolerance too. We are preaching the truth of God from His Word but nobody wants to hear it.

I pray that anyone who reads this post, regardless of the country you live in, seek out a Christian if you can. Ask them about their Savior and pray that your heart will be changed by Him so that your eternity will be with Him in Heaven. The alternative for eternity is unthinkable. Because, whether you believe the Bible and its Word about Heaven and Hell or not. now is the time to make the decision which will impact your eternity and that is a lot longer than your life here.

How can we come to the Father?


John chapter 14 verse 6. ”Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the father, but by me.’‘ This verse tells a lot in a little space. Truly, it tells about the way to be saved through Jesus and by belief in Him. It also tells about the way to come to the Father, God Himself, through Jesus in prayer. Because without faith in Jesus your prayers just don’t cut it. A sinner can pray and ask Jesus to forgive him of his sins and repent, turning from his ways to become a new person in Christ. But, your prayers don’t go very far if you are not a believer except of the one prayer which brings salvation into your life.

There is a hymn which has a line in it which goes like this, “O, come to the Father through Jesus the Son and give Him the glory, great things He has done”. We cannot truly come to the Father with our problems and our petitions unless we come through Jesus first. Life as a Christian is a walk with Jesus, did you know that? You can’t do one without the other. You can’t be a Christian without the Christ in your life. It is just that simple.

But, people do try to be things which they aren’t all of the time. Our so-called “politicians” have been practicing their lies for so long until they actually believe they are telling us the truth about the good that they are doing. But when you look at the state of the world today, you can see clearly that they haven’t been doing a very good job of what they say.

Jesus is the Son of God and therefore is our Savior but He is so much more than that! John says in chapter one that He is the Word made flesh. He is the I AM. He is the Creator and the Son, the second of the Trinity. He laid His divine life down to take up the flesh of humanity to live and be tempted and tried just as we are so that He could pay the penalty for our sinful nature. No other creature or person could do this except Jesus and He was destined for this from the very beginning of Creation. The only way for a sinner to approach God’s throne is by Jesus and through Him only. He had to pay the penalty for your sin, which was death, so that you and I can have eternal life through Him.

It sounds pretty harsh for God to put His Son through this but He knew that there was no other way for fallen man, to be justified and sanctified except through faith in Jesus and by His blood we are redeemed. The sins of mankind were placed upon Jesus so that He could endure the wrath of God in our place because without Jesus we would be destroyed as a consequence of His wrath. You cannot come to the Father except through the Son, Jesus.

We can quit some of our sinful ways on our own, sometimes, but that doesn’t bring us into a right relationship with God and we aren’t sanctified unless it is by the blood of Jesus which we have asked for when we seek Him as our Savior. When His blood is sprinkled over our sins, they are washed away. Yet, we can’t live our lives as if we can get washed this week and then go get dirty in sin again. If you are doing this, then your heart and your life hasn’t changed at all. Your “salvation” is just words and nothing more. Living as a sinner but claiming to know Jesus as your Savior is normal because we are all hypocrites. None of us is capable of living a sinless life, even after we have given our hearts to Jesus.

We can only come to the throne of grace by having Jesus as our covering and our Savior. Without Him, we are dust. As Isaiah wrote, “we are as filthy rags in God’s sight”. Our “righteousness” is nothing without Jesus and anything that we do in service to Him and for His Kingdom means nothing unless we have the Savior as our righteousness and not our own.

My God is able!


Have you ever doubted that He would do something, anything for you when you pray? If you did doubt Him or His ability to accomplish what you were asking Him for…why should He do it? Doubt is the seed which Satan sows in your mind toward God’s power so that when we are in need and we ask for God’s help, we still doubt if He will do the thing which we asked for. Do you understand what that looks and sounds like from God’s perspective? It goes something like this: “I know that you will supply all of my needs but…”; “I know that you said that you would heal me by His stripes but…”.

Do you see a pattern forming here? There is a “but” getting in the way and it is caused by your doubt towards God and His power. You really don’t believe that He will give you this or heal you of that or even provide for you in your time of need. You say it with your mouth and you may believe it with your head but it isn’t deep down in your soul belief! It isn’t unwavering belief which is shaken but not torn down by the winds of doubt and fear. God is able to do ALL things which we can ask or imagine, if it is His will for us and our ministry to give Him glory!

There is no power on Earth which can stop God from giving you that which will accomplish His work in you and through you but you have to believe in Him and in His ability to do what He said and that He will answer your prayer. Will it be the answer you want? Maybe, but if it isn’t then God may have something better planned for you, He just hasn’t showed it to you yet. God loves each of us and He is able to do all of the things which the Bible says that He can do, the promises and healings and the blessings. But, when you doubt Him you are telling Him that you don’t think or believe that He will do those things. Maybe not in words but God knows your thoughts and your heart so there is nothing hidden from Him.

Trust Him and believe that He can and will do the things which you ask IF it lines up with His purpose and His will for your life. Trust in God and His purposes for your life and put that faith to work for Him and through Him you will be blessed. Amen

Use the gifts given so that more will be added to your life.

What we hear isn’t true all of the time


On the news and on Facebook and other media outlets there are many so-called “news” stories which are true but there are also many which are fabricated to inflame emotions and add to the fear in our world. God is still in control regardless of what you hear on television. He allows things to happen not so much to punish people but to try to get them to open their eyes and see with their Spirit. Each of us has a spiritual person inside of us but they are not fully realized until we accept Jesus as our Savior. It is only at this point that our Spirit begins to grow and mature. God’s Word, the Bible, is the only nourishment which can give us the strength to get through our life with any certainty.

Yet, in many countries and in our own nation, schools can’t teach from the Bible. In some schools it isn’t even allowed in or on the school grounds. Why do people fear this book so much? Because it is the absolute Truth and it came from God Himself, the Creator of all things! Those who hate this Book know it and where it came from, even Satan himself knows Scripture and he fears it as well. He will quote it to you, but he will twist it into something that isn’t exactly like God said it just as he did in the Garden of Eden.

Some people are asking why preachers don’t preach on hell and the consequences of sin any more. The real reason is fear. They don’t want people to be scared away from their church. It looks bad when people begin to leave. The actual problem is that people don’t really want to hear that there are consequences for their sins. They want to hear that they will go to heaven anyway. The Holy Spirit told Timothy through the apostle Paul that people would be this way close to the end of the age. “They will seek out teachers who will tickle their ears“; the people don’t want to listen to the sound doctrine which was given to us by the Holy Spirit through those who wrote down His Word.

In our world, people prepare (at least some do) for their retirement but there are very few who are preparing for their eternity. Most don’t even seem to think that there is an eternity waiting for them on the other side of death. There is and you need to prepare for it now because there are no second chances. If you choose not to believe in Jesus and not to believe in God and His Word then you have chosen to be in eternity with Satan because no choice is a choice. Seek out Jesus and His doctrine and His Wisdom through the books of John and Romans because it is in these two books that all of the gospel is contained and explained. God doesn’t want anyone to perish in hell because it was created to punish Satan and his followers but if you choose to not believe in Jesus for your salvation then you have chosen to be with the demons in hell. Consider an eternity with once angelic beings who hate you because you were created with the image of God.

The end of the age


Living at the end of the age

I always wondered what it would be like to live during the last decade or so before Christ’s millennial reign begins. Why do I place that time limit on this age? Because, I don’t believe our world and its system has much more time than that. This is just my opinion, so don’t get the idea that there is some time-table for this because only God knows when the day and the hour is.

For some in the world, whether they are Christians or not, life at this time is not a very enjoyable prospect. There are wars and uprisings and hatred toward those who believe in Jesus, even if they aren’t actively telling people about their Savior. Just the knowledge that there is a “Christ-follower” or a “Jesus follower” in a village is enough to bring persecution to their families. In America, the hatred and resentment toward those who believe in Jesus as their Savior is building and it is getting worse. It hasn’t gotten to the point of our government locking up people or stopping us from worshiping but the threat is implied. It is very likely that before the next six years or so is past, there will be some limits placed on religious freedom, especially of the Christian faith.

Why the persecution of the Christian faith? Because of the truth which is God’s Word, the Bible, which is our guidebook for life. God gave it to us through those apostles and prophets which His Spirit moved to write His wisdom and His words down for everyone to learn from and live by. It is not a book of “man-made” wisdom and knowledge because there is a complete story and purpose which each book points to from the beginning in Genesis all the way through the book of Revelation. This fact alone proves that it is an Holy Spirit inspired book because it was written over a period of 1500 years by over forty different writers. Without the Holy Spirit’s involvement, the story would’ve been lost, the outcome and the prophecies would not make sense.

Abraham, one of the main characters in the Genesis book of the Bible, is the father of two different people and two different faiths as well. Judaism and Islam. Christianity is also the outcome of the prophesied Messiah of the Jewish faith Who came to “take away the sins of the world”, but the entire Bible points toward His coming and His message and His crucifixion and His resurrection. There is no possible way that forty different writers over 1500 years could’ve made up stories which were perfectly synchronized in order to prophesy His coming and His crucifixion even before it was a form of execution. God could see all of these things from His point of view outside of time and He knew when and where and even who to use at certain points in time so His purposes would be done in the way that He wanted them done.

God is Sovereign and rules the universe and it is His purposes which will prevail regardless of what mankind wants or doesn’t want to believe. One day soon, the whole world will see that He is the Savior and King because He is coming back. When that happens there will be no doubt about Who Jesus is or that He is real but there will be many in the world who don’t know Him because they chose to reject Him as their Savior. Then it will be too late to change your mind, especially if you have taken the mark of the Beast during those last seven years when God’s wrath has been poured out on those who would not believe.

Make sure of your salvation while there is still time to do so. Seek Jesus through reading the Bible, specifically the books of John and Romans because they both give good examples of His life, His death and His resurrection and also His love toward mankind so that you can know Him and He will know you too.

Are we supposed to be holy?


The Bible says that we are supposed to be holy because God is holy. So what is the definition of the word “holy”? It is this: dedicated or consecrated to God or a religious purpose; sacred. In another way of saying this, we are supposed to be set apart from the world and its ways but we should try to teach those around us about His ways. If not by our words then by our life and our actions. Being a Christian is supposed to be exactly that…holy and set apart to do the work of God while we can. So why aren’t many who profess to be Christians acting like Christ?

It is a good question to ask but I’m afraid the answer would be too laborious and it would require too many specifics. Why do I say this? Because there are many who profess Christ but they don’t possess Christ. Their Christianity is only genuine to them because they believe in Christ and they attend church occasionally but He hasn’t made a change in their lives because He was never invited in. They are a believer just as well as Satan is. He knows Who Jesus is and he knows that He exists but he chooses not to serve God or Jesus or the Holy Spirit in any way.

Knowledge of Jesus and God is a good thing but if you haven’t given your life and your heart to them so that you are changed by them, then your knowledge does your eternal life no good at all.

If you belong to Christ and He belongs to you, then your life will reflect Him and His character far more than it will reflect your ideas and your ways. If others can’t see Jesus in what you do and say, then it is possible that He doesn’t live in your heart just in your mind.