That is something that I used to dislike with a passion. Why? Because I thought I was saved and didn’t need to study the Bible. Kinda like having “insurance” against the flames. At the time I thought being saved just meant accepting Jesus as your Savior…period. I didn’t think there was anything that I should do from that point on. But when you truly are saved and you realize that you really needed Him…that is when God truly got your attention. Before you were trying to “do it yourself”. You walked down the aisle and you might’ve even been baptized but you only got wet. There was no change and you didn’t feel the need to change anything.
That is the type of “faith” I had many years ago. It wasn’t real. Even though I thought it was for a while. But eventually, I would go right back to where I was before. As they say, “it didn’t take”. The fact is, I was just trying to do it myself. When God touches your heart and breaks it, He shows you why you need Him and that He can fill that empty place that you’ve known about for a long time. When this happens, studying your Bible becomes real. It teaches you about your Savior and your Creator. The Bible also reads your spirit, because every time you read a chapter or a book in it you will find a pearl of new wisdom or truth that you didn’t see before.
Studying God’s Word is the best way to learn about Him and His voice so you will know when you hear Him speak. If you don’t know His voice then Satan can speak to you and deceive you easily. While I was a pastor, I read through the Bible at least once every year. Since I’ve been away from preaching in a church, I actually read it more than once per year. God’s Word never gets old or stale because it is His Living Word. Give your heart to Him and get acquainted with Him more than ever by reading His Word every day.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: And the knowledge of the holy is understanding. For by me thy days shall be multiplied, And the years of thy life shall be increased. If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: But if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it. Proverbs 9:10-12 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/pro.9.10-12.KJV
This fear is not the kind that you feel watching a horror movie. It is a respectful fear of the Person and the power of God because He is your Creator and your Savior. It is the kind of respect that some of us grew up knowing about. At one time we were taught to respect our elders and our teachers and the police and many others who were in positions of authority. We even respected our parents and grandparents…imagine that? If you were to ask a young person today if they respected their parents or their grandparents many of them would likely laugh at you.
Respect is something that is foreign to our culture and to many in society today. We don’t have respect for people because of their job or position and it seems that we don’t have respect for many things that were respected in society a few decades ago. Why? Because we don’t teach respect or even the reasons for it at home and especially in schools today. God demands respect because of Who He is but people don’t want to hear that today. They don’t believe that He exists and if HE does they don’t think He cares about them. Why? Because they aren’t learning this at home or in churches because fewer and fewer people attend church services today.
Comfort and feelings will cause failure in the future. If you only follow your comfortable life and how you feel about this or that, you will always fail. God’s wisdom is found in the Bible and it is the only book that contains wisdom that is infallible, particularly in regard to money. Seek His wisdom in the use of and the ability to use money in the way that God approves and your life will be more blessed than you can imagine.
The act of making someone feel a certain way for being or believing a certain creed or lifestyle. This is what is happening in America today and depending on which side you may be on it is okay to do this to certain people. I’m not poking fun at or pointing a finger at anyone here but our government is doing it more than it should. They are conducting a farce of a “trial” about a citizen-led group of people and on the other side of the “proverbial coin” are asking people to point out certain people (judges and clinics) who don’t agree with their “agenda”. They are also asking people to attack and destroy “clinics” that they don’t want to be available, but this is acceptable in their viewpoint.
Intimidation happened in the past during Jesus’ ministry and it has been happening in every century since then. But…when you say something about it or point it out there is all sorts of name-calling and anger that comes out. Living in this world has become more intimidating and harder to handle especially from a Christian point of view. So, how do we manage our lives in light of the way that everyone looks at Christians and their beliefs?
We need to live our lives the way that Jesus told us to. Do not worry. Life is too short to worry about today or tomorrow. God is the One on our side and He controls what is happening or even what will happen. Why worry or even feel intimidated by the world? God is in control and He is our Savior and Lord, why would you feel the need to worry? Give your heart to Jesus. Follow Him and learn from His Word because the Bible is the best educational Book available.
It is the time that has come. We are at the very beginning of those “troubles” that Jesus spoke about with His disciples. The rapture or taking away of the church hasn’t happened yet but it isn’t very far away. I pray that everyone who has read or is reading this blog will give their heart to Jesus soon. If you have done so…GREAT!! If you haven’t or maybe you are still thinking about it, don’t put it off very long. None of us knows when our day is up and when that day comes you’d better be ready because there is no second chance after you die.
Our lives are pitifully short compared to eternity but most people seem to want to live forever these days, which is good if you are doing it the right way by believing in Jesus as your Savior. If you think that your righteousness can get you into heaven you are sadly mistaken. Nothing that we do while we are alive unless it is for His Kingdom, is good enough to carry over into Heaven. Unless we have given our hearts to Jesus and are living for Him and working for Him in this life in some fashion nothing that we do will bring us any reward in Heaven or even get us into Heaven.
“Our righteousness is as filthy rags” and our righteousness will not avail us one step inside the gates of Heaven. The self-righteous will never see Heaven because they considered themselves able to attain it on their own. Jesus said “without Me, you can do nothing” because He is the true vine and we are only branches.
Let everything that hath breath Praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD. Psalm 150:6 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/psa.150.6.KJV
The whole world needs to do this. God inhabits the praise of those who praise Him and all of us need to praise Him because we have today to live!
Why did I want to put this up today? Because our world and everyone in it should praise Him for life and our health and the fact that the Lord loves us! We may not feel it sometimes…we may even doubt it from time to time but God loves you with a love that I don’t understand and could never explain. Give your life to Him because He gave His life to bring you salvation.
The Living Message of Christ 