Are any of us really OK?

There are so many things wrong with our world today. The stock market is up and down, the debts which our country owes are coming down but not fast enough, the debt which many of us owe to credit companies is out of this world. Are we really doing OK? In many ways, we really aren’t doing very well at all! The debts that we owe on money we don’t really have are only the beginning of our trouble. Then there are the sin debts which many of us still carry around with us, even though they have been forgiven or at least paid for through the blood of Jesus. Whether you or I have accepted His gift of forgiveness or not is up to us and many people still refuse it.

We go through life as if we are guaranteed a certain number of years and even though the Bible does say that we are allotted three score and ten (70 years) or possibly four score (80 years, by our strength), these are not guaranteed! We come within two feet of dying every time we get on the highway, regardless of which city or state you live in! We pass each other going at least seventy-five miles per hour and we are usually as close as 24 inches when we do pass each other. That doesn’t even count for early morning and late day rush hours! At those times, we are usually so close to each other until we could hand a cup of coffee off to one person and it wouldn’t hit the ground for two miles or more. We are truly blessed just to get home without any scrapes or paint missing from our cars or trucks!

Most of the time we don’t even think about these close calls we have that we somehow survived. We just look at it as if it were ordained that we would get home each and every time we go out on the road. The only real guarantees in this world are death and taxes. So why do we live as if nothing can ever or will ever go wrong? We do it when we are young, in our teens and twenties, and we continue to do it until we finally wise up and look around and some of your friends are dying before you. Some of them because of cancer or a heart attack, some of them because of a car wreck or even being robbed or shot while being robbed for something that someone else wants that you have. Are we OK?

It is a good question which really doesn’t have a great answer. Some of us are cruising along and doing pretty well, some of us are dealing with pains and other ailments and some of us are just waiting to die. Then there are some who just don’t care one way or the other, as long as they are doing pretty well they don’t really care what is happening to the rest of the world. There are even a few who can’t forget wrongs which were done, intentionally or not, many years ago. So, how do we get to a point of seeking the One Who can bring us out of this place where we find ourselves?

First, by listening to your conscience and the leading that you get from the Holy Spirit, whether we call it that or not. When you feel led to seek out God and truly find the answer to the problems which plagues mankind, then you will find His Peace through Jesus the Christ, your Savior. There are many times when we feel Him leading us toward a better idea or to search for Something or Someone that we don’t know or don’t have a relationship with but until we find that One, there is an empty place which can’t be filled with anything that we try on our own. That is the place where Jesus belongs and that is why anything other than Him just doesn’t satisfy and it doesn’t feel right until we surrender to His calling and ask Him to come in and fill that space.

Being just “OK” is not what we were made for and God never intended for us to be satisfied with that. God calls to your heart through the Holy Spirit and it is up to you to answer His call for your life. It is your decision to give your heart to Jesus and allow Him to change your life into the life which you were meant to live! If you feel that pull, that call on your life and you ignore it and keep ignoring it then one day you may never feel that pull on your life again. You will wonder what happened for a little while but you will continue on with your life as if nothing happened and in fact, that is what happened. Nothing. Don’t live your life for nothing, live it for Jesus and tell others what He has done and is doing in your life because nothing is scary when it is all that there is for eternity.

Why worry?

Is there anything that you can do to fix whatever the problem is? If so, then fix it and move on. If you can’t fix it then find someone who can and give the problem to them. If the problem happens to be something which no person can fix, then give it to God and leave it in His hands. He can take care of all of your problems whether they are lost keys, a test at school tomorrow, an illness which can’t be cured by human efforts or just a soul that is hurting in some way that can’t be fixed by any human hand…but God can. Worry is something that we do when we can’t find a fix for something but we don’t trust God enough to let Him have it long enough to fix it His way.

God can always find a way to fix our problems because He knew the way to fix it before you ever asked Him to help you with it. Sometimes we don’t like the way He does it or maybe even the time that He takes to fix it, but His way is always the best way. So, give your problems, whatever they may be, to Him and move on to tomorrow and the next day. He’s got it handled no matter what it may be.

Matthew 6: 25-34 is where Jesus tells His disciples this:

Do Not Worry
(Luke 12:22-34)

25 Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air: They do not sow or reap or gather into barns—and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?c

28 And why do you worry about clothes? Consider how the lilies of the field grow: They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was adorned like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

31 Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles strive after all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.

34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own.

Are you tired?

Many people seem to be tired of waiting for the Lord to return, like He said He would. But we have no control over His timing of His return, so why do many in the church feel this way? Because Satan has been telling the whole world, including the church, that God has forgotten about you and He doesn’t care about you. He’s not coming back, you are on your own. Satan has been a liar since the very beginning and those who don’t read the Bible for their salvation through Jesus Christ or who have never felt His touch in their lives will miss this. Because Satan already has you fooled into thinking that you are capable of saving yourself and that there is nothing wrong with your life or your lifestyle.

Serving God and being obedient to Him and His calling in your life is not about impressing people or the crowd or building a “brand”. Being the person that God called you to be has more to do with the message that your life sends to those around you. Those who see you every day or on the weekend should be able to look at your life and your character and tell that you are born-again. If your life hasn’t changed enough so that others can see it and know that you are a Christian then you had better check with God through prayer and see if you really meant what you said or did or were you just “going through the motions” to join the church?

From what many polls say about those who claim to be Christians, there are more who claim it than those who own it! Out of the seventy or so percent who claim to be Christians, only about twenty-eight percent actually attend church and read their Bible at least twice per month. What I’d like to ask in these polls is whether they study their Bible between the church meetings or do they leave their Bible at the church so they won’t have to carry it around? Living the life of a follower of Jesus is more than just attending church once or twice a week or per month!

God knows who belongs to Him and who does not and there will likely be quite a few who are surprised on that day when He does come for His Bride.

God knows when the time is right for Him to send out the Spirit to take the church, the true believers, out of harms way. We don’t know and will never understand His timing because only God knows how or when will be the right time. Believers should work for God’s Kingdom based on their belief in Him and His Word and not on any degree of human talent or ambition. You were called to be a disciple of Jesus Christ and with that calling you should be faithful in carrying out His mission while there is time to do so. God loved us enough to give His Son’s life on the cross just to pay for your sins and mine and every person on the Earth who will accept His gift of grace.

That knowledge of Him and His Love for us is enough to keep me going until that day. Won’t you join the family of God by believing in Jesus and His atonement for you?

Who is this Jesus?

Jesus is everywhere in the Bible, if you will look for Him.

In Genesis he’s the Seed of the Woman. In Exodus he’s the Passover Lamb.

In Leviticus he’s the Scapegoat. In Numbers he’s the Serpent lifted up in the Wilderness.

In Deuteronomy he’s the Cities of Refuge.

In Joshua he’s the Scarlet thread on Rahab’s house. In Judges he’s the Perfect Judge.

In Ruth he’s the Kinsman Redeemer. In I Samuel he’s the Trusted Prophet.

In 2 Samuel he’s the True Son of David. In 1 Kings he’s the Promise Keeper.

In 2 Kings he’s the Jealous God. In 1 Chronicles he’s our Reigning King.

In 2 Chronicles he’s our Deliverer. In Ezra he’s the Faithful Scribe.

In Nehemiah he’s the Rebuilder of Broken Walls. In Esther he’s Mordecai at the Gate.

In Job he’s My Redeemer Who Lives Today. In Psalms he’s the Lord who is my Shepherd.

In Proverbs he’s our Wisdom. In Ecclesiastes he’s our True Satisfaction.

In Song of Solomon he’s the Beautiful Bridegroom. In Isaiah he’s the Suffering Servant.

In Jeremiah he’s the Righteous Branch. In Lamentations he’s the Weeping Prophet.

In Ezekiel he’s the Son of Man. In Daniel he’s the Fourth Man in the Furnace.

In Hosea he’s the Faithful Husband. In Joel he’s the One Who Restores.

In Amos he’s the Burden Bearer. In Obadiah he’s the Mighty Judge.

In Jonah he’s the Foreign Missionary. In Micah he’s our Peace.

In Nahum he’s the Avenger. In Habakkuk he’s the Lord in His Holy Temple.

In Zephaniah he’s the Lord Mighty to Save. In Haggai he’s the Lord of Hosts.

In Zechariah he’s the Fountain of Cleansing. In Malachi he’s the Sun of Righteousness.

In Matthew he’s the Promised Messiah. In Mark he’s the Faithful Servant.

In Luke he’s Friend of Sinners. In John he’s the Son of God.

In Acts he’s the Ascended Lord. In Romans he’s the Justifier.

In 1 Corinthians he’s our Righteousness. In 2 Corinthians he’s the God of All Comfort.

In Galatians he’s the Redeemer from the Curse of the Law. In Ephesians he’s the Head of the Church.

In Philippians he’s the All-Sufficient Christ. In Colossians he’s the Fullness of God.

In 1 Thessalonians he’s the Lord Coming Down from Heaven. In 2 Thessalonians he’s the Judge coming with Blazing Fire.

In 1 Timothy he’s our Mediator. In 2 Timothy he’s our Master.

In Titus he’s the Blessed Hope. In Philemon he’s the One Who Paid Our Debt.

In Hebrews he’s Our Great High Priest. In James he’s the Judge Standing at the Door.

In 1 Peter he’s the Chief Shepherd. In 2 Peter he’s the Morning Star.

In 1 John he’s the Word of Life. In 2 John he’s the Son of the Father. In 3 John he’s the Truth.

In Jude he’s the Lord Coming with countless thousands of his saints.

In Revelation he’s the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Live through the Author of Life

We wake up each day with His blessing because He has something for us to do. We may not realize it or even think that we know how to do it, but He will give us the strength and ability to do that which He has called us to do. God knows your strengths and your weaknesses and He can equip you to overcome those weaknesses and do His will in this life through His Life in Jesus. Don’t ever think that you aren’t important to God because we would not be here if we were not.

I realize that God can do things without us, but He can and will use us to do His will for His Kingdom. God loves us and He wants us to tell others about Jesus and the salvation which is available through belief in Him. Are you going to believe in Jesus for your salvation? God wants you to if you have felt His touch in your heart and know that you need Him in your life. So don’t turn the call of the Lord down because it is an eternal reward in the balance and your eternal destination as well.

Kingdom come…

What do you think this means? It is the Kingdom of our Lord which is coming soon to this Earth. Are you ready to live there and help Him govern the world?

What do you mean, help Him? The Bible says that we will be helping Him to govern the whole world during the one thousand years that He will govern the whole Earth and all of the countries which survive the Tribulation times. Have you ever thought about being useful to Jesus in this way? I never did but it seems that we will be doing exactly that. We will be in our glorified bodies too, so no harm can come to us during this time as well!

Why do I sound like I’m looking forward to this? Because, there will be peace all over the world for one thousand years, and we will get to see how much mankind can actually do when we aren’t trying to kill each other! It will be a glorious time to be alive.

I pray that all who read this will seek Jesus as their Savior while there is still time and safety to do so, because when the church is taken away this world is going to be much worse than it is today. Especially against those who choose to believe in Jesus during this time. Please, don’t wait! Give your heart to Him today!

Spinning round and round…

Do you ever feel like you are doing the same thing that your tires are doing? Going around and around and maybe getting somewhere but you feel as if you are in a rut? There are many days that I feel this way and I’m disabled. I don’t go to work every morning and come home at night exhausted and worn out to the point of collapse. Some days, just getting up and working around in the house is enough to do that.

No, I’m not getting into a pity party here it is just a fact for most people who do work one or two jobs. When they do get some time off, they feel like just watching TV and doing as little as possible. I understand that and God does too. Keeping your mind focused on Jesus and following Him every day is hard sometimes, but it is worth it. Because it can lower your blood pressure and impact your health, physically and spiritually, in many ways.

Of course, keeping your eyes focused on Him is how we are supposed to walk through this world and do His will every day. It isn’t a question of should we do this, if you are a born-again Christian it is your duty and responsibility to do so. Just as a soldier in military service does his or her duty, we are in the Army of the Lord and we are supposed to do our duty for His Kingdom until it is time for us to go home to be with Him.

This is not a question of wanting to or not wanting to work for Him. We are commanded to work for the Kingdom and let others see that His Presence in our lives makes a difference in our lives and in the lives of those around us because He is present in our hearts and every decision that we make. God loves each of us which is why He sent Jesus into the world to pay the penalty for our sins. So that by believing in Him and putting our faith in Him for our salvation, we will be saved.

It wasn’t a light thing which Jesus the Son did for us because His human body and mind knew the suffering which He would have to endure before His crucifixion and during the time on the cross. This is why He sweat drops of blood on the night before when He was taken to the priests and “tried” for blasphemy. He committed no crime because He was God and man, but they didn’t want to see or to make sure of His claim of being their Messiah.

I pray that all of us who claim Jesus as our Savior will take Him with us each and every day will do so and live our lives the way that He wants us to do and to live in this world.

Are you afraid?

It seems that we, as Christians, live in fear. Fear of offending someone, fear of telling others about our faith because they might reject us or the message and report it to someone, fear of being apostles like we are supposed to be. Why? Well, in the society which has come into America in the past twenty or thirty years, there seems to be more hostility toward people who profess to have faith in Jesus. Most don’t care if you believe in God because “everyone believes in God”, but if you bring the name of Jesus into the conversation things get a bit tricky. Because they don’t want to hear what He said or believe in Him. Why?

Mostly, because He taught that the hatred of someone is equivalent to murder. He taught that the thought of adultery was the same thing as the sin of adultery. Just the consideration of a sin, whatever it may be but specifically those two, is the same as committing them. That is why, in my opinion, people are so polarized against Jesus and His message. God is okay because His laws begin with the Ten Commandments and nobody could keep those perfectly, right? While this statement is true, they are still commandments, especially the ones about how to treat your mother and father and those which tell us how to behave toward one another.

So, why are we afraid to speak about our faith? Is it because it is our faith which scares others or is it because of the reaction we may get because of our faith if we tell someone about Jesus? Truthfully we shouldn’t be afraid of those around us because we have God on our side. He is in control of the situation regardless of where we may be as long as we have faith in Him to “have our backs” as we walk through this world. Psalm 23 tells us that He is with us through the “valley of the shadow of Death“, so why should we be afraid or live in fear of others? They can hurt us physically but if they kill you, then it was your time to go and you will be in His Presence. Does this give me chills? If I were foolish enough to walk on the streets of a big city after dark, yes I would be afraid, but I would be praying so hard that people would think I was loony anyway so, who cares?

As Christians, born into the family of God, we have His Spirit with us at all times, so why be afraid of talking to someone? One of the Trinity is there with us every step of the way and He gives us the words to speak at the time that we need them. God loves each of us with a love that we cannot understand or imagine and it will be His Presence working through us, protecting us from those of Satan’s army who would try to hurt us wherever we go. So, don’t be afraid of things which go bump in the night because your God is your Protector and your Guide it is He Who will protect you and lead you to the places where there is cool water and rest for your soul.

We do tend to forget…

Judges 2:7-15; Judges 21:25

What happened when the Israelites came into the Promised land? In about forty years they were supposed to conquer all of the inhabitants of the land which God had promised to Abraham. They did conquer most of them, but not all. That is why they are having so much trouble today. Their ancestors didn’t obey God fully. One tribe pushed back this group and another tribe pushed back this group but they didn’t destroy them like God had told them to do.

You can see the evidence of the effect of the “world’s values” on all of the so-called “reality” shows which mock anything that is Christian in origin. You can see it and hear it on the news. They censor God’s Truth and any representation of Him to the point of blocking some images or placing more emphasis on stories that go against Christian values. People today are inventing their own gods. Sometimes they are the god that they worship or turn to in their time of need, but most often when they realize that there is nothing that the doctor or their god can do, they will cry out to God.

Yet some are depending upon their money or their fame or even family and their possessions as if those can get you into eternity. Nothing which is temporary on this Earth will be available to do anything for you after this life. In today’s society, it seems that everyone seems to be counting on themselves or the government or in some other form of “feel-good” theology or idea, whether it is another “version” of the gospel which is not the actual gospel or just their “ideas”.

God’s way to Heaven is the only one which works and it is through faith and belief in Jesus and the atonement which He purchased for us by His blood and His death and resurrection after being crucified. There is nothing which our wisdom or our ideas can bring to the cross in order to help Jesus to save us because He has already done everything that was necessary because He was the only One Who could do the job!

The problems in our world today are the same ones which have been happening to the Jewish people ever since Joshua and the generation which came out of the wilderness died. In the last chapter of Judges in verse 25, you can tell that they really had no leadership because it says: 25 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes. The generation which has grown up in the past forty or fifty years has moved away from the Christian principles which kept their parents going. The generation after that has moved even farther away from the church and the values which are taught there. In another generation, there will be very few, if any, who go to church regularly and read their Bible.

I read a statistic a few days ago conducted by Lifeway and it said that of those who do attend church regularly, at least once a week, only about 32 percent study their Bibles outside of the service. Of the ones who do, it falls in the age group from 55 years old and up.

I pray that there will be a revival one day soon that will, hopefully, stop the church from dying but the falling away is prophesied to happen soon and it will whether we want it to or not. Make sure of your eternal home soon because one day you may not get another chance to make that decision.

When preachers preach from God’s Word, nothing that we say is made up. The ideas and the wisdom which God’s Spirit gives to us comes directly from Him if we are listening as we should. As it says in 2 Timothy 3:16-17: “All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

When a teacher, whether it is a Sunday school teacher, school teacher or parent, uses the wisdom and the faith which they have learned and received from God, they are counted among those “men (or women) of God” mentioned in 2 Timothy. Our world needs more teachers who listen to God’s wisdom and use it in teaching their students because if they don’t learn about God and Jesus from you or their parents, the world and the educational system of the world will not teach them about Him at all.

Who is the Lord, that I should obey Him?

This question has been asked by all sorts of people. From Pharaoh on down through the ages until now. Why is it so hard for people to grasp that the Lord is our Creator and our God? He places kings and Presidents in their offices. He keeps governments in place to do His will, even though they may not be Christian in their beliefs. Pharaoh didn’t believe in God and didn’t want to believe in Him until God showed that He was above all of the gods of Egypt and Pharaoh too.

So, why do we either decide that we don’t want to believe in God or His Word or we are so arrogant that we think we are better than He is? Satan thought this and still thinks it, but he is a defeated foe. We, as human beings, are much less powerful than an archangel so how can we think that we might have some sway over God’s decisions? We can’t! God created the entire universe with His Word and formed mankind from the dirt on the Earth…can you do that?

God did all of these things for His glory and to make us see that He is God! Not a carving or a casting of any person or imagination or of an animal or your family or your career! None of those can speak to you in the way that He does and not one of them died and rose from the grave to pay for your sins and mine! Only Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, did that and HE did it because He loved us long before we were born!

God the Father knew each of us before the foundation of the world was laid by Him. Yet, many of us act as if He doesn’t exist or rather we don’t want Him to be real. Why? Because, if God is real then His Word is true and everything that we thought we knew about evolution and science, while they may not be wrong some of it will have to be re-thought a bit. Because many have said that there was no world-wide flood and the Earth has to be more than a few thousand years old. Evolution didn’t happen because God created everything, if His Word is true. Which it is! God doesn’t lie.

Your life is dependent upon many things which God has put into place in our natural world. Many of them govern the way the air and the gases which make up our atmosphere react with one another. Some of these numbers are so precise until a variation between 0.007 up or down by only one thousandth would cause the universe itself to come apart and life would cease to exist. So, don’t say that God has no interest in our lives. Even the molecule of the protein which holds our bodies together, called Laminine, is shaped like a Cross.