What did I not do?


Strange title, I know, but sometimes it seems to be a mantra in my life. I am not complaining about it, but many times it seems that I mention something that I want to do and then something else interrupts my thoughts or my accomplishment of that which I wanted to do. Some might call this old age, some might call it being lazy, I just think that I have too much on my mind at times and the stuff which isn’t important at the time gets shoved aside.

2014-07-16-procrastinatorWhichever way you look at it, I could be accused of being a procrastinator and I suppose I should own it. Getting back to the point, what did I not do: I didn’t make some ham chowder. Why? I don’t know, I am not sure exactly what caused that bit to become shunted to the side in favor of something else. Some might also call this a form of adult ADD.

Whatever you want to call it, this little problem of mine doesn’t bother God in the least. He doesn’t have a problem with too much on His plate or on His mind. Thank goodness, because with all of those prayers being sent up to Him every hour or every minute of every day, humanly speaking there isn’t a person who could accomplish a fraction of what God does every second of every day that we don’t even know about! He is the Ultimate Multitasker of the Universe!

God knows which of us can handle multitasking and which of us can’t. Life is doing multiple tasks on a daily basis, just not necessarily on a deadline! Preferably, not a deadline which may get you fired from a job! The only real deadline that I am currently dealing with is the one which has to do with my sermon each Sunday. God usually gives me the words to speak or the topic to speak on, which for this year it has been mostly involving the book of Romans.

Paul was a very good evangelist and a multitasking individual because he was raised as a Pharisee. He knew the Law and the Prophets by memory and didn’t need to carry a scroll with him as we do our Bibles. My point in bringing up problems with our memory is that we can’t remember all of the things that we need to all of the time. Nor can we accomplish all of those tasks in a timely fashion daily, but God gives each of us the ability and the mind to accomplish our tasks which He gives to us at the right time. 

As the Bible says, “you will be given the words to say at the proper time” and the Holy Spirit will give you those words which you need to speak. I rely on this every Sunday and for every writing which I post here. I am not eloquent enough to spout as much as I have over these last six years between Sunday and all of the little sermons that I put up here. God gives me the words, I just put them down. The grace of God and through His Love is the only reason that I have been able to do this.

God loves each of us in a unique fashion that only He knows. We will feel it when we get to Heaven, but until then we have to live with the grace and love brought to us through His Spirit. It isn’t a downgrade exactly, but our humanity prevents us from experiencing His Love in any profound ways in this body. Seek Him out in your life so He can prove that His love is more than you can bear. I have felt it and it is something that I can’t describe to anyone, you just have to experience it yourself.

God does answer prayer!


Time and time again I have heard some people say that “God doesn’t care, He doesn’t answer prayers anymore!”, and with an angry tone they walk away and likely never come back to Bible study or church. Yes, He does answer prayer! He may not answer it the way you want Him to, but He does answer prayer. I have been praying for someone for the past hour or so to have a safe trip and they called and told me they are at their destination, so He does answer prayers!

I know some of you will say that my prayer didn’t count. They were being a good driver so they made it just fine. Maybe so, but I choose to believe that God and His angels had a hand or hands in the outcome of that trip!

Prayers are answered in all sorts of ways. Some are answered when there is a good outcome for a medical test or procedure. Some are answered when a cancer or other disease goes away or can’t be found later and the doctor can’t explain it. God answers your prayers for strength and hope in a time of sorrow and pain. Prayer is answered when a baby is born or when you find your keys that were lost.

God cares about the outcome of your life, every day and if you ask Himnots in your life to be a part of your day in a small way or a big one, He will be! Don’t discount His presence just because you can’t see Him or feel His touch, if you are a Christian or you are thinking about becoming a Christian, He is always nearby. You are never truly alone because HE is EVERYWHERE!

Give God a chance in your life. He can be strength for you, He can answer prayers in positive ways, He can be the friend who sticks closer than a brother, He is your Creator and Savior if you will let Him be.

Truth or Consequences


Living the life of a Christian has never been easy. From the time of Jesus’ departure, the apostles and disciples were persecuted by the local priests and by Rome and the Roman government. This has never really stopped, but the face of persecution is different today.

We sometimes hear it from friends who believe that we are judging them when we aren’t. We see the persecution from groups of radicals in other countries and in our own country of America.

Now, it seems to be coming home because if you preach or tell someone a Truth from the Bible, it is labeled as hate speech and you could be put in jail. Can anything be done to stop this? I don’t think that it will get better before Jesus comes back or at least until those who belong to Jesus are taken up to be with Him.

Yet, many Christians in other countries are being killed or put into “work camps” or into prison and much of their suffering doesn’t reach the news outlets. So, unless the Voice of the Martyrs or some other organization brings it to our attention, we don’t hear about it unless it is a bombing that kills many in a church or an open area. If it happens in a jungle or in the mountains of Nepal or North Korea, the country controls the news media, so it doesn’t get out.

Life in “developed” countries like England or Europe or America hasn’t gotten to the point of people dying for their beliefs…yet. We do hear of isolated cases of “radicalized people” killing others who don’t believe like they do, but those are few right now. How will our Christian nation react when violence against Christians gets worse? What will be done to help us? Or will our so-called “leaders” in Congress turn away and deny that it is a problem?

Christians in the past, like five or six centuries in the past, did some horrible things in the name of the Church or even in God’s name. I won’t deny that. But, making all Christians pay the price with their lives today for something which was done during the Crusades in the 12th century is ridiculous. God will punish those who have done things like killing witches who were NOT witches or killing people in the Middle East because they wouldn’t convert to Christianity. That is just as appalling as 9/11 or any of the other atrocities that are happening because of ISIS now!

Seek out the One, true God in the Bible, not one in a book of made up “holy words” by a pedophile who hated Jews and Christians. I promise, God will avenge His own and it doesn’t involve bombs or cutting their heads off!

God has provided a way for eternal life through belief in Jesus and His atoning work on the cross. Seek Him out in His Word for it is the true Word of God. Pray about what He says in it and learn from Him because in the end, all of us will bow and say that Jesus is Lord and King of all!

The name “Lord” appears how many times?


The word or name “Lord” appears far more in the Bible than many would believe. According to some counts, it is in the Old Testament (KJV) 7234 times. There are other interesting number counts on this page and it depends upon which translation that you use regarding how many times a specific word is mentioned, but it is an interesting page.

Why did I bring this up today? Because, many people seem to wonder about some words in the Bible and how many of them there are. Why does that make a difference? It may not, really, but for some people it may make a bit of a difference. God’s Word does say many things and it is good to know what and why it is said. The only reason that you would need to know this is because you won’t be fooled into believing something which is not in there if you have read it enough to know what is found in it and what is not!

God inspired the writers to write His Word down not because He couldn’t remember, but because we can’t always remember the exact words which He said to us about certain things and why. Which is another reason why each of us needs to read it and study it. Taking a verse or two out of context renders them useless because some of Psalms and Proverbs has no meaning unless you read the whole chapter and verse. Taking any verse on its own renders it unable to be understood in its entirety because the paragraph before and after may lead you to a different understanding of it than just the verse itself.

The shortest verse in the Bible which was written about a sad day in Jesus’ ministry, even though He had told His disciples about what was happening, is: “Jesus wept.” Unless you read the before and after verses, that small verse doesn’t mean much except that it shows how Jesus felt emotions just as deeply as the rest of us. He wept because his friend had died, not because He couldn’t save Him from death but because He had to bring him back from Paradise to live again. It was necessary to do so for the people to see that He had the power to do it even after four days. Not for bragging rights, but to show Who He was and Who He is!

Give your heart to Him, seek Him in the Word and learn more about Him and in that way, one chapter or two every day, you will get to know our Creator and Lord better than you ever have before.

Easter…did it happen?


empty_tomb11We celebrate Easter by doing some strange things like dying eggs and watching for the Easter bunny, but those things have nothing to do with Christianity. So why are they and this holiday part of our religion? Partly because the early church wanted to bring pagans into the church, so they adopted the spring festival that the pagans used to celebrate the renewal of life in the spring as the holiday to represent the resurrection of Jesus.

Jesus’ resurrection did not occur in the way that many people think, at least not according to the Easter celebration. Yes, Jesus was raised to life after three days. Yes, He walked out of the tomb with a new body, but still bearing the scars which He kept because of His sacrifice for us on the cross. Those from the scourging that He bore, were gone. None of the gospel writers tell of any of those scars being seen, which is interesting because the prophecies and some historians of the time said that He was unrecognizable from them.

God can and does heal any disease, even today, and those scars were healed because He bore them for us. God hasn’t stopped healing people and it confounds our doctors today because they can’t understand how someone who was so near death could show no sign of cancer or any other disease, without treatment. The love which God has for us is a type of love which we can’t understand with our mortal, human minds. But…God can work through our prayers and by our faith in Him and His power to work things in such a way that we can’t explain it.

That resurrection morning, when Jesus came out of the tomb, the stone was rolled away by God’s power. It may have been an angel who rolled it away, so that Mary and the disciples could see into the tomb, but it was still the power of God that worked through it all. Your sins and mine were taken away with that resurrection and the work of Jesus Who gave Himself as a Perfect Lamb and sacrifice for all of humanity’s sins. All that we need to do is to listen to the Voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to us and when we hear it, we should respond in faith.

When you do that, your heart is changed into a new creation and you are too. You are no longer the same person who came to church or was reading the Bible and felt the touch of God on your life. You did not do anything other than believe in what you heard or read and the Holy Spirit touched your spirit, your heart, and you accepted the greatest Gift that has ever been given to us! Each of us who have accepted that Gift never have to worry about our eternal reward, because it is sealed in the Blood of Jesus!

When you know that you have given your heart to Him, then the only testimony needed is your baptism. It is a symbolic of your death to sin and then rising to walk in the newness of Life with Jesus. Is it necessary for your salvation? No, but it is a testimony to others of what has happened. Then, read God’s Word and pray about what you read so that He can teach you from it and reveal His Truth to you. While you do that, tell others about Him and what He did for you.

Because, God loves you and He did all of this for you and for me and for everyone who has given their lives to Him through faith. Seek Him out in His Word and at a Bible teaching church, learn about your Savior because He already knows you better than you know yourself.

The wages of a life without Jesus


The wages of sin
Romans 6 

1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.

8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.

10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.

20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.

21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.

22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

What do you consider a sin? Working on the Sabbath? Cursing, taking the Lord’s name in vain? Gambling? Adultery? Gossip? Which of these would you consider a sin? How about telling an untruth (lying)?

In God’s eyes and in His way of looking at sin, all of these are sins and it doesn’t mean that we, even as Christians, have to do more than one. One sin, whether it is telling someone a lie, regardless of it being a little one or a big one, makes you guilty of breaking them ALL! So, how can we be justified in the sight of God?

Only through the belief in Jesus and in His atoning sacrifice on the cross. If you deny that or if you just believe it because the preacher says so but you really don’t believe it in your heart, then your belief is null!

If I told you that a rope could save you from falling to your death, would you believe it? Most of you would, but only IF you could see and feel the rope! The catch is that the rope will only save your life IF you reach out and take it in your hands and hold on to it so you don’t fall.

Jesus will save you from falling into Hell itself, IF you will believe in His atonement and in the work that He accomplished on the cross when you accept Him as your Savior. There is nothing that you can do to “help” Him save you, there is no amount of “good things” which you can do to enhance your salvation. He paid the price for ALL OF US with His blood, His death and His resurrection, there is nothing that you or I can add to it at all.

Choosing to know about Jesus and all of the miracles and Grace which God grants to you and me through Him, will not bring you salvation. Knowing about a chest full of gold on your property doesn’t make you rich, until you claim it!! It is the same with your salvation. If you have felt the knock on your heart and your life,heard that small voice which has tried to get you to accept Jesus BUT you have chosen to ignore it or you have determined that you will do it later??  Why would you do that?

Are you absolutely SURE that you have a tomorrow or next week to accept Jesus as your Savior? Do you know that you will live until tomorrow without a doubt or next weekend, such as next Sunday to determine that you will accept Him then? If you have this knowledge, I want to know who told you? Where did you get it from?

We are not given a guarantee of tomorrow or next week or next year! It is true that God said it was appointed to us “threescore and ten or if by reason of strength, fourscore years”, but this is not a guarantee! Moses wrote this Psalm, which is Psalm 90, and God blessed him with more strength and years to live to about 120, but our days are not written in stone.

God loves us and He will give you eternal life once you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, so from that point you could say that you have tomorrow or next year, but that doesn’t mean that eternity will be in this body and on Earth. Our eternity is in Heaven with Him, your life and mine may only last for a few more days or weeks or maybe until next year if God wills it so. We can’t boast of planning for anything too far out in our lives and I won’t make that mistake.

Seek to follow Jesus and believe in Him and the grace which we are given because of our belief in Him, and do it daily. Waking, give thanks. Eating and working, give God thanks. Coming home safely, give God thanks. Lying down to sleep, give God thanks. Why? Because it was by His Grace alone that you were able to do those things!! His Grace gives you the ability and the strength to do all of those things and without Him and His Grace, you and I are nothing!

Don’t disregard His call on your life or put it off until you have the time to devote to Him, because you don’t know when your life will end here and you will stand in front of God to answer for your words and deeds in this world. If you have given your heart to Him and believe in Jesus and His work on the cross and His resurrection for your salvation, then your sins are covered by His blood and you don’t need to fear the judgement! Standing there without Jesus as your advocate will be a terrifying ordeal, so don’t choose that path.

Truth in the Word


How much truth do you see in God’s Word? In the gospel? If it isn’t true and there is no Truth in it, then why believe?

The Trinity has existed as three in One…as God for a very long time, long before we or anything else in Creation existed. How can we so arrogantly believe that God sent His Son to die and then abandoned Him there? The Holy Spirit was there, God was there and Jesus was on the cross, so He wasn’t abandoned at the cross exactly…He just felt that He was. His humanity felt that way!

The same way that His human heart and His brain told Him to be afraid and anxious before the scourging and the crucifixion. It was His humanity which made Him feel alone, scared and helpless on the cross, but He wasn’t. Our truth is relative today because as psychologists put it, “your truth is not my truth”. This is a very clever lie from Satan. God loves each of us far more than we could ever know or comprehend, until we are in His Presence of course.

You have the freedom to believe in Him and His Word or not, because it is necessary. Love doesn’t come to anyone unless it is free to be given in return as well as received from the other person. Yes, we are free to refuse His love for us if we choose and to live our lives in complete self-righteousness, thinking that we are good enough without Jesus. That we deserve to be allowed into Heaven on our own merits.

The problem with that kind of thinking is that it is totally WRONG!! Until you give your heart to Jesus and allow Him to come in and fix the problems which you caused and to show you what real love actually is, you will always feel empty and without hope. This is what God wanted to save us from in the first place…ourselves. Because ever since the Fall, we have all been born with a seed of sin in our hearts. Toddlers will lie to you without even knowing what they are doing, so that proves that sin is there.

God loves us anyway!! He created all of us and He knows the desires and needs of our heart even when we weren’t born yet. From the moment you were conceived until your death, God knows what you will do, when you will do it and why. He doesn’t force the decisions on you, but He knows what those decisions are or will be, and until you give your life to Him, He will watch you and be with you regardless until you figure out that you really need Him.

Seek Him out before it gets too far or before your life gets out of control! He is there and always has been, so make sure that you know Him before your life is over and your chance to know Him as Savior is gone for good.

Three words in Scripture


There are three words which contrast the grace of God toward us and they are seen in all of the Old Testament and the third one is mostly in the New Testament. These three words are “but God” and “therefore”.

Have you ever wondered why there are statements like that? Mainly, both of those statements are to show us that God is not lacking in love toward us because when you see these words, He is about to change something or do something which will make a difference in many lives! When you see “therefore” in the New Testament, it means simply that whatever follows is done, period.

Why do I claim this for either of these statements or words? Because my claim is accurate and true. How can I say that since I am just a man and not God?

Here are a few proofs:

Genesis 8:1
But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded.

Genesis 31:42
If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands, and last night he rebuked you.

Genesis 50:20
You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

1 Samuel 23:14
David stayed in the desert strongholds and in the hills of the Desert of Ziph. Day after day Saul searched for him, but God did not give David into his hands.

All of these examples show that God cares for us, not just the Israelites but the whole of humanity! Why? Because, He wouldn’t have sent Jesus to die in our place, to suffer the scorn and the abandonment upon the cross if He did not love us!

Why do you think that Jesus said to His disciples, “Suffer the little children to come unto me”, because children don’t need a “why” or a reason to believe…they just do! This is the kind of faith that we seem to lose as adults. We get so caught up in life and in our living until we can’t or won’t believe unless we can touch it or feel it in our hands. This is why there will be so many “Christians” in hell one day! Many of them think that they know Jesus and that they believe in Him, when they really believe in the idea of Him and His love for them. The “idea” won’t save their souls!

We have to shed our veil, the curtain which we have been seeing Him through and look at Him as our Creator and our Savior and see Him as a real and living person, not as a “quaint idea” that is spoken of in the Bible and at church. Many times during my life when I thought that I was a “Christian”, I prayed and I read a few verses of scripture. But, I never did get into the Temple. I never crossed the threshold of the outer court, let alone come into the Holy Places where God is. God enjoyed a relationship with Adam and Eve for a while, yet we don’t know how long it was. They were immortal at that point, so it could’ve been a long time. This is the sort of relationship that He wants with His church, His people….today.

Do we come near to Him? Do we visit with Him every day or do we just visit for an hour or so on Sunday morning, then go home and don’t think about Him again until next week? How would you feel if that were your relationship with your spouse? Kinda cold isn’t it?

God loves you and me and everyone else on this world that He created for us, but we seem to forget that He is there. We don’t want to acknowledge Him unless we need Him for something, usually urgently…like RIGHT NOW!!

God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit don’t work like that! The Spirit comes to you when you become a Christian. He doesn’t come as a drip at a time, but as the whole package. Jesus saves you and you are to become more like Him as you mature in your walk, daily, as a Christian, studying the Word of God and learning from Him. God watches over you and me and everyone else and makes sure that all things work to our good and His glory IF we belong to Him.

The church needs to understand that since we are the “body of Christ” until His return, we need to mature into people who are as priests in His Kingdom. We shouldn’t be acting like little children who don’t know better or who don’t know how to act like Christians who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. We act as if reading the Bible and singing a few songs on Sunday and maybe on Wednesday night and listening to a preacher or elder in the church expound on scripture is all that we need to do!

Are you kidding? Reading the Bible is great because you are learning more about God and His ways, but just reading a few verses once or twice a week is not enough! We need to read chapters and verses and books because we can’t understand His ways and His way of doing things until we get into the context of Scripture. The context can’t be discerned by a verse or two, it has to be pulled from a chapter and a book and the only One Who can do that is the Holy Spirit. He can help you to understand God’s Word and the context in which it was meant to be learned.

 

So much anger


angerIn today’s world, on the news, in your home town even, it seems that there is a lot of anger. You see the effects of it every day on the news and in your neighborhood. You see it and hear it sometimes in your own home. But…everyone seems to brush it under the rug and ignore it until, one day something blows up. Frustration with our government or with your family builds and builds until one day it is in the news on television. A couple kills each other over supposed infidelity, whether true or not the end result is that two people are dead. Someone straps a bomb to themselves because they were taught to hate other people who worship differently and they go to a marketplace and blow themselves up and kill as many people, men, women and children, as they can. What did that accomplish?

It is hard to understand these things because we don’t know what happened to cause them. Sometimes, it is a senseless thing which is happening, at other times it seems that there is a reason for it. Outside the culture or the neighborhood or even the family, the reporters and the rest of the public just don’t understand what caused this? Why did it happen the way it did? Is anyone responsible?

We don’t understand the reason even if one is given via email or post on social media, so how can we help? Can we help? Is there anything that someone could do or say to help in these situations?

The truthful answer is: we don’t know. I can’t understand the mindset of a person or a group of people whose intent is to do these things. Is there a way to help?

The only answer that I can come up with, comes from God’s Word: Love your neighbor as yourself. So, why aren’t people being taught this instead of hate? Because the world and those in it don’t like to hear the truth from an indisputable source. The world and its religions, besides Christian religions, doesn’t want to hear this and they can’t come back with a saying or a truth from their religions which is better!

The advice and love and mercy which comes from God’s Word can be disbelieved and thrown in the trash but you can’t find better wisdom and knowledge because it came from Him. God is the ultimate Creator and King of all and His wisdom is beyond our understanding. His wisdom is above us as we are above an ant or a snail, yet each of those is wise in their own way. The ant does his gathering for when things are tough, the snail does what God designed him to do because he is a snail.

We are created in His image to be like Him and in order to be like Him we should learn about Him and walk with Him daily. Not weekly or once every month or just a couple of times in the year, but every day that you wake up thank Him for that day and be thankful for the opportunities that you may have during that day. Living daily with Him and through Him is not something which is easy, you have to purpose and decide to follow Him daily. Christians all over the world, those who are saved by their belief in Him Who saved them, neglect to do this even though they belong to Him. Why?

Because, after their salvation they feel that they have all that they need from God until something happens and then they call on Him to give them help and healing. It is something which you see in the Old Testament from one chapter to the next, following God while they are without enemies or without drought. Then, they forget the One Who saved them from their enemies or from a drought and go back to living as they wish to until some other calamity comes upon them.

I am not saying that living with God daily, reading His Word and praying to give Him praise for His grace and mercy will give you a life without problems, it will not! We are not perfect, we will all fail in our faith at some point, but God is gracious and will forgive us if we will confess it and turn back to Him again. Life, even the life of a Christian, is not easy but as a follower of Christ, Satan will attempt to cause you to fall in the sight of all so that your witness to them is taken away. Sometimes, your witness will be stained not by Satan but by your past. If you are called to be a minister in an area where people have known you for most of your life, like Jesus when He came to Nazareth, many won’t hear the Word of God that you preach but will be listening to you as you were when you were younger.

Do not fail to deliver the Word in your calling, regardless of their view of you or their opinion, because that is what God called you to do. If they accept it and repent then God brought it about, if not then they weren’t listening with their spiritual ears to begin with.

What can we do?


There are many paths to enlightenment in the world today, philosophically speaking, therefore, which one is the correct path for all concerned? Few I’m afraid….actually there is only one.

Philosophy and enlightenment are pursuits which give us knowledge but that will not enable you to be a part of God’s Kingdom. Even knowledge of the Bible and all that it contains will not get you into Heaven without belief and faith in Jesus! Reading and studying the Bible until you know it by heart will do nothing for you spiritually unless the Holy Spirit opens your mind and heart so that you can see Who your Savior truly is and accept Him.

Knowledge and degrees and meditation are wonderful for their own purposes, but the experience of God is found through faith and belief in Jesus. If you don’t have that, then the Bible is just a book of historical figures and facts written by men. God did not give us His Word, the Bible, to be just a book. It is the revelation of Himself and His Son from beginning to end and it doesn’t matter if everyone doesn’t see it that way!

The Sun shines whether you have any faith or belief in it or not. Gravity still works whether you believe it exists or not. God and His promise through Jesus the Christ will accomplish everything written down by His apostles and prophets because He is God, whether you believe in Him and His Son or not.

Life, love, greed, hatred, envy and fear all exist as part of our emotional lives in one way or  another. We cannot change this because we can’t change the character of the entire world and every person in it. All of this boils down to one Truth and that is: Jesus came and died on a cross for your sins and your father’s sins and your friend’s sins. He paid the price for all of them, each and every person past, present and future. Whether we believe it or not doesn’t change the fact that it happened and it won’t change anything about the future which was foretold in the book of Revelation.

Seek Him by believing in Him. Read His Word and ask Him to show you the wisdom that you need to have so that your eyes will see Him as He is. The Savior that you need for healing, strength, and hope for eternity, because Jesus is the Savior that we all have been searching for.