Category: God’s purpose for you

Faith…do you have enough?


When we are saved and we are accepted into the family of God, we are granted a measure of faith. Even though many of us feel as if we don’t have enough faith, it is because we aren’t using our faith in our lives. It isn’t that we don’t have enough, because Jesus said if you have as little faith as a mustard seed, you can do all things and more BUT you have to use your faith in order for it to work!

Faith is like money in that regard. We are given a measure of faith when we become Christians but if it is not used then it just sits there and eventually it gets dimmer and less effectual than it could be. Just as with money, you can have thousands of dollars but until you use it for either paying bills or investing it in something to make it grow, it just sits there doing nothing.

Being a Christian takes faith, which today seems to be in short supply in all areas of life but especially in the church. The church is where you come to worship God and learn of Him and His Son, Jesus, but it is only a building until the people, who make up the church, come in and begin to worship and praise God. If there is no spirit of praise, no spirit of God coming with those who come to the church, then the gathering is just a group of people listening to a speech.

Sadly, in America today many churches are in that shape. The fire of the Holy Spirit has gone out or it is smoldering at a point that it couldn’t be brought to a flame without a fuel being poured on it, like gasoline or alcohol. Our churches and the people of America have come to this point because even though over seventy percent of people in America claim to be Christians…once you get to the point of proof like attendance and Bible study on a regular schedule, the figure drops drastically to around fifteen or maybe twenty percent.

We have walked away from God, turned our backs on Him and decided that we would have to take care of our own problems without any help from Him. Our independent spirit at work and at home is killing the church and many people are celebrating. God will not strive with us forever, He will take His hands and His blessing away from our country and then we will find out exactly what it feels like to be without God. I have prayed that day would never come, but it seems that it is happening right now.

Pray for our nation and our leaders because they need God in their lives and our nation needs Him in many other areas too.

Faith, do I have enough?


We all have a measure of faith, whether it is a small measure or a large one, each person has some faith. Jesus said that faith the size of a mustard seed, which isn’t much bigger than a period at the end of a sentence, can move mountains IF we don’t doubt God! God’s Word is full of all sorts of events which happened because of the faith of the people. So, do you have enough?

Of course you do and I do too! Why do I say it that way? Because, our measure of faith is our portion which is given to each person. Some of us have a large measure of faith, which you can see working in a person’s life. Will God use pain and suffering to teach you to have faith in Him? No! He will not! Some preachers teach this, but God loves you and He is a good and just God, so why would He hurt you in some way to make you grow?

God will allow Satan to have access to you and he will test you in one way or another, just as He did with Job in the Old Testament. He lost everything including his health, but he would not blame God for it! He held onto his faith in God’s goodness and God’s provision even when things were not going very well for him.

Have you taken a step in faith? Even when you can’t see the way ahead of you, whether it is a spiritual journey or one in this life every day, God wants us to prove our faith by stepping out in faith so that He can fulfill that part of your life. I don’t mean that you should test God, that is not the same as stepping out in faith.

If you have prayed about something earnestly and in your spirit you feel that God wants you to do something like be a preacher or an evangelist, then step out there and His blessings will follow. Some people use this the wrong way and buy a new house or a car and they justify it by saying that God said so. Maybe and maybe not. If you can afford it and it doesn’t put a strain on your finances then it may turn out to be a good thing.

God doesn’t have to provide the money if you jump out there and buy something that is way outside your ability to pay for. He will allow you to do this because He wants you to realize that you did that yourself, He wasn’t part of the decision. You can convince yourself that you have heard God’s voice telling you to do this, but it is very likely that it is Satan. He will cause you to do something stupid and convince you that it was God telling you to do this and then laugh at you when you can’t pay for it!

Faith is something that God gives you through the Holy Spirit when you have given your heart to Him. Some of us have a lot of faith, some of us have a little, but a little bit of faith can do a lot when it is faith in God. Make sure that your faith is in Jesus and God and them alone because if your faith is in yourself or in your job or money, then your faith is in temporary things.

Think about it and make sure about your salvation, because tonight may be the last time you get a chance to make that decision.

Factors which motivate


Have we become so satisfied with our life, our church, our life in Christ until there is no motivation to learn or be better? Paul said that  “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:14 , what are we doing? Many churches, not just individuals, are in the this very spot. They are satisfied with what they have and where they are, which is stopping them from moving toward the “prize” that Paul was speaking of.

Satisfaction with your salvation and your life in Christ is something that we cannot live with! Why? Because satisfaction causes us to be complacent and content with what we have. Just as you cannot touch a part of a stream or river twice, memories and satisfaction with something, someone or sometime in your past cannot be brought into today.

Satisfaction and motivation are exact opposites of each other. When you are satisfied with what you have or where you are, you will never have more than you have right now. Motivation is like the escape from being slaves or having a snake in your house, it inspires you to get up and do something! Why? Because, you don’t want the snake to get comfortable! You don’t want to remain a slave to poverty and want, but until you get motivated enough to do something about it…nothing will change.

There is no huge bag of money which will fall from the sky. None of these “schemes” will make any difference in your life because 99.9% of them only take your money and give it to someone else! God loves you and even though He won’t drop a talent of gold in your yard, your eternal home sits on a street paved with gold which is more pure than any here on Earth!

Although, many people will read this (at least I hope they will), most will look at what I wrote and say that “I need the money or the blessings now, not in eternity!” God knows exactly how much you need and He can provide it but if you keep going around Him and causing more problems by spending money on things that aren’t useful or trying to “get rich quick”, then He will just sit back and wait until you decide that you can’t do it yourself!

Motivation in life is the fire which gets us out of bed in the morning, the problem is that as we get older that fire tends to become a pile of smoldering ash. This is when we lose hope in the future because we didn’t use our time or our money wisely enough in our youth so that it would be available when the fire grows cold. It is a sobering realization when you are older when you don’t have enough money to pay the bills and you can’t get a job to make up the difference.

How can I give you inspiration in this post when my own life is so out of whack? To be honest, I can’t. Yes, God loves us and He wants the best for us but when we squander our lives and our resources on things which are not eternal then there is nothing which will change in your life today, because yesterday or many yesterdays took everything that you had! Your future in Christ is assured if you belong to Him, so eternity is there to reward you. If you haven’t taken care of that part of your life, then eternity will be very different and it lasts a very long, long time.

Get motivated to do something about your life, either here or in eternity, because today is now and what you do with it will affect tomorrow. What you decide about Jesus and your life as a Christian or not will have an eternal effect on your life as well. Don’t neglect one and sacrifice the other.

If my people….


14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

What would really happen if Christians, not just in America but all over the world, took this to heart? Could a change happen? Would we be determined in our worship enough to keep on being humble in His presence until something..everything began to change? I would hope so.

The world sorely needs this to happen everywhere, in all countries, even those who don’t follow God nor believe in Jesus as the Savior! Especially in those countries! The church, the body of believers in countries where persecution is a daily practice, is growing just as it did in the early centuries after Jesus’ death and resurrection. Some would ask, “Why?”, and the answer to that is this: when persecution comes the church leans on and depends upon God more than ever before.

So, why can’t we depend on Him when we aren’t being persecuted? We should be thanking Him and praising Him for living in a country where persecution is not so bad yet! We should be getting out into the streets and telling people about Him, so why aren’t we? Because we are afraid.

We are afraid that the people will see us as freaks or religious nuts. I would rather be a nut in God’s basket than a huge rock in Satan’s fortress!

Yes, we are afraid to let people see that we actually believe in something or Someone! Why? Because we don’t want to be lumped in with all of those “deplorables”! What is so bad about being seen as a true believer in Christ? Many seem to be afraid of being seen as a fanatic. The disciples were fanatics! The early church would be considered fanatical in their beliefs, so much so until they were killed and tortured in ways that are hard to imagine today.

God loves you and He doesn’t require you or me to be a fanatic with our faith, but He will give you the strength and the words to go with it if you will. You don’t have to walk around carrying a cross or stand on a corner yelling about the end of the world being near, but in the world that we live in people still need to hear the message. Many don’t come to church, so the only way they will find the message is to put it out on the web or be a nuisance enough to get your message on the news.

Jesus told His disciples to go and tell the whole world about the gospel and they did. It seems that the church has drawn back from being the voice of Jesus in our world. We will shine the light in our community, but taking it with us into our workplace or into the city and the towns nearby is another thing. We are supposed to be the feet of Jesus too! By taking His gospel with us at work, at school, at home, into restaurants (fast food or otherwise), people will see our faith, if they don’t want to see it they don’t have to look or listen.

We should turn our lives and our hearts back to belief in Jesus and serve Him in every way that we can, especially at home teaching our children Who and why we believe in Him! Because as soon as they leave home for college, their minds will be open to many things and if Christ isn’t in their hearts and minds, then something or someone else will get in there.

Walking like He walked..


Have you ever heard that we are supposed to do this? We are supposed to be representing Him in this world, showing His Light to others. Do you do this? Do you try to do it every day?

As Christians, we are truly supposed to be examples of His Love in this world where people seem to hate more than they love. Oh, there are good people and people who do good things for others once in a while, but Jesus did things for people everywhere He went. Sometimes it was a healing, sometimes it involved making water into wine, sometimes it had to do with giving someone their sight back, even if they had never had it.

Granted, we don’t have the complete faith, the kind which doesn’t doubt, in order to do these wonderful miracles. Some people say that those were done only to fulfill prophecy and to get people’s attention on the Messiah. It is true, those miracles were done by the Savior and our Creator as well as the disciples in the beginning of the church. But…we can do things for people in need, if we have the means to do so. Do you?

The only thing that I can do most days is to pray for their health and for their healing, asking for all of the people on my prayer list and all of those who ask for prayer on my Facebook page. I don’t know many of them personally, but God knows who they are and what is happening in their lives. He knows what is wrong and what can be done for them and what HE can and will do for them.

God doesn’t answer prayers in the ways that we want ALL of the time, but He does answer them. Sometimes it is a “maybe” or “wait”, sometimes it is “no”, but the reason behind these is because God knows what He has for you and what you are asking for is not His best, nor is it what He has in store for you. Of course when we get those kind of answers we think that God doesn’t love me. God loves each of us far more than we can imagine and He is NOT like us! His love is a kind of love that we can’t understand in this life. We won’t get to that point where we can understand it until we are in His Presence!

“Walking the walk” as some put it isn’t hard to do, but it has to be practiced and done on the basis that we intentionally do it every day. It is not natural to wake in the morning and thank God for opening your eyes, but that is what we should do. Getting up and walking to the kitchen should be a thankful process as well, we should take nothing for granted because none of us are guaranteed tonight or tomorrow. Truly, God loves us, all of us because of His Son’s sacrifice for our salvation. It is something that we should be eternally grateful for, not something that is taken for granted.

Please, seek Him out so that your eternity is sealed and in His Presence. If you keep telling yourself that you will get to it later, then one day, later will get to you. Then, you will stand and give an account of every word and deed done which was done in your own strength and without Jesus. Your righteousness, like that of the Pharisees, is worthless in God’s eyes unless your heart belongs to Jesus and He lives in you! If that doesn’t describe your salvation, your righteousness, then your eternity will be in a place that was not made for humanity..but for Satan.

Are you satisfied..with God?


You know, it sounds like a very silly question doesn’t it? Shouldn’t we be more concerned about His satisfaction with us? Actually, it really is a give and take relationship…a two-way relationship between you and God! Why wouldn’t we be satisfied with Him? Maybe He didn’t answer your prayer the way you thought He should or maybe something happened to you or a family member and you prayed to Him about it and got no peace about it or no answer at all.

God is not a genie! He is the Creator of the entire universe from the largest galaxy to the smallest particles of matter! He doesn’t have to answer your prayers the way that you want Him to! Especially, if your ideas and your wants conflict with what He has waiting for you! God loves you more than you know, but you need to realize that He is in control and learn to be satisfied with Him!

Satisfaction with God is not something which is automatic because we are not satisfied with out own lives most of the time. Being satisfied with God is knowing that He has your best interests in mind and knowing that He can see the future of this action or this prayer and He is going to work in your life for the best outcome, no matter what! Granted, there are times when the best outcome may be to bring you home to Heaven rather than allowing you to suffer here on Earth. We may not have the ability to heal your problems, but God can.

Although, sometimes His way of healing happens to include your travel to Heaven to stay. The connection between believers and God has to do with your Spirit which changed you into a born-again, sanctified Christian is always in communication with God, even if you are not. The Spirit living inside you is part of the Trinity and it is that part which is always in touch with God, as long as you haven’t quenched the Spirit’s influence or grieved the Spirit in any way.

The question about those two things weighed on my heart for a long time until recently, so I will give you the definition that I received. Quenching the Spirit is concerning something that God wants us to do and we don’t do it, grieving the Spirit is when you do something that is against God’s command or purpose in your life, like drinking a beer or smoking a joint especially when someone else may see you do it. You have grieved God’s Spirit in your life and you have ruined your testimony in front of someone else who knows that you claim to be a Christian.

We are complicated beings made in God’s image with a physical body, an immortal soul and if you are a Christian you have the Holy Spirit residing inside you to teach you, comfort you, strengthen you and guide you through whatever life throws your way. In order to live that kind of life, you need to learn about Him and His ways so you can listen to His voice and recognize it as God. The only way to do this is by reading God’s Word so you will know what His voice, His Word sounds like. It will always involve a relationship to either Himself or Jesus and it will never seek to do something which is against a command in the Bible.

Learn His ways by reading His Word and praying about what you read. Go to a Bible teaching church, regardless of the denomination, so that you will hear from His Word and not just someone’s ideas about God. Being satisfied with God and His provision for your life is something which we all need to do, even though it isn’t easy sometimes. It is a learning process just as being a Christian is. Yes, you can become a Christian by giving your heart to Jesus, but you have to learn to walk with Him on a daily basis and learn from Him and the Word so that you can be an effective witness to others.

When you give your heart to Him and truly ask Him to forgive you and make you His, you are a babe in Christ and just like babies we all have to grow and learn. Being a Christian is not automatic and it isn’t the easiest job to learn either, but it is well worth it! Satisfaction with Him will come as you learn more about Him and mature in your faith. Put your trust…your faith in Him like you see children trusting their parents or like your dog trusts you and you will learn quickly that it is the best relationship that you have ever had!

Seconds, minutes, hours….


We are very attached to our measurement of time. We seem to obsess over how little we seem to have, but the issue has always been with us. From the moment of our birth until the day that we die, the seconds, minutes and hours tick by whether we use them or not. Yet, we complain about not having enough. We have 86,400 seconds allotted to each of us every day. What you do with them is up to you. From midnight to sunrise there are approximately 21,600 seconds which most of us sleep through (if we sleep until 6 am).

From that point on until midnight the next night, you have 64,800 seconds until the next day begins.

Looking at our days like this, it seems that we waste more time than we thought we did. Is there anything that we can do about this? Not really. We have to sleep, we have to eat at some point, and many of us have to drive to and from work every day. By the time you factor in all of that, most of your day is spent.

Jesus said that we should work while the day is here, because the night comes and no man can work. There are many who do work night shifts, but in His day the only people who did so were shepherds who watched over their flocks at night. During the night hours, the only other people who are out are criminals who steal, kill or otherwise commit crimes. Today, there are the police and firefighters who are also working during the night, along with nurses, doctors and emergency medical personnel.

Why am I writing about time here? Because, we all have a limited amount of it in our lifetimes and we must be about the work that we are assigned by God while we can. It is true that we may have other jobs to perform as well, but if you are a Christian then you have a job assigned to you to let others know about His love for them! They need to know because they will be sent to hell and if you have the chance to tell them and you don’t, then you will have to answer for it.

I don’t mean to frighten anyone, and you won’t lose your salvation but you may lose a reward in Heaven for not telling the people who you could’ve and you didn’t. Compared to eternity, our life passes by like a second on your watch. We should be trying to do all that we can to tell those, particularly those who you count as friends and relatives, about the love of Jesus and that He died for them! If they don’t accept the gospel and accept Him or they tell you that they are already saved, then you have done all that you can to help. It is up to the Holy Spirit to convict them and bring them back from the far country.

Time is precious and it is coming to the end of the church age as I type this. It is true, we may have another ten or twenty years, but in my heart and according to all of the prophecies which have been fulfilled I am not sure how much time we really have left. Do what you can and then give the matter over to God.

In His Service.

So much strife


Today it seems that is all that is on the news, whether it is a cable channel or a national network. Everyone seems to be having truly hard times in the world that we live in. From wars and persecution in the Middle East and Asia to natural disasters like the flooding in South Mississippi and Louisiana. Is there anything or anyone who can help or even cares enough to help?

It seems that the government has taken a holiday since the beginning of the flood in the South and nobody seems to care one bit about the people caught up in it. Is there anyone who will help? Yes, local people and police and fire departments are helping. Some churches and other organizations are helping as much as they can. The national guard has been called up in most of the areas, where the flooding is the worst, to help with rescues and to keep the looting down.

Why do these problems and disasters bring out some of the good and some of the really bad in people? It seems that the bad is more pronounced because of these situations rather than bringing out the better side of people. So what happened?

I am not sure exactly. Many of the people who are looting and doing other crimes are young people who should know better! Why aren’t they being taught right from wrong and how to be productive citizens rather than being people who demand everything be given to them for free? I am sure that our schools had nothing to do with this, because they don’t teach morals in schools anymore because the teachers aren’t allowed to.

What happened? Well, about fifty-three years ago prayer was taken out of schools as well as teaching from the Bible and lately our pledge of allegiance has suffered the same fate because of being politically correct and not being offensive. All of these things have taken pride in your country and the sense of right and wrong out of education. Life isn’t fair to everyone and our progressive government from back then and today has made it harder for those on the lower socioeconomic scale to get out of their situations and make life better.

Jesus came to do the same thing. He did not intend for everyone to share equally in all things, like socialist countries do, but Heaven is meant for those who belong to Him. In Heaven we will all be equal because we will be serving Him in His Kingdom! We will have different jobs to do and abilities to use to do so, but in God’s eyes we are equal but different. Not due to the color of our skin, but because He gave each of us a talent and a purpose before we were even born and we will fulfill our purpose in His Kingdom!

Have you asked Jesus to come into your life and to forgive you of your sins? If you haven’t, what are you waiting for? None of us are guaranteed to see another sunrise, but we have today, right now. If you have felt the Spirit calling you to repent and come to Jesus, don’t put it off. Come to Him, ask Him to forgive you for waiting so long and then make sure that you find a Bible teaching church or at least someone who knows Him and can lead you in studying the Bible.

By faith…


If you have ever read the Old Testament at all, you have noticed that many of the patriarchs stories begin with that statement, “By faith…”. Did you ever wonder why? Because nothing that is done for God in this life will work unless it is done by faith. Even people who didn’t know Jesus, like the servants at the wedding at Cana, had a smidgen of faith. His mother told them to do whatever He tells you.

They had run out of wine at the wedding feast, so Jesus told them to fill six water jars with water, then draw some and give it to the master of the feast. When they did, he exclaimed that the groom had saved the best wine for later rather than giving it out at the beginning. The servants didn’t know Who He was, but on Mary’s word they did what Jesus asked and they knew that what they put in the jars was water but what came out was wine.

By faith, we can do many things if we will believe. Faith in God and in His Son can heal relationships, disease, heartaches, and all sorts of other maladies particularly those caused by sinful behavior. By faith and without doubt, you can do anything through Jesus and the Holy Spirit!

By faith the mouths of lions were shut, by faith Samson conquered the Philistines, by faith David vanquished Goliath, by faith Peter stepped out of the boat and walked toward Jesus on the surface of the water. All of these were accomplished by faith. It is true that faith can be short-circuited by doubt and by obstacles in life, but if you will keep your faith focused on Jesus and His Spirit, then there is nothing which can’t be done for God’s Kingdom!

Ministries can expand, the effect of those ministries can impact even more people, when you have faith in the power of God to accomplish His purposes through your life or your ministry. I am not giving you a way of getting wealth by this fashion because that is not what serving God is about! Yes, there are some out there who use their ministries to do just that, but they will have to answer for this and many other things one day.

All that I ask is that those of you who read this post, search the Scriptures for faith, do your homework for God and your ministry for His Kingdom because in the end, when this life is over you will be standing before Him. Do you want to bow before Him as a humble servant and a minister or will you stand arrogant and proud of what your ministry accomplished! IT WASN’T YOUR MINISTRY!! If you truly are a child of God and have surrendered your life to Him, then anything that your ministry did or accomplished belonged to God and it always did!

Salvation, do you need it?


Salvation is a state of being which you need if you wish to have a productive and rewarding eternity. It is granted to us through the Grace of God by believing in Jesus and His sacrifice for us which paid the price for our sins. All that we need to do to claim it is to ask God for His forgiveness and repent (turn away from) of our sinful ways and ask Jesus to come into our hearts to make us into the person that God intended for us to be.

We can’t do this alone nor can we come to it from any other pathway except by belief in Jesus’ sacrifice which paid the price that we cannot pay. Why am I writing about this? Because it is necessary to do so. Our world is out of sync with God and the world seems to be OK with this! Most things which are seen as good today would’ve been looked down upon thirty or fifty years ago. The things which are labeled as “bad” today are the virtues and values which our grandparents valued and raised their children to emulate.

We are in a society which is upside down from the values which our country once valued. Why is that? Because society has been trying to get rid of any mention of God or Jesus in any part of our society. We have been under what I consider to be God’s judgement for the past few years but it is going to get worse. I don’t know which of our candidates will win the election, but unless we repent of our march away from God and turn back to Him, I fear that our situation will only get worse.

We need salvation and we also need a revival on a national scale, even a worldwide scale! God has been trying to get our attention and yet we seem to concentrate on every little bit of fluff news which isn’t news and we ignore the real issues. Poverty, human trafficking, drugs, killing each other for no reason except that we wanted to do it, these are symptoms of a society on the edge of anarchy and we need to pull back from that edge!

God provided a way for us to be reconciled to Him and for us to be more at peace with each other, but it requires repentance and humility and a willing spirit to follow Him. We cannot do it on our own merit nor do we have the strength to do it on our own either. The only way that we can do this is by giving our heart to Jesus and repenting of our sins of pride and selfishness. Then get into and study God’s Word because it is not a false book as some claim, it is the Truth which God gave to us as a guidebook for our lives.

Many people who have fought against this Book are now turning to it for strength and comfort and salvation. Why? Because it is just as relevant today as it was when it was written. The wisdom contained in it is useful and effective for all parts of your life and God will speak to you through its words. He has done this and will do the things which are written in it again. Believe in Jesus for your salvation and your eternity, learn about Him by studying His Word and follow His example for being a disciple of His.

Amen.