Category: Grace

So much love


Yes, I know that there are many of you out there who may not know the One of which I speak. Yet, He does love you with such a deep and abiding love that it is indescribable, at least in human terms. I have felt it at times in worship and in reading and studying His Word, yet I can’t give you a description of it any more than you could tell someone about the color blue or red!

There are many ways that we feel love in life. Through our families, our friendships, even from people who somehow helped us when we didn’t know it. Love can be expressed in ways that defy description, even from human terms, but God’s love is a kind of love that goes as deep as your cellular structure, even into your atomic structure. That kind of love, agape’ love, is the kind that asks nothing in return and never expects anything more than love to be given away. In doing this, you glorify God and that gives Him pleasure too.

God created us, each of us, with certain talents and abilities and we are to use them for His Glory and purpose. But, many don’t do this because they don’t want to or they don’t want to believe in God or in His Son, Jesus. The reasons for this are many. Some say that Jesus was just a prophet and nothing more, some say that God doesn’t have a Son, that He is One and none others are involved. The tiny, relative to the universe, ball of dirt that we live on is the one place which God has focused His attention on at this time. He may create another place and other people in the future, but as far as we know right now we are it. This is not arrogance, it’s just that we don’t have any proof of anyone else so we can’t say for sure.

If there are others, God loves them too wherever they may be. Love covers many things in life. Real love, not just lust or infatuation, doesn’t get jealous or angry because true, abiding love doesn’t stray from a relationship. In the past and right now too, people are moving away from a belief in God because He is not seen or they just don’t want the Bible to be true. That way, they don’t have to be responsible for their sins because of the Truth in the Bible.

God loves all of us and cares for us just as He did for Israel in the times of their slavery. He brought them out and into a land where they could have served Him in a fantastic way, but they didn’t obey Him and the commandments given to them. They mingled with the inhabitants of the land and began worshipping their gods who were not gods at all, but were likely demons.

We have our own version of this today. We worship money, fame, beauty, sex, drugs, alcohol. Though we may not bow down to them, we give our attention and our lives over to them in ways that are very similar to the pagan worship of trees and the earth and stars. Reading through the Bible brings forward some very interesting parallels to life today if you notice it.

Seek Him in His Word, find the love that He has for us as His creation. Then, ask Him to change your heart and your life so that you will know Him even better than you have known anyone before. I promise, you won’t be disappointed if you are repentant and desire to know Him as your Savior and Lord.

What do you hear?


From the television and almost all of the news sources, mostly…JUNK! The world is going down the tubes fast, and all anyone seems to care about is their shows on TV or what is happening on Facebook. What difference does it make? Facebook, Twitter, Survivor, and so on are all just there to distract us from what is happening in the world. Yes, there are some on all of those social media sites which are talking about actual news, but what news?

What about our freedom? Freedom to worship ANY way you want to in America! We have that freedom right now, but it seems that there are so many on one side who can’t stand ANY mention of God or Jesus! I am not trying to force anyone, anywhere to worship the way that I do, but it seems that there are many who just can’t stand to read or hear about Jesus at all. If you want to worship a rock, I don’t care! That is your option, even God gave you the choice to do so even if He doesn’t agree with it.

We have a choice and it was given to us by God Himself. You can choose to believe it or not, it doesn’t matter to me. I pray that you will come to Him before your life is over, but it is your choice regardless of where you live, at least as far as I am concerned. Many of the countries in the world are not nearly free enough to have the choice of Who they worship, as we are in America.

Christians, whether you agree with their faith or not, are being killed not just persecuted and yet the Christians there are not converting to Islam. They would rather die for their faith, just as the martyrs have done for hundreds of years. I pray that we in America don’t see this kind of persecution, but it may happen yet.

What can we do? Pray for those in areas where Christians are being persecuted severely like in Iraq and Iran and Turkey. I don’t know what to tell you about things that we could do other than pray. Since God is in control and He can send Angels to comfort and help those people, prayer is powerful because God is able to deliver them by His power.

The world is tearing itself to pieces and it isn’t over, this is just the beginning. It actually hasn’t gotten to the point that most are fearing will come yet. Read your Bible, study the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation, pray about what you are reading. We are at the beginning of those times! Watch and pray that you will have the strength to endure until He comes again to take the church out of this.

Regarding God


Yesterday, I reblogged a post about an African church and it tells how they praise God in their worship. It very likely doesn’t do them justice, but it does tell some of what they do. In our churches today, in America in some places around the world, we tend toward restraint and dignified worship. Why do we do this? So we aren’t perceived as “those crazy Christians” maybe?

David worshipped God with dancing and singing, so much so that it embarrassed his wife. Why don’t we worship God with all of our being and our strength? Maybe we don’t want to look ridiculous to others? What difference does it make?

If every person in the church was clapping and singing and dancing in the aisles, what difference would it make? To others, who were doing the same thing, it wouldn’t matter. Someone who had never seen this kind of worship, would either run away or join in on the fun! Would that be so bad? The one that ran away might think that all of us are crazy, but God wouldn’t.

Worship can be as dignified or as rambunctious and care free as it needs to be. Why would you want to go into God’s presence with a face that looked as if you had a lemon in your mouth? Jesus laughed I am sure of it and we should be happily praising God regardless of our situation in life.

Just as Jesus told His disciples: “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5″I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. 6″If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.… (John 15:4-6) We are to do the same. Abiding doesn’t mean just sitting there like a lump on a log. A branch grows and produces fruit, and so should we and we ought to be happy and joyous in the process!

God is our Creator and our Judge when that time comes, but when you have accepted Jesus as your Savior then He is your Father too. He doesn’t judge you anymore because you are covered by Jesus’ blood and your sins are forgotten. You may falter and fall occasionally, but you are still forgiven. His sacrifice was a one-time gift to us all and the only thing which we have to do is to accept the gift from God as it is, by faith. There is nothing that we can add to it and we can’t tarnish it by not doing anything after we get it, but you will. A grateful heart will do something for God.

You may think that what you do is small, but God can use even the smallest gesture or word to plant a seed in someone’s life or maybe to open someone’s eyes to the Truth. You may not think that what you said or did will amount to anything, but God can use it in ways that you might never imagine. This blog can make an impact in someone’s life and I pray that it will.

Peace in our time?


“Since its inception in the 7th century, Islam has used the sword to advance its territory. It goes on to this day. The goal is to bring the world into submission to Sharia law. This is what motivates all these “terrorist” groups. ISIS is getting a lot of attention, but what is going on with Boko Haram against the people of Nigeria today is just as horrible. This practice of using force to compel conversion is a distinctive to Islam compared to the world’s other major religions.” (borrowed from another site afa.net)

Our world here in America and elsewhere is becoming much more dangerous, especially to Christians. Why? Because we don’t believe the same as other religions. Yet, people in America want tolerance from Christians toward everyone else’s beliefs and their lifestyles, but they can’t stand our beliefs. Talk about a double standard!!

It seems that people can’t comprehend the reason that Christians believe the way that they do, and I don’t understand this at all. The Bible, which is our guidebook and our Holy Book, is available almost everywhere. Most of it is part of Jewish belief as well since their Torah and much of our Old Testament are the same. Even Islam recognizes the Book and the Patriarchs and Jesus, although they don’t give them the same reverence that we do.

Peace in our life-time has been a common theme that many have tried to bring about for many hundreds of years, yet it is something which is either fleeting in its brevity or almost impossible due to cultural and religious differences. Is it possible? Yes, but it cannot be done through force and it will not come at the hands of a man, it will come about when Jesus returns and rules from Jerusalem.

Why do I say it this way? Because it is a fact. God has prophesied it in His Word and therefore that is the way that it will be. There is no argument and there is no other way that it will happen. Many people will fight against it and they will fail in the end. Like it or not, that is the way the future will be.

Christianity is not forced upon you. You will and always have had a choice to follow Jesus or not, but peace on the Earth will only come when He is ruling from Jerusalem. I am not speaking of the Anti-Christ, but the real Messiah, Jesus.

Yes, I know, many who might read this will not agree with me which is fine. I don’t expect nor require anyone to agree. I am just stating something which is prophesied to happen and it is going to happen. Whether you believe that I am delusional or not really doesn’t matter at all, I have been called worse.

God knows the hearts of men, regardless of their religion or their doctrine, and it is He that will judge each of us according to our faith and that which we have done or not done in this life. The things which have been done for His Kingdom will last, anything other than this will be destroyed. Your possessions and your money are all part of this world and it doesn’t matter how much you have of either. When  you die, regardless of the manner of your death, your “stuff” will be here for someone else to sell or enjoy. You will be in eternity and your decisions in this life for or against Jesus will determine where that eternity will be. So make the right choice.

What do you need from God?


There are many things which we need and He provides them all, even when we don’t ask for them. We need air to breathe and our health which enables us to get up every morning. Water and food are the next things on our list of needs and God has provided those for us through our ability to pay for them. Clothes and shelter are another couple of things which I would describe as needs, since we don’t want to walk around without clothes in the winter especially! Shelter is nice because we can stay warm and dry when it is cold and wet outside. These are the basic needs which everyone has that God has provided for us, even when we haven’t asked for them.

What about our life itself, didn’t God provide us with that too? God has provided for us to be alive every day that we live and He has provided a way for us to have eternal life too. In truth, we all will have an eternity since we have an immortal soul. The difference is our place of residence. Jesus said that “I am going to the Father to prepare a place for you, so that where I am you may be also.”. The dwelling place is in Heaven, which is beyond our comprehension to understand the beauty and majesty of yet.

Since God loves each of us enough to do this, why won’t many of us accept it on faith and believe in Jesus’ sacrifice for us so that we can have it one day? Looking at the Bible, God’s Word, from our stand-point, we see a book of rules and regulations and a book of historical stories which may or may not be true. Many people today see it as just that, a book written by a bunch of old men which has no real truth to it and is a work of fiction. Really?

One day soon, our world will be shaken with the Truth coming back like He said that He would. Then many who don’t want to believe will have their world turned up-side down because of their un-belief. Why do I say this? Because a book with over forty authors which spanned over two thousand years of history could not possibly point to the birth of a Messiah from beginning to end, if it was an imaginative fable written by people who made these stories up!

After His resurrection, His disciples went all over the world that they could reach and were all killed for the message that they brought except one who died of old age. During the last two thousand years there have been many thousands of people persecuted and killed in horrific ways for their belief in Jesus and this Book, the Word of God! I doubt that they would’ve died the way that many did if this had been a fantasy or a lie.

What do we really need from God? Forgiveness, which we already have through Jesus, if we will believe and accept it. Our world and many of our churches need forgiveness for perverting the gospel into something which is twisted out of Scripture and doesn’t look like any of the Wisdom contained within the Bible. Yet, today many so-called “preachers” and “evangelists” are teaching a form of godliness which is not represented in the Word of God. This was prophesied by Jesus when John wrote the book of Revelation.

It is a book of the Bible which many are afraid of and they don’t want to read it but it is relevant to our time.

Christ’s message


Our Lord, Jesus Christ, came to Earth to bring a message and hope to all people. He also came so that all might have a chance at being saved from their sins and from the punishment in eternity.

Yes, God loves you and me and because of this love He sent Jesus to die on the cross and pay the debt that we all owe. The only requirement for us to fulfill is to believe that He did it for us and to accept it by faith in Jesus. You cannot add to the redemptive power of His blood nor can you take anything away from it other than eternal life.

I have had people to say that they don’t believe in God so why should they believe in His Son? It is your choice to feel this way and your choice to follow Jesus or not, God doesn’t force you to do anything. Just as you can’t force someone to love you, He doesn’t either. That choice is completely up to you and it is your choice which will condemn you to hell, not God.

The verse which many know by heart, John 3:16-17 tells the story better than I can: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son; that whosoever believes in Him will have everlasting life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.…”

Jesus did not come into the world the first time to judge anyone, but to bring the news about Himself that through Him all might come to repentance and be saved through faith in Him. When He comes again, He will be a conquering King and Judge of those who have rejected Him. Your life can be more hopeful and better in many ways if you will trust in Jesus, please consider doing so.

There are many who don’t believe and that is their choice. God doesn’t force belief on anyone, because you can’t do that. You either believe or you don’t and belief only comes through faith and that comes by hearing the Word of God preached. God loves all of mankind, but the enemy hates us with a passion that goes beyond human reason. That is the one who brings all of the suffering into the world, Satan and his demons, not God.

If you have ever felt the Holy Spirit speaking to your heart and Spirit at a church service or a crusade or even a television program, I urge you to seek Him out in the Bible. Ask Jesus to come into your heart and cleanse you from your sins. We all have them. I have lied and cheated on tests when I was in school, I have also been a drunk and smoked weed. I don’t deny these things, but Jesus changed me and now I preach and tell others about Him every week and almost every day here and my other blogs.

The words which I have written over the years didn’t come entirely from my own mind. I am not that eloquent, but God gives me the words to bring to you just as He does on Sunday when I preach. Seek Him out while there is still time.

The End Game, what is it?


There are always end games in movies, in computer games of all kinds, in business deals and in life itself. So, what is the end game from God’s prophetic point of view that is told in the book of Revelation? It is very simple actually, to bring about the end of Satan’s reign on Earth and to restore Earth to its pre-fall condition.

Humanity fell when Adam didn’t obey God, not just one couple, but also the entirety of creation itself. Before the fall, there was no corruption of the Earth, no weeds or thorns or creeping vines which were of no use except to cover everything. All of this came to be afterward. Death and decay began after the perfection of creation was broken by disobedience.

God knew that it was coming and when. He also knew who would be responsible for the fall, not just Adam but Lucifer too. It was he in the form of a snake which tempted Eve and then Adam decided to go along with his wife instead of following the command of God. Then the Seed of the woman was foretold and we waited for about four thousand years for Him to come into the world.

When that happened, it was still a few years before His ministry came to its conclusion but when it did the endgame began. Bruised by the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus, Satan has been attacking humanity for the past two thousand years. Bringing war, disease, famine, infanticide in the form of sacrifices to demon gods and abortion, the list of tragedies and heartache goes on and on, all because he knows that his time is coming to a close.

Regardless of his pride and his boasting, Satan has already been defeated but he hasn’t stopped trying to get as many people away from God as possible. If he can keep you or me from asking for Jesus to come into our lives, then he will find a way to do it. He is not above killing your family or taking your job or your home either. Any way that he can get to you, to keep you in the place of blaming God instead of asking for His help, then he and the fallen angels that followed him will do it.

Humanity has always had a special place in God’s eyes and if Satan can hurt God by hurting us or causing us to miss the calling that God has for us, then he will do it. The thing to remember is that he is already defeated! The battle is won because Jesus was triumphant over sin and death on the cross! All that we need to do is to believe in Him and His grace that has been given to us.

God did have a Son and He came to bring salvation to us by His death and resurrection at Calvary. He was foretold at least four hundred years before His birth and all of the prophecies about Him were fulfilled by Him when He came! We are important in God’s Kingdom, each of us, and there is something which each of us can do that God knows only we can do. Pray that you can and will find that point in your life, find that place which will bring you to know Jesus.

Because when you do, nothing else matters except doing something, anything for Him and His Kingdom, no matter what it might be, no matter how insignificant you may think that it is, because for Him it will be significant and you can make a difference. Why would anyone do this? Because, Jesus died for you to be able to do it, that’s why! He paid the price so that you can be the person that God knows you can be with His Spirit guiding and helping you to be that person.

Sickness, disease, and not knowing Christ


What do these three have in common? Well, for one thing they are all nearly the same thing. A sickness, whether it is a cold or the flu, is also a disease. But, there are diseases which are not so benign in their workings and their outcomes, such as certain cancers and air-borne viruses like the Hanta virus and Ebola virus (although this one is not considered to be air-borne). These are true diseases which cause death if not treated very aggressively and of course there are others which cause a number of conditions which are life threatening and we could go on and on with this.

The point that I am trying to make is that sickness and disease are physical attackers and they do attack the physical body. Living a life on your own, without Christ is a spiritual “disease” because we were created in God’s image to have a relationship with Him and when that relationship is missing, it is like a piece of us is missing! We always feel as if there is something missing and it is, because we have a place which the Spirit is supposed to inhabit within us and when that part of us is not whole, then we aren’t whole.

When we are sick in one way or another, we don’t feel right because there is something that isn’t right. It is the same way that I felt before I truly came to know Jesus as my Savior, something just wasn’t quite right in my life and I couldn’t put my finger on it exactly. When the command of God was ignored in the Garden, and Adam and Eve made a shocking mistake, that rebellious spirit has stayed with mankind all down through history. It doesn’t matter if you are a Pope or the first baseman at Wrigley field, we all have this part of us which isn’t quite right until we hear the voice of God, that little tug on our hearts which tells us to get up in a service and make it right.

If you have ever felt that, then you know what I mean. Yes, we are spiritual and we have a spirit living within us, but until we accept Jesus as our Savior there is still a part…a small piece which is missing or at least not complete. We can’t make this complete and we don’t have the power to just “come to Christ” when we feel like its time, God has to call you to “prick your heart” as some have said.

It is not just a decision that we can decide on like putting your shirt on or your shoes. The Spirit speaks to your spirit and when they are in agreement, then you feel it strongly enough to either ask Jesus into your life or you refuse Him. This is when you are truly walking on thin ice so to speak, because God may only call you once before you are left to your own life. This is where many people think that they have it together enough and they don’t need God in their life and they couldn’t be more wrong, but they will keep trying on their own until they can’t or until they come to the end of their life one day, in a car wreck or something that they have no control over at all…then what?

At that point, you will meet the God that you turned away from, except this time He is seeing you as you are and not with the blood of Jesus covering your sins. He will be your judge and show you where you went wrong and when you heard or read about His grace and His provision for you and you said that you didn’t have time for it. You said that you didn’t want to live that way, you wanted to live your way. You rebelled against the God Who created you and Who loved you and wanted the best for you, but you didn’t want Him. At this point, there isn’t anywhere you can go except into hell at the White Throne judgement, you will be punished until then but it won’t be nearly as bad as after the final judgement.

Live your life with Jesus in it and with Him every day because with Him, life will be eternal and in Heaven with Him, not in hell with all of the rebels and the demons and Satan himself. Because that is who hell was created for, demons, principalities and powers of darkness and Satan…not for humans although there will be many of them there too. Choose Life.

Birthday wishes and kind words


Birthday wishes are like snowflakes, they are beautiful as they come and they make you appreciate the life that you have. We appreciate them when we see them or hear them fall on your ears. Wishing someone a happy birthday is a wonderful way to appreciate this person’s friendship. Appreciation of someone’s friendship is a wonderful way of showing kindness toward people who are or have been part of your life. Whether they are in your life now or not, even if you only see them infrequently, kindness and appreciation are qualities which you get from being Christ-like.

Yes, you can be kind and appreciative even if you are not a Christian but you will be even more so if you are one. Your character or the character of Jesus will come through into your daily living, your being, and it will show through everything that you do. There won’t be much of this distrustful, mean-spirited, person left in you. Now, I am not saying that everyone who is not a Christian is this way, I have met a few Christians who act this way in their life and their business practices. I suppose thinking that if they are kind and caring toward their competition that they will be run over in their business and be taken advantage of by people, so they think that they have to be “tough-minded and hard”.

Do you think that Jesus was this way while He was a carpenter before He began His ministry? I doubt it. I think that He was just as easy-going and kind toward those who didn’t want to pay Him for His work as He was to those who paid Him a little extra for the work that was done. Being a kind person, whether in business or in your everyday life, is easy but as Jesus said “be shrewd as vipers” when working or talking around people who might take advantage of you. In today’s world people will try to take advantage of you when you are kind to them or seem to be naive, so conduct yourself in the way that Jesus would.

Seek His wisdom, found in Proverbs mostly, to conducting your life and your business and then do it everyday. Some people may not see the love and compassion of Jesus until they see it or hear it in something that you do or say. Just a kind word, a “thank you” for something that is expected but say it anyway, open the door for someone who is carrying a package, just being helpful can go a long way toward bringing someone to the knowledge of Jesus.

Good news for ALL people!


Our God and our Savior loves you all and you have an appointed time with Him! It is not a judgement time, if you just come to believe in Who He is and what He did for you!! This is a simple message but a powerful one, so powerful in fact that after the dream that I had of Him this morning (it is 3:12 a.m.) I had to get up and write this to tell all of you the good news!!!

God truly is NOT dead, He is alive and Jesus is coming soon to claim His Bride for His own. But that news alone is not the GOOD NEWS, it is that if you truly believe in your heart and confess Him before men then you will be saved, that’s it! We are not required to do anything or perform any “tasks” for Him, just believe as a little child that Jesus did what God’s Word, the Bible, says that He did. When you can come to that belief in faith like a child, then you will be changed into a child of God.

I am not saying that you will fly up to Heaven the moment that you are saved, but your soul, your spirit will be counted as a citizen of God’s Kingdom and from that moment on you are not the same! He loves you and wants to bring you into knowledge of Him, a loving knowledge of Himself, like that of a toddler to your Father! That is the kind of relationship that God wants to have with you from the moment that you believe and on into eternity!

Isn’t this AWESOME, the Creator of the universe wants to know you personally, every day. Not just at Christmas services and Easter, but every day. He cares for you like nobody on Earth can, just because He is God! You don’t have to do anything to receive this blessing, except answer the call in your heart, in your soul that you may have felt before, but you didn’t know what it was or even why you felt it. Yes, the emptiness that you have felt is telling you that something is missing, and that something is Jesus! Nothing will fix the feeling, nothing else will work in that spot in your heart. It is a place that only one Person, only one relationship will be the right one and that is the relationship with Jesus that needs to begin today!

Don’t put it off until tomorrow! Now is the appointed time to be saved and to come to know Him for Who He is, He is your Lord and Savior and He has always been waiting for you to come to Him. He doesn’t force you into a relationship, forced servitude is not a loving relationship. You have to be willing to come, you need to learn of Him and about Him, because only in Him and through Him can you be saved from the fate that awaits Satan and his demons.

Why would a loving God do that to you or anyone else? Because, if you have rejected His offer of grace and mercy through the belief in Jesus and His sacrifice, then you are no better and no different from Satan, who wanted to place his throne above God’s throne! You are rebelling against God when you choose to be separated from Him, but it is your choice, God is not the One who condemns you to hell, you are. By rejecting His grace and your salvation through Jesus, you are rejecting God Himself and all that He is offering to you, and by doing that you are no better than any demon or principality or even Satan himself. The “lie” that many people have believed is that they will always have the time to come to know Jesus. But, we are not guaranteed tomorrow. We have been given the grace and the ability to come to Him today and only by accepting that grace, by asking Him to come into your heart and change you into the person that God knows you can be will you be able to stand before Him with all of your sins covered in the righteousness of Jesus.

That’s it…that is all that is required or necessary. Just belief in Jesus and in His sacrifice and asking Him to change you into the person that you should be. Give your life to Him because He is coming…sooner than you think!