Category: Jesus loves you

Alienated….


Does anyone feel this way today? There are days when I feel this way and it even encroaches upon lonely, even with friends and family around. Why is that? Mostly it is because, I think, of my disability. I don’t have a daily job to go to, I don’t work except when I preach at church on Sunday. My “self-worth” isn’t tied to a career or a job anymore.

The good news about this is that God sees me as being worth His grace and His love! Just as He sees you and every other person on this planet, He looks at us with eyes that have seen all of the good and the truly horrible in humanity, and He still loves us! Why is that?

Because He is God! He can do whatever He pleases and it pleases Him to love us!

His love is so far above what we know and feel until it won’t be known by us until we are in His Presence…if we are born-again Christians. If you haven’t given your heart to Him and asked His forgiveness for your ways, then you will face Him as a person being judged for their life, their words and deeds, and everything that you gave approval of in your life.

Alienation is loneliness but it can bring you closer to Jesus if you will seek Him in it. Depression can be overcome by Him in your life by seeking His guidance through prayer, and reading the Psalms. All of our hindrances and limitations can be brought under His strength and under His tutorship if we will let Him take the wheel of our life.

We weren’t meant to do everything alone and without Him in our lives. We try to do a lot before we find out about Jesus and we try to do it with our own strength, our own ideas, our way of fixing things. Until we find that most of the time, our way is not going to work. We still feel empty and inadequate, unable to meet the deadlines and the requirements with our strengths and our ideas.

What are we to do?

Submit your life to Jesus and ask Him to cleanse your heart and your life so that you will be part of the family of God. Believe that He died for your sins and took the punishment for them, then ask Him to forgive you and He will. The grace of God has been extended to you through Jesus, all you have to do is ask for it and it is yours. You won’t be alone anymore because a part of God’s Spirit will live in your heart from that point on!

What is your trigger?


It seems that today, people get “ticked off” at the drop of a pin or anything that has happened to someone who they don’t know at all. Maybe they have something in common with that person and feel that it, whatever “it” was, was directed at them in general. Such as the people who protest against police violence toward “black men”. They are protesting because they perceive that all police are racist and have a chip on their shoulders against all people of color. Which is not true, but for some reason it is coming to the front of news stories more and more today. Why?

Some would say that it is because it is happening more often and that the violence is justified. The “trigger” is very subtle though and it is not happening more often, it is because everyone in the street has a smart phone and it is capable of recording video of anything, anywhere and at any time. There doesn’t have to be a news crew around, but by recording an event, regardless of its significance, and uploading it to the Internet then it may become newsworthy.

I have a trigger which moves me to pray for all of those who come to this site and read or just look around. I don’t know most of you, but God does. Even if you have never attended church or sat through a sermon, God knows who you are. He values you above the riches of the whole world. He loves you enough that if you were the last person on Earth, He would want you as His adopted child. It isn’t fear or anger or frustration which drives us, it is our collective need for this world to be healed and all of the problems which we face every day to be taken care of. Only Jesus can do this.

Other religions boast of having more followers or having larger church buildings or worship centers, it doesn’t matter what they are called. If you aren’t worshiping God and His Son, Jesus, then you are in the wrong building. I know, there are many who would tell me that my way of thinking is too small or non-inclusive of others, but aren’t most religions today? Islam doesn’t allow for other faiths, you have to accept theirs, yet no one ever tells them to be quiet and not pray or not tell others about their faith. It is the same with any other faith in the world, with the exception of Christianity. We, who are Christians, and believe God’s Word can’t read our Holy Scriptures in public. We cannot pray openly, we cannot tell others about our Savior because it offends people.

Jesus said to turn the other cheek when someone strikes you. I think we have done that far too often, yet we are still doing it. Why? Because, Jesus said for us to endure persecution to the end and we will be saved. Is this world going to be better in the future? Yes, it will when Jesus sets up His Kingdom and rules the world from Jerusalem. But, until that time comes we must endure.

Yes, there is anger and bitterness in many cities today but there is also…hope. Hope for tomorrow, hope for a peaceful day today, hope for reconciliation between police and those who protest against them. Where does this spirit of hope come from?

Jesus.

The world can’t give you hope, but He can. The world doesn’t care about you or your circumstances, but He does. The world is ruled by the spirit of Antichrist, Satan and his followers and it shows in the news and in our papers every day. Jesus loves you and wants all of us to share in His love but in order to do that, we need to accept Him and then share Him with others too.

How do you live?


Are you a Christian? Do you believe in Jesus’ atonement for your life? Have you walked with Jesus or did you just get baptized and go on with your life?

Do you deny that Jesus is real? Do you believe that He was “just a prophet”?

If you believe and you accept Him as your Savior, then the first sentence should apply to your life, but are you living your life according to His will for you? It is a question that needs to be answered by all of us. Have you “given your life to Him”, but then walked away from the church and never went back? You are denying Him.

If, on the other hand, you fall into the group of people who don’t believe in God or Jesus at all, then who do you believe in? Yourself? Satan or Allah? Mohammed? Can you change the color of your skin or your hair by thinking about it? Of course not, you and I are not going to be gods and we can’t do anything like God can.

Has Satan appeared to you in a robe of white with wings so bright you couldn’t see? He can you know. Mohammed is dead and he isn’t coming back until God raises him up one day to pay for what he did in his life.

Satan can appear as an angel of light and he can tell you that he is Gabriel if he chooses to, but that doesn’t make it the truth. Mankind is easily deceived and especially when it comes to the master of lies who has had many thousands of years to perfect his deception. One day there will be a man who will appear to be our savior and he will be able to do things that will look miraculous, like Jesus did, but he will be a false savior. Many people will be taken in by him and his words and power that he shows, but he is not the Son of God.

All of those words that I wrote in the past couple of sentences are foretold in Daniel and in the book of Revelation. It is God’s Word and it is True. It will come to pass. I don’t know when, but with all that is happening around the world I would bet that it won’t be much more than a decade or so away. I could be wrong, of course. The point that I am trying to make is that when this person shows up and everyone seems to think he is so wonderful, that should cause a bell to go off in your mind. Remember what you may have heard or read in the Bible or in Sunday school.

Don’t just follow someone blindly because they seem to be more than they are! Many false “Christs” have appeared in the past, but they all died. Many things are going to happen in the near future which will cause many people in the church to leave their faith behind. When all of this begins, take notice and get a Bible and read it. If you have lived a life which wouldn’t have been acceptable to Jesus, then you should repent and ask for His forgiveness.

Why? Because if you see all of these things happening then the end is getting very near. When the peace treaty between Israel and all of her enemies is signed and the Temple begins to be built, take note of who is brokering that deal. All of these must happen before Jesus comes to get the elect, His church, His Bride. Make sure that you are part of that number. In the picture there are many promises for His elect, if you have repented of your sins and given your heart to Him and asked for His forgiveness.

Happy Birthday, America!


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I know this is supposed to be a site where you learn more about God and your salvation but the birthday of America wouldn’t have happened if it hadn’t been for people of faith.

Our land has been around for 240 years, or at least that is how long it has been since our Declaration of Independence was put forth. Life around our land would be very different if it weren’t for the influence of Christian leaders and the beliefs of those who started our land on its way to becoming the greatest nation in the world. It is true that some people don’t think that of her anymore, even some people who live here and are benefiting from her generosity.

America has been a light for people to turn to when they need to find their way and it has been a place of refuge for many people as well. It is true that in the past some really terrible and horrible mistakes have been made regarding the treatment of Indians and Africans who were brought here to be slaves. These things shouldn’t have happened, but they did and the worst part is that we either have swept what happened under a rug and out of  the history books or we just ignore what happened altogether.

The biggest problem that we have today is that just when we think that we may have crossed the line toward better relations between the “races”, something happens that is done by one person with an off-kilter way of looking at life and here we go again.

Then you see the old hatred and bitterness come boiling up and we are at the same point in our nation as we were when there were race riots and clashes with the police on television every night. It tends to confuse the kids who have grown up without it and many of them wonder “Why?”

Why do we have to rewind an old tape that was worn out years ago?

Yes, there were many atrocities committed during those times and before then, but can’t we stop dragging the past into the present? Make a new day and a new way of getting along with one another! Stop looking at their skin color or their music and just listen to each other for once. Begin to TALK to one another, not texting but talking! Put the phones down and sit down and talk! Turn the TV off and talk to your kids or grand kids about the past but also about the future…their future!

Don’t repaint their future with the brush that you used when you were their age! Help them find a better one, one that is positive about what may happen in the future and not drag the negative parts of history in to cover up the progress that has been made!

America can be great again, if we as Americans will stand up and take our country back and MAKE it better! Shuffling money around from the rich to the poor won’t do anything but cause more problems. Fixing the things which are wrong is going to take more than a new President or a new set of laws or regulations. It is going to take Americans getting together and working toward fixing the problems one at a time!

Choose Life…


Life as I choose to define it here is a life which is following the Author of Life which is Jesus the Christ. Many people write His name as if Christ is His last name, but it is a title meaning Savior or Messiah which is why I chose to write it this way here.

God loves you enough that He sent His Son to die for you on the cross, giving His life and His blood as the ransom in payment for all of the sins of the world. He didn’t die for just a few people, He died for all and His blood paid that price for you. All you have to do to inherit eternity is to believe that He did this for you and that you need Him, also realize that you are a sinner and that you should turn away from your sins whatever they might be.

I have heard people say that they won’t go to this church or that one because there are hypocrites in there and not real Christians. All churches have hypocrites in them because we all fail at some point either today or tomorrow or maybe last week and you saw it or heard it. Preachers do it too because the only person who was sinless was Jesus. Being a Christian doesn’t make you perfectly sinless, but your sins are forgiven by God’s grace through Jesus sacrifice!

He is the Creator and Author of Life itself because He was and is the Living Word of God and it was by His Word that all of creation came into being. It was because of His love for us that He couldn’t be the liberating and conquering King that the Jewish people wanted when He came the first time. When He comes again, He will be the King of Kings and He will conquer the world’s system and its leaders who have persecuted His people for so long.

Satan and all others will get their reward when their judgement is given and carried out.There will be no appeal and no bargaining. The same judgement will fall on you if you have chosen not to live a Christian life and ask Him into your heart. Even if you have been a faithful member of a church or maybe a deacon or pastor, but have not given your life and your heart to Jesus, then you will be judged as one who knew about Him but He didn’t know you.

Please, don’t make that mistake. Everything that is needed for you to be saved has been done, all you need to do is accept it and change your life to match His. Follow in His footsteps, learn from Him and soon His ways will become your ways.

Ooops!


Do we have times or places or even events in our lives where “Ooops!” would be appropriate? All of us have these at one point or another. The only person that hasn’t had a day or even a minute where this would be part of the vocabulary would’ve been Jesus.

I know, many of you would say “What about the scourging or the cross?”; those were already planned and part of His life before they came to be. Those of us who watched cartoons in the seventies and eighties learned from the master of “Ooops”, Wile E. Coyote. He always got the bad end of gravity or a falling rock or even an explosion which didn’t go off at the point where he wanted it to.

What do you do when this happens in your life? I know that most of us don’t have problems with gravity or with bombs going off unexpectedly, but just walk with me down this memory lane a bit. Do you fret over it or worry about it? Sometimes it is too late when you realize it, so what can you do about it? Most of the time, you can’t really do much about it. If the “ooops” has already happened, then you will just have to deal with it in one way or another.

Sometimes it is caused by something that we say, in my case it is most often done this way. My mouth gets in a gear that is running faster than my common sense and I say something that I should’ve thought about a bit before it came tumbling out in the open! Does it cause pain or anguish, sometimes it does, at other times it just causes someone to giggle or laugh, depending upon what my mouth blurted out at the time.

A moment of “ooops” can cost a lot in the long run, down the road of life but at times it can also put you in a place where things can change. Sometimes…even you change. Sometimes…I change. So many times an “ooops” moment can even make a difference in the long run, if you use it in the right way.

But, you have to follow-up and work with the feeling that this moment caused in you. Don’t think about it and then let it get away and forget about it, use it to spur you on to fix the problem whatever it might be. God uses moments like these to show us what to do or what we should do, it is up to us to realize that He is part of the equation and the answer to it as well.

Why do I bring this up? Because He is always the One in control of the outcome, whether we believe it or not. If you believe in God and have learned that you need Him in your life, then follow through and make sure that He is your answer to your life’s problems. He wants to be that answer and the One that you call on in all things, not just when there is an “ooops” in your life.

You are with me


youarestillwithmeIn the 23rd Psalm it goes like this:

Psalm 23 King James Version

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

This Psalm of David is an ever-present help, just as the Lord is, it is also a poem of comfort and of thanksgiving. In our world today, we need this because of all the things which are happening around the world. Why? Because of all the strife and the anger and frustration that flows from the news every single day. It seems that we can’t get away from it, even if we turn the TV off and don’t watch it. If we log on to our Facebook account, the news is there; if we log onto Google and look at the news, all of it is there in front of our eyes. We can’t escape it even if we are in the car and turn the radio on…the news, no matter how bad it is, is there too. We need God’s comforting presence in our lives today!

Why do I say this? Because we are not “supermen” and we never will be. It doesn’t matter if you made it through boot camp or SEAL training or any other type of military training, you are not bullet-proof regardless of what they tried to tell you over and over again!

We are normal people with problems, hang-ups and hang-overs. We have all of the problems that they try to recommend medication for on TV, yet most of us don’t want the side-effects of that medication. Most of us don’t want to be told that we are sinners or back-sliders or adulterers or in some cases, perverts. Nobody wants to hear about our personal dirty laundry, but we love to hear about and read about celebrities and sports figures who have problems!

Every church is filled with people who are exactly like those in the paragraph above, no church is immune because we are all sinners! The only difference between those who claim to belong to Jesus is that we….they are forgiven! We claim our forgiveness from Christ when we admit that we need it, just as a person addicted to alcohol or drugs had to admit it before being able to fight it! The big difference is that Jesus already conquered our sin nature, all we have to do is believe in Him and ask for it to be applied to us!

There isn’t anything really special about Christians except for the faith in Jesus that most of us have. The reason I said “most” is that some think because they have been raised in church from their childhood, that makes them a Christian. Many have this belief that because they go to church occasionally like on Easter and Christmas, that this makes them a Christian. Not any more than sitting in a garage will make you into a car!

God created each of us to be in a relationship with Him and the only way we can do that is through His Son, Jesus. There is no other door, and no other “prophet” who can get you into Heaven. No amount of work you can do will help you. No amount of money given to the poor will buy you a brick to build a heavenly mansion. Nothing that WE can do will have any bearing on our eternity EXCEPT belief in and submission to Jesus in faith believing that He did everything necessary for your salvation!

Trust in Him, learn about Him, and come to Him with a heart that knows that He is your Savior and at that point ALL of Heaven will celebrate a new saint that will be coming home!

Meekness


Jesus_Loves_UI used to wonder what that was. What does it mean to be meek? Then I read a definition from the perspective of a horse trainer. He said that meekness is strength under submission. Like a horse who responds to a bridle and rider. The strength of the horse is many times that of the rider, yet a well-trained horse will be able to respond to the slightest touch or twitch of foot or bridle and will turn to the left or right or speed up or slow down in response. This is what meekness really is.

Regarding the life of a Christian, in today’s world, meekness is not so easy. Why do I say this? Because it implies that we are attentive to the will of God and will obediently follow His lead, His Word, His direction in our everyday lives. The problem is that we are not that attentive to Him. Some followers of Jesus may be, but on the whole most are not. We are too much like toddlers in that respect. We tend to say to God, “Me do it!”, even when we are not sure we can do it whatever “it” might be.

One other person who was described as meek was Moses. The man who led the people of Israel out of Egypt and into the wilderness by God’s direction. Meekness is not a description of someone who is weak, but of someone or something that is completely submitted to the One Who is in control. God loves us deeper and more completely than we can imagine, even when we haven’t accepted Him as our Savior or even acknowledged that He exists!

He knows each of us because He created each one of us and He accepts us for who we are, but He wants to become yours too! We belong to Him because He is our Creator, but He patiently waits for us to accept Him and He gives us a chance to learn to love Him for Who He is! It is our choice. Love cannot and will not be forced and that is why God created each of us and gave us that choice. Not because He doesn’t care, but mostly because He does!

All that God asks of us is that we decide to give our hurts and our pain to Him and understand that the pain won’t go away but His strength will be with us from that point on. Asking Him to come into your heart and mine is not a hard thing to do, but you have to come to a point where you feel the need for Him. He doesn’t push His way into your life and He won’t but when you ask Him to come in and make you a whole child of His…He will.

From that point on life will not be a bed of roses and it won’t really be better in physical ways, but spiritually you will be different. The person that you are, the one that God sees, will be whole and pure and your soul will be singing even if you can’t! Some people think that when you give your heart to Jesus and ask Him to come into your life that you won’t ever have any problems ever again. That is when the forces of this world take notice of you. Satan will not let you get away with being a voice for Jesus because he is going to try to stop you every way he can.

The best part of it is that you have Jesus on your side now and all you have to do is walk in step with Him every day. It sounds like a hard road but it isn’t, it is narrow and you do have to watch your steps some times because Satan will try to trip you and make you fall. Jesus will pick you up and carry you when the going gets particularly hard and He will give you strength to get through those times as well.

So much yet so little…


We seem to never have enough and we are always wanting more. Today, everything may work out in the allotted time but what of tomorrow? Time is our enemy and our friend from one day to the next depending on what is happening in our lives. How can we make friends with it so that it doesn’t go away so quickly tomorrow? Can we coax it into extending its stay this week or next, or maybe even next year?

Unfortunately, the answer to those questions is a resounding “NO!” We can’t be friends with time, we can’t extend its effects for a day or a week or a month, or even one more minute and we certainly can’t add another year to our lives. No, we don’t have that option. God does.

He knows your date and mine from the moment we are conceived until our death at some point in our future (hopefully). But, even He won’t add a day or an hour to your life unless it is His will to do so. We see so many people living their lives as if there is no tomorrow and some live as if they have an unlimited amount of days left to them. No one knows your end day except for God and He alone is in control of it, regardless of your sickness or your health it is He Who knows when your life will end.

My “expiration date” may be in the next fifteen minutes, or it may be fifteen years or more from now but only God knows for sure. Either way, my heart belongs to Him and when my last breath is breathed here, I will see Him there.

So many look at how little money or time or other “things” that we each have here, but if you have given your life to Jesus and you live for Him each day, you are wealthy. Maybe not as the world sees here but consider that you will have an eternity to live and reign with Christ and no more pain or suffering or disease or death…it sounds like a wonderful place to retire to!

The streets of Heaven are reported by John and other prophets to be paved with gold so pure it is clear enough to see through like glass! Does that sound like a place that you could live in for a very long, long time? I think so. God can make anything that He wishes to and if He wants you to have a life in Heaven, accept His grace through Jesus and give your life to Him. Your life, your REAL life, won’t ever end from that point on and you will be a servant to the Creator! What could be better than that?

There are some who say that they would rather be in hell than serve God and they will likely have that opportunity. The problem with this thinking is that you will be in torment forever in hell! Heaven is serving the Creator not because you are forced to but because you WANT to! He gave you life and all of the blessings that you enjoyed on this Earth, it seems that you could repay a little of that love and kindness! Why am I talking about what we may be doing in heaven? Because it is very likely that we will be serving God and doing His work throughout the ages to come!

We who truly belong to God and have accepted Jesus as our Savior will live with Him in comfort but we will also work with Him in all of His ways and in His Kingdom, Amen!

Time is short


We have a tendency to think that we have a long time to make decisions and to live our lives, but when you think about it…we really don’t have that much time at all. Sure, when you are a child it seems that school will never be over or this class that you hate will never come to an end but both of those circumstances do end. The older that we get we realize that time slips by much faster than we realize and after you have added a few years to your life then you realize that it does go by faster than you thought it did.

We live one sunrise at a time, one meal at a time, one child’s laugh at a time, and all of those go by too fast for us to place those memories in permanent storage sometimes. We wonder where the time went, but we lived through it and it is gone. Those moments won’t be back, the words that you said or that your mother said can’t be unsaid, the anger and frustration that prompted those words will fade but the hurt and the pain caused by words spoken in anger won’t go away and the scars will be there for a long time.

Even when you tell your Dad or your friend that you forgive them, the scar from the words is still there and may come back later in life. Words hurt far more than guns or knives because the pain is emotional and it is hidden inside. No one knows the pain that is felt nor the damage that it has done, but it is there. Why do I speak on time and reference pain and suffering? Because we all go through those things at the same time.

Life is lived one day, one hour at a time and our words and the building up that we can do or the tearing down that can be done happens right along with us. If we could control our tongue we would be better and in better shape than we realize. If the things which we write were filtered through God’s peace and His Word, then much of the hurts and pain caused in the world would cease. But, even the Bible says that no man can control the tongue. Which is true, we can’t control it unless we allow Him to have our minds and our hearts every day, not just on Sunday morning.

Even when we allow Jesus into our hearts and our minds, our tongue is not easy to control but it can be tamed to an extent. God loves us so much that our life is in His hands at all times and He can see the things ahead which will happen in your life. All that you need to do is to trust in Him and let Him be the pilot and the navigator of your life. Give Him the control over your mind and tongue so that what comes from your mouth or your hands will be words that He sees are necessary and good for the situation at hand.

Writing these words so that you might come to know Jesus, I pray that you will. In His Service!