There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord , that shall stand.
Proverbs 19:21 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/pro.19.21.KJV
Category: Religion
God loves us…
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.
Some teachers of the past and preachers today say that we should not be preaching that God loves every person on the planet. Why? If that is true, then these verses should never be quoted nor should they be in the Bible!
God did not pick out a few here or there to know His Son, even though God knows which people will give their hearts and lives to Jesus. He didn’t pick them. We pick and choose what we want to believe or not believe in the Bible, but God’s Word is true from every page of the Bible, regardless of translation or version you like.
There are some Bibles out today which gloss over some parts of Scripture or leave out parts of it entirely which is totally against God’s command of not removing or adding to any part of it. But, those are versions of the Bible which mankind has changed because of some verses which certain groups don’t like. God’s Word is true and powerful today and it will be that way for all time.
Okay, off the soapbox, verse sixteen says “For God so loved the world”, it doesn’t say which parts of the world or certain people groups or religions, it says the world! Which means that God loves all of the world, regardless of creed or religion or region or politics! It is our ideas and our convictions which change because of what is politically correct or accepted in the state or nation in which we live, God’s view of sin or anything else hasn’t changed and won’t change because He says, “I change not”.
God loves His creation and we are a part of that. It saddened Him before the Flood that mankind had strayed so far away from knowing HIm and seeking Him and had turned to evil in all of his ways. God felt this way because He had made mankind to have fellowship with Him throughout our lives, yet after the fall in the garden, man drifted away from knowing Him or even wanting to know Him.
In the world, whether it is at a college campus or a big city or even a small town, people don’t like to hear the absolute truth because today the “truth” is said to be relative. What is true for you doesn’t necessarily mean that it is true for me. That only works with opinions and ideas.
The Truth of God’s Word is true regardless of your ideas and opinions, just as the laws of physics govern how gravity and light work (which God put those laws in motion as well). Gravity and light behave the way they do because God ordained it to be this way. Your opinions or beliefs about them have no effect on their actions or performance. God’s Word is the Truth and it is the Light of the World which guides all men who are seeking Him to come to Him. Your individual belief about it or opinion of it doesn’t change that.
God did send His only Son to change the world one person at a time. Not a radical change for all of mankind, but an individual change which begins at the heart of each person who is seeking God for whatever reason. Jesus came as our Savior and as a Servant to His Father to do the will of the Father and make it possible for each person to move closer to God because of their lives being changed and to show the rest of the world that it is possible to be His through Jesus Christ.
We are not condemned by God if we obey His Word and have given our lives and our hearts to Jesus to do His will for our lives in this world. If you reject this and live your own way without Him, even though you may do many good things in your life, doing so will bring judgment upon you when you die because you “did many good works in your Name”. But if He didn’t abide in your heart then you did those good works on your own without His blessing, even if they were done “in His name”. Seek Him in all of your daily walk and your life will be blessed because His Spirit resides in you and empowers you to accomplish these good works in His Name and in His Spirit as well.
How do we make a difference?
Making a difference in the lives of those around us and for those who might be searching for what makes Christians different is the real reason which the church is still here. Yes, there are many in the world today who don’t like the message, regardless of which church or denomination it comes from, but if we could just show the love of Jesus in everything we do then hopefully it would make a difference.
God’s love for all of us is deeper and more alive now than it ever has been, not because there is more sin in the world but because the time is growing short. All of the prophecies in God’s Word have come to pass except for those which happen in the book of Revelation. We should be speaking to those that we know about His love for them and His offer of grace and mercy through Jesus and your belief in Him.
You may ask “Why?”; its simple…because God loves you!
Nothing in the Bible happened because of God’s hate because He doesn’t hate people, He hates the sins that they are living in! God loves the whole world, not just a small part of it or a certain country or people group! Yes, He chose the Jewish people as His people but during all of the Old Testament He tried over and over again to bring them to a place of loving Him and of following His laws and they would for a while. But eventually, they would turn away from Him and go in their own direction.
The Old Testament is a reflection of all of humanity, not just the Jewish people and not just Israel either. All of us, whether we have given our heart to Him or not, we get disillusioned and we stray from the path. The good news though is this: we are the ones who have moved, not God. He is still patiently waiting for us to realize that we need to come back to HIm and when we do and we ask forgiveness for our stubborn streak…He forgives us and we can start again.
Making a difference in the world begins with one person. You or me telling the story of Jesus’ love and compassion for every person in the world. Giving your life to Him and living it out in front of those who see your witness, not just hear what you say but see how you live it out day by day. That is the greatest sermon and the greatest witness of all. Show people, family, and friends, that Jesus loves them with their warts and their faults and their struggles too. Jesus came to bring salvation to all!
God knew that this was needed and necessary for the whole human race, not just a few here or there. But, it is usually our pride and our stubbornness which gets in the way of every step that we think we are taking for Jesus and those steps turn out to be steps that we are taking alone. Especially if we have been in the church for most of our lives! We have been in church services and heard about all that Jesus did for us and what God tried to do for Israel.
Then sometimes we will begin thinking that we can forge our own path and that God will approve of our efforts. Those efforts which we are attempting will not succeed until we are following Jesus’ path and not our own. The thing which many people don’t understand is that God will let you think you are doing His work, even if it is by your own decision and strength until you fail. Then you will wonder “What happened?”!
The biggest problem in our world today is that if God isn’t in it, Satan may be. He will try to help you be successful just to show God that he can bring someone down by letting them succeed. You may not fail in this life and you may live luxuriously by your “success”, but at the end of your life when you stand before God you will find out that your “religion” was based on a lie.
We have to tell people about Jesus’ love for us so that they can tell the difference between fake religion and faith in Jesus Christ.
Bless the Lord
God is with you in your trials!
The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.
Zephaniah 3:17 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/zep.3.17.KJV
Can you be content with little?
Judas gave up his relationship with Jesus for thirty pieces of silver and by the time he realized what he had done it was too late. In our world, it seems that everyone has an iPhone or some huge phablet that they are carrying around. Granted many of those phones were “free” from their carrier or in some other way a gift, but those are worth hundreds of dollars. Could we be content with less than we have today?
Consider that we have been given a tremendous and fabulous gift by Almighty God, our salvation through Jesus. Is there anything which could compare to that? I’ll answer that question and the answer is NO! There is nothing that we have or could get our hands on which is worth even a fraction of the gift which we are all partakers of if you are a Christian. So, what can we be content with?
Most of us seem to be chasing after things more today, following our friends and those that we work with. If they have a nice home, we want one better. If they have a 3-series BMW then we want one on the next series. I know that not everyone follows this pattern, but in many places in the world and in our country too it does happen. But…why? What difference will it make in your life if you have the best of things?
An Android phone will do everything that an iPhone will do and it does so for less money in most cases. But why do so many people have to have the latest iPhone or Apple watch? Is it because of the image? That must be it because products besides Apple’s products can perform just as well and in some areas, they will perform better.
Making do with less is not looked on as a desirable trait in our culture. So why does our culture look back at the Greatest Generation that went through the Depression and WW2 and idolizes them? They made a little go a long way and they didn’t really complain about their place in life while doing so. They did what they had to do and made it work one way or another.
So…why can’t we do that today? Is it because we are spoiled brats who don’t know how to “make it work” no matter what it takes? Is it because we have been given so much until we don’t really want to work for our satisfaction or our blessings either? God had to deal with His people who became complacent about what they had and would turn away from Him until He used someone to punish them enough to bring them back. They would get “rich” and prideful so that they considered that they didn’t need God and they would worship other gods which were not gods.
Today we have made things into gods and convenience into a god as well. If our money can’t provide it or if we don’t have enough money then we throw a fit and sometimes blame God for it. The god of convenience has killed more babies in abortion clinics than all of the wars which we have fought but nobody seems to care.
One day that bill will come due and it will be God Who will require a payment for all of those innocent lives lost.
Can we get by with little or must we always be consuming more and more? If you follow the advice of God in Proverbs you can but there are so many who don’t even know where the book of Proverbs is. They wouldn’t know where to look. I pray that our world and our country will have a revival and move back to having faith in God and learn from His Word before the time of testing comes. Many don’t believe that the time is coming but it is and the world will regret their actions when it does come but it will be too late by that time.
The Lord is my Refuge
I will say of the Lord , He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
Psalms 91:2 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/psa.91.2.KJV
Put your confidence in the Lord!
Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.
Hebrews 10:35 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/heb.10.35.KJV
The Lord is my Shepherd
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Psalms 23:1-3 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/psa.23.1-3.KJV
What will you do with your life?
Have you considered that question? Many of us think about this kind of question when we graduate from high school or college but what about when you become a Christian? You have a new Life in Christ because you are made new in Him. Your old life is supposed to be gone and a new one is just beginning, so what will you do with it?
We all have ideas about what we would like to do for God’s Kingdom but have you ever asked Jesus what He wants you to do with your new life? We have been given a new heart and are made as “new creations in Christ” so we should walk and talk like a new person and not like the old one. But…do we actually live like a new person after we have accepted Jesus as our Savior?
Did we really become a “new creation” or did we just go through the motions and say some words but really didn’t mean or intend to change? It seems that there are more people who attend church or claim to be “Christians” but are not any different from their old selves and it is this trend in the churches which is causing some confusion. Because people who know you outside the church can’t tell that any change has taken place. This is showing the rest of the world that Jesus doesn’t have the power to change lives when in fact He does!
These “false Christians” who seem to be just as sinful and worldly as they were before they claim to have changed are not Christians at all. They claim to have changed at some point but they are doing things which are not reflecting that new creation that they were supposed to become. The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity and it is He Who comes into your heart and soul and causes that change. But when you keep doing those worldly things which you did before your “change” you are calling Him a liar and saying that He can’t change you at all!
If you are going to change when God calls you, He knows it and He will convict you of the sinful life which you need to repent of. Your spirit cannot continue to sin and live as if He doesn’t live in your heart unless you didn’t actually receive Him in the first place. There is no gray area in being a Christian and following Jesus OR being a sinner who is still in the world doing what they did before hearing the gospel of Jesus. You either are saved or you are not!
Think of it this way: the fence is a razor wire fence; on one side you are a Christian and on the other, you are still in the world doing whatever makes you feel good at the time. You cannot straddle razor wire for long without injury. You are either on one side or the other, so which is it? The side of Life and eternity or death and eternity, you must choose.
The Living Message of Christ 