Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
John 15:13 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/jhn.15.13.KJV
Category: Religion
What are your convictions?
Most of us really don’t think about this word or what it means, at least not on a daily basis. Your convictions come into play when you vote or in how you handle adversity. Sometimes, your convictions have an effect on the way you live your life from the beginning of adulthood throughout your life. One definition of a conviction has to do with being convicted of a crime in a court of law. The definition that I am writing about here is expressed best by part of a sermon which Dr. Charles Stanley taught recently so here is that definition:
A conviction is a solid, immovable belief based on confidence in God’s Word, being so thoroughly convinced of its absolute truth that we are willing to take a stand regardless of the consequences. Convictions shape not only what we believe but also how we live and even how we die. They define who we are and provide direction with solid straight lines that don’t veer off track to accommodate circumstances or temptations.
Many of the disciples and early church members were martyred for their convictions about their faith in Jesus Christ, so that should prove to many people that those beliefs and their faith and their conviction about Him were so strong that they were willing to die for them. You wouldn’t die for some made up fairy tale or a lie. Jesus is coming back as He said He would and I urge you if you don’t believe in Him as your Savior, to give your life to Him today.
None of us are guaranteed tomorrow so as the Bible says, “Today is the day of salvation“. If you truly want an eternity which is not eternal punishment, and honestly who would want that for eternity, then give your heart to Jesus. Seek Him out in any way that you can because He is coming soon and you don’t want to be left behind to live through the seven years which will follow His removal of the church from the Earth. There will be a lot of destruction and death on that day because of the people who were taken to heaven with Him, but the aftermath of that will be easy compared to what comes later.
God does love and care for all of us but He doesn’t like our sins and the lives which we live apart from Him. Lifestyles which go against His laws and His precepts in His Word are not the lifestyles which He approves of. Living outside of His law just because you don’t like what the Bible says is not the Christian way of life. Consider the places that you go on a Friday night or over the weekend. Would you feel comfortable taking Jesus to those places, really? If you attend church but haven’t accepted Jesus as your Savior, would you feel comfortable telling your pastor about where you went the night before church on Sunday morning?
If you can’t answer those questions truthfully and without hesitation then your life needs Jesus in it now.
All of your needs supplied!
But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:19 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/php.4.19.KJV
Are you lost?
In this age of cell phones with GPS capabilities, very few people can get lost on the road to almost anywhere. But, the road to Heaven is a road which is your life and a GPS doesn’t work on it. Oh, you can find exactly where you are at any time but what about your spiritual walk and your ultimate destination? Those two are part of the same interconnected lifestyle. It isn’t just going to church on the occasional Sunday or any particular holiday like Christmas and Easter.
Holidays and an occasional visit to church don’t equal a lifetime of relationship with your Savior. A relationship with Jesus is more closely related to a relationship with your spouse because it is a daily walk, a daily reading and studying of God’s Word, continually washing your mind with the water of Life which springs from it. A real Christian life begins on the day that you accept Jesus as your Savior, regardless of your physical age.
Some people seem to think that once they have accepted Him as their Savior, there isn’t anything more they should do so they go back to living their life. Their spirit tells them that they are doing it wrong, but if you ignore your spirit long enough eventually you won’t heart it at all. While this is possible and you are grieving the Spirit when you do it, I don’t believe that a person who does this was actually saved, to begin with, if they continually move back toward their old way of life.
When you are convicted of your sins and ask Jesus into your life, usually there is a complete change in your heart and your mind to move toward becoming more like Jesus. If you are studying the Word and meditating on His Wisdom and working toward becoming more like Christ, I don’t think you will turn back to your old way of living. Jesus paid a price for your soul, and for your salvation, so don’t treat your new life in Christ lightly.
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (Psalm 23:4). Jesus is with us in all of our troubles and our fears especially after we have asked Him into our heart and our lives so why would you do things and go places that you wouldn’t be comfortable taking Jesus if He were with you in the flesh? He is there in Spirit in everything that you are doing, so consider that before you decide to go somewhere or do something that you wouldn’t take your own mother with you!
Jesus never leaves our side so if you did accept Him as your Savior, why would you consider doing a sinful act or going somewhere that you wouldn’t take Him? He loves you more deeply than you can imagine or even comprehend right now and even though your daily life may not be running over with blessings, He is still there. “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
We are coming close to the “end of the age” and you can see it because of the prophecies in the Bible. Make sure of your salvation in Christ while there is time, because tomorrow may be too late. Every trial and problem in your life has passed through God’s hands and is approved for you to endure but you will endure it better with His strength and His Presence in your life.
Press on toward the Prize!
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:13-14 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/php.3.13-14.KJV
Do not forget the Lord!
Life and our Creator
In the Bible, our Creator is the embodiment of Life itself. Not only because He created it but because He sustains it as well. God and Jesus both, along with the Holy Spirit, sustain all of Creation. The life which is on Earth or anywhere else in the universe is also sustained by them and by their power over life. Every life on Earth, human, animals, insect and even bacteria, is sustained by God’s power. Satan is the oposite of life and is a liar if he claims otherwise.
No matter how much Satan tells you that he can bring your wife or son or daughter back to you…don’t believe it because it is a total LIE! He can’t give life and he can’t resurrect a life that is already gone. Only our Creator can do that and bringing someone back from the grave hasn’t been done since Jesus’ time. But that time may come again soon.
Our Creator has done many miraculous things and will continue to do many more. Your life in Christ is one because you are a new creature in Christ. When you gave up your old life and began to live a new life through the power of Jesus’ name and claimed Him as your Savior, then you became a new person. As you walk in His Word and pray daily for His strength to keep you on the pathway following Him, you will become more like Him and less like your old self.
That is what is meant by becoming sanctified in Christ. Because the more that you learn from the Bible and from prayer and by resisting the temptation to return to your old life, then you will begin to reflect the life and likeness of Jesus. Of course, we can never become fully like Him in this life but others will notice a difference in our life that is reflecting His attitudes and His teachings more than what the world will accept. That is why the world doesn’t like Christians, because they look at us and see what they should be like. Knowing that if they were more like Jesus they wouldn’t be living in sin the way they are.
He gives us the power to be more like Him because if He didn’t, we couldn’t live our life reflecting His ways and not our own. We can’t be real Christians without Him or without His Spirit changing us from the sinner that we once were into the person that Jesus knows we can be. I ask that any of you who haven’t given your life to Jesus, please consider seeking Him out and doing so before your life ends. There are no second lives to live and no second chances after this one is through.
Be at peace with everyone, if possible
Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
Hebrews 12:14 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/heb.12.14.KJV
God’s position
God is unchanging in His ways and the “church” in America today seems to be telling people that He does. Saying it will not make it so. We, meaning all who claim to be Christians, should read our Bibles more carefully and take what is said in them as being the Truth. Since it was His Holy Spirit which prompted the men who wrote each book, the Word is His Word and considering that God can’t lie then every word is Truth.
I will not get into the debate over sexual orientation or other lifestyles here, but God’s position is clear in His Word. There is no solution for a couple other than a man and a woman since God’s intention, in the beginning, was for them to “be fruitful and multiply”. This is the natural order of all living things, human or otherwise. God loves His entire Creation and the salvation of mankind is only by belief in Jesus Christ and accepting Him as your Lord and Savior.
Any other pathway which other philosophies espouse is a false path and doesn’t lead to Heaven at all. Is it possible to gain entrance into Heaven without Jesus? No! Works of ours do not qualify any of us because when they are done without Jesus in our hearts they are meaningless in God’s sight. Living and working in this world without Jesus is possible but gaining entry to Heaven is not. If you die without Jesus then you will be judged by Him and sent to hell for the decision which you chose to make about your salvation and your own righteousness!
Your sins will be part of your judgment without Jesus to cover them but they won’t be the only reason you spend eternity in hell. A sentence to hell is because of your decision to go through life without Jesus in your heart and as a guide in your life.
God loves you and me so much that He wants us to come to know His Son. Which of us will decide to follow Him is known by God, yet the decision to know and believe in Jesus for our salvation is our individual decision to make. So, what will your decision be? Will you believe in Jesus the Christ as your Savior and Lord in the simple way that the thief on the cross did? He didn’t have any way of being baptized or any time to do any works for Jesus except to believe in Him because of what he knew of Him, yet Jesus told him that “this day you will be with Me in Paradise“.
If that thief could come to Him in his humble faith and believe unto salvation then why can’t more people give their lives to Him in service until He comes or they come to the end of their lives? In today’s world, there are so many who are against Christianity because Christians believe in the inerrant Word of God and what it contains…the Truth of Salvation and Wisdom from God! Religion doesn’t save you, a denomination doesn’t grant you entrance into Heaven, no amount of works or money given to the church will gain you entrance either. The only way to eternity with Jesus in Heaven is through belief in Him for your salvation and repentance of your sins which have kept you from Him prior to your conviction by the Holy Spirit when you realized that you truly need Him!
The Lord will carry your burdens
Cast thy burden upon the Lord , and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.
Psalms 55:22 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/psa.55.22.KJV
The Living Message of Christ 