Feed My Sheep…


Good shepherdOne of the misunderstood commands of our Lord was when He restored Peter to his place before He ascended to the Father. Jesus said to Peter, “Feed My sheep” and He said it not once or twice but three times. Granted, Jesus didn’t use the same wording for each time that He asked Peter to do this, but the meaning is the same. He asked him to be a shepherd to His flock and to tend to His lambs and feed His sheep.

This is what all pastors and just regular Christians are supposed to do because we have a responsibility to those who are just becoming Christians, like children or lambs in a flock. We are also supposed to help feed those who are still learning about God’s Word and what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

Being a Christian is not as easy as some try to make it seem. There are always obstacles, temptations, and darts which are flung at us each and every day from the enemy. But in Jesus Christ, we do have the power to resist them and to conquer them especially if we are grounded in His Word and know it well enough to use it as a weapon against Satan and his followers. We can’t do this on our own!

Even Jesus used Scripture to fend off Satan when He had finished His fast of forty days, so don’t think you won’t need to know it because you will. Feeding His sheep includes feeding our own souls so that our walk with Him is more productive. God loves us and wants the best for us, but His best for us doesn’t mean that we will become rich in money. We will be rich in blessings and in His Kingdom.

Have faith in Jesus and believe in Him for your salvation because He is the only way to have salvation in this life and in eternity as well. Don’t believe the lie that you can accept Him as your Savior and then go back to living your life on your terms and doing whatever you want to do. That is not how salvation works. The change which happens in your heart should translate into a new lifestyle and one which honors Him and glorifies Him! Going back to your old life and your old lifestyle after you have “given” your heart to Him proves only that you didn’t give anything to Jesus.

If you actually did give your heart to Him and then turned away from Him and being a Christian in your daily walk with Him, you are trampling His blood and His sacrifice under your feet like it doesn’t mean anything to you at all! All that you have is insurance against going to hell, but no works which would point anyone else in the direction of Jesus. That is a sad and unfruitful way of saying that you are a Christian when nobody can see it in your life.

Think about it and make sure that your life with Him is true and honest and one which will draw even a child to come to know Him.

Jesus gives us the power!


Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
Ephesians 3:20‭-‬21 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/eph.3.20-21.KJV

Believe without doubting


Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
Mark 11:24 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/mrk.11.24.KJV

Lord or Judge, your decision


In this life, we have two decisions which have an eternal impact on our future. Both of these decisions have to do with Jesus and our acceptance of Him as our Lord and Savior or our rejection of Him. He came to this Earth in the form of the Rock which gave the Israelites water in the wilderness and as the Angel of the Lord. He was also the Pillar of Fire/Smoke which protected the Israelites from the Egyptian army and went with them on their journey through the wilderness. Jesus, the Living Word, the Lamb of God, Counselor and Prince of Peace…He was all of these and our Savior when He took our sins on Himself and paid the price which we could not pay.

Lord or JudgeSo, what is your decision about Him today? Is He your Savior and Lord or will He be your Judge when you stand before Him one day? Think carefully about this decision because when this life is over, you can’t change your mind then. You must choose.

Jesus arose from the tomb after three days and spent the next 50 days teaching His disciples what they needed to know to take His message away from Jerusalem. He may not have been with them every day of that time, but according to the holidays He was around in different places.

So many times we read the Bible, at least those of us who do read it, and we find one gospel which states just the facts like Mark. Then we read John’s gospel and he focused on the miracles and parables which Jesus taught with. John also made sure that we knew that we needed Jesus and we needed to believe in Him as our Savior. The job which Jesus had to do was to pay for all of our sins so we could be granted salvation through our faith and belief in Him as our Savior.

He tried to bring this knowledge to the Jewish leaders and people but they wouldn’t listen. They considered their own righteousness to be enough without Him or His message. Many of us today consider our “righteousness” will be enough to grant us entry into Heaven because we attend church and occasionally read our Bibles. But the outward appearance of being righteous does nothing for our heart or our soul. As Jesus said to them, “You are like whitewashed tombs“.

The only righteousness which counts is what is imputed to us through the surrender of our life to Him and by living daily by His grace and power. We don’t have the ability to be righteous enough without Him in our heart or our life. Make sure of your salvation before it is too late and you stand before Him just as you are right now.

 

 

My help comes from the Lord!


I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord , which made heaven and earth.
Psalms 121:1‭-‬2 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/psa.121.1-2.KJV

Superstition and fantasy


It seems that the entire world is caught up in superstition and fantasy regarding life and also much of their religious views as well. So, what is the Truth of God? It is found in God’s Word and Jesus is the only way to enter into Heaven. Belief in Him and the atonement which He died and rose again to give to us as a gift of the grace of God is the only pathway which leads to eternity.

Even a new Christian who has only grasped a small amount of His Truth, such as “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” but if they walk in that Truth then no more is required as long as they believe it! They will be included in the congregation of those blessed saints and they are true members of the apostles of Jesus. God has not made it a burdensome chore or task to become a Christian nor is it one to remain in faith to Jesus Christ yet many people try to make it so.

There are many who think that if you don’t keep the Ten Commandments during your daily walk that you have failed at being a follower of Jesus. The problem with this type of thinking is that no person on Earth can keep them perfectly on a daily basis! Jesus was the only One Who could, we are to follow in His steps but we are going to fail at least once every day and probably more than once.

TenCommadmentsGod know that we are not able to keep them, that is why the Ten Commandments are there. To remind each of us of our poverty in faith and to show us that since we have the blood of Jesus covering our sins, no matter the size or severity of our sinful ways, if we have given our heart to Him then we are sanctified by His Righteousness. As He told His disciples, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all of these things will be added unto you“.

I pray that anyone who may read this might give their life to Jesus and follow Him faithfully until He returns, because He is coming soon.

Amen

Be mindful of your thoughts


He was the sacrifice for us!


For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
2 Corinthians 5:21 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/2co.5.21.KJV

Focus on God!


When you are in your home with your family, sit down and have a Bible study. Even if you only study a few verses or one chapter, this will show your children that the study of God’s Word is important to you. When you are at work, pray about your Bible studies and meditate on it so that your mind is focused on God during your day. You don’t have to do this for the entire day, but even a few minutes will keep your mind free of distractions.

Listen to Christian music during your drive to and from work or to the grocery store. This small thing will also keep God at the forefront of your day, each day. Why am I saying this? Because those who are against Jesus and His people study their “holy books” and writings much more than we do. We should be at least as versed in our Scriptures as they are in theirs so we could bring to mind any verses which will refute any of their arguments against Jesus.

Our life in Christ is given to us through faith which the Lord gives us when He draws us unto Himself. God loves every person, whether they are Christians or not, but He doesn’t approve of their sinful lives. Every person that is touched by the Holy Spirit and convicted of their need in Jesus Christ should give their hearts to Him, but if they do not then their outcome in eternity is on their own head.

By focusing your daily walk on God and His Wisdom you will keep your mind and your thoughts pointed in the right direction no matter what may be going on around you. God loves you and He does want the best outcome for you. The best way to achieve that is to follow Jesus and walk with Him on a daily basis. This will keep the “darts of Satan” away from you and help you to withstand any temptation which may come along too.

Featured Image -- 3119Remember when Jesus walked on the water and told Peter to come to Him? As long as Peter kept his eyes on Jesus he could walk on the water but when the waves and the storm distracted him, he began to sink. That is the kind of focus we should have in our lives every day! Keep your eyes and your thoughts focused on Jesus and His Kingdom and all of your endeavors for Him will work out just fine.

In this picture, Jesus was walking on a fairly calm water but this is just an artist’s rendering of His walk on the water. Peter was walking during a storm according to Matthew’s account, so the waves would’ve been much larger and likely the reason for Peter’s fear. God can carry us through many storms in life if we will just keep our eyes and our heart focused on Him regardless of what may be happening around us or in our lives.

The Lord is faithful


But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.
2 Thessalonians 3:3 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/2th.3.3.KJV