Category: Religion

Are you following Jesus?


In the church today there are many who claim to be following Him, but are they really? The path which is required for us to follow is usually one which is narrow and littered with stones and thorns at times. We have to constantly watch our footing while walking the pathway or we will stumble and fall. Does that cause us to lose our salvation? No, of course not, if it is real and true salvation.

There have been many people who have had emotional experiences at a revival meeting or a gathering where God’s Word is preached and they thought that this was a real experience with Jesus. Why do I bring it up? It’s because after a while they begin to live their lives just like they did before, with no discernable change in their behavior.

Bridge2SalvationA real salvation experience begins with the Holy Spirit convicting you of your need for Jesus. Then you act on that need by confessing your sinful nature and asking Him to come into your heart and change you into the sanctified person which God knows you can be. When that change occurs, there is no doubt about the real change which happens. While it may take a while for you to shed your old ways, the Holy Spirit will convict you when you are doing something outside of God’s will for your life. Therefore, you will not go back to your “old ways”, at least not permanently.

Will you stumble and fall off of the path? Yes! It is likely that you will stumble many times, but as long as you get up, ask forgiveness and start again to follow Jesus with prayer and reading the Bible, you will get back on the pathway. It is a process which brings your nature into alignment with the will and nature of Jesus. This doesn’t happen immediately or overnight, but it will happen if you keep seeking His wisdom and praying for His strength in your daily walk with Him.

When you feel the Spirit touch your spirit and you know that you need Him, God has placed a call on you and it has been there since you were born. You may not feel it or notice it for many years or you may submit to it as soon as you do feel it, whatever your age is when that happens. Each of us has a talent and some gifts from God which He has given to us to perform our role in His Kingdom. We won’t find out about them until we are a part of His Kingdom and He may give us more talents to use after we accept His gift of salvation.

Each one of us is known by God even before we are born and He knows what we are capable of doing and being in His Kingdom because He placed those gifts and talents within us before our birth. I pray that anyone who reads this will seek Jesus and learn of His sacrifice for each of us then ask Him to come into your life and make you into the person which you were meant to be for the glory of God the Father!

Be kind…


Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.
Proverbs 16:24 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/pro.16.24.KJV

Chesed


This is an Old Testament term meaning an oath-bound commitment expressing freely given love. The closest English term for this is devotion. In the Old Testament, it is almost exclusively used for God’s sovereign devotion to His own people. In our modern times, I suppose you would think of a parent’s love for their children as an expression of devotion.Related image

Although, many people today seem to think that God doesn’t care about us when, in fact, He cares very deeply for us! We may not perceive it as clearly and openly as we do with each other, but His love for us is much deeper than we can understand or comprehend today.

God provides for us, collectively and individually, everything that we need. Yet, we worry about things which usually means we are worried about something which we rarely have control of anyway. His love and His presence are available all of the time because He never leaves us, but if we don’t practice our prayer life and being aware of Him we will feel as though He isn’t there.

In your daily life, you can see the evidence of Him all around you. In the clouds and the trees and the wildlife which you see during the day and in the sky with its stars at night! He is present in your child’s laugh and in a baby’s cry. God is in and around you whether you actually believe in Him or not, but He wants you to know Him and He wants to know you better too.

Whenever you feel His Presence, answer His call in your life and in your heart. Why? Because He is devoted to your life and your well being, no matter what you may be going through…even if it is stage 4 cancer or a horrible accident. He is there to give you strength and healing if that is His will for your life. Sometimes He may use your death for a purpose which you don’t know about yet, but if you belong to Him then you will see the outcome when you are with Him. Every good thing in life comes from Him, every bad thing is allowed to happen because there is something good which will come from it.

Just as the time when Jesus delayed coming to Lazarus‘ side when he was ill, there was glory and honor to be given to God the Father because of his death. If Jesus had come before he died, He could’ve healed him of his illness, but a greater glory was shown because Jesus called him from the grave after four days.

John 11: 41-44 KJV

41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. 42 And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. 43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. 44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him and let him go.

Anger labels you a fool.


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Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.
Ecclesiastes 7:9 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/ecc.7.9.KJV

Broken relationships


In today’s world, there are many of these. You see them on television shows and on the news and in families everywhere. Many of these broken relationships are in our churches and in schools and in the books which children and young adults read. It seems that we are teaching the next generation that a broken relationship is…well, normal.

Even in the Bible, there are many broken relationships. It even begins in the Garden of Eden where Adam and his wife disobeyed God’s command to not eat of the tree in the midst of the garden. But, that isn’t the only time that God and His Creation are estranged. The people that He chose to be His people turned away from Him even after He liberated them from slavery after over four hundred years. Later, when they were in their promised land, they began worshiping other gods and marrying into the other “cultures” around them.

These broken relationships kept becoming more normal in the Bible all through the history of the Jewish people. They would mend their relationship with God, then they would forsake Him again and it became a pattern. Over and over again, all through the Old Testament God would use one king or a nation to punish Israel for a time and then He would rescue them.

Our world today is no different. We seek out relationships with people or a career for a time and then we break that relationship in some way and seek out another. Sometimes we will find one which we can stick with, either by accident or by God’s will and it is usually by the latter. Truly, life has a way of imitating God’s Word in some form, even if we don’t believe in God. But, for many of us who become Christians, God does have a way of working our life around until we have finally “came to his senses” like the prodigal son did.

No matter how broken your life may be or even how broken your relationship may be, God can help you fix it. IF, you will seek His help in fixing the mess you have made. Own your mistakes and realize that it was you who caused the broken and crumbling relationship in your life and between yourself and God. He doesn’t change His mind about how He feels about you because His love for us is eternal. It is usually us who have changed some part of the relationship or even allowed sin to get in the way, between us and our Savior.

Our sin which causes this breach may not be a very grievous sin in our eyes, but any sin is capable of placing a barrier between us and God. The barrier may be small at first, but if left alone it will grow. Especially if you don’t confess it and ask forgiveness for it. If you just ignore it because it was such a “little” sin, the next one will add to the separation and it will get worse. Don’t add to the problem, seek His wisdom and His forgiveness before the separation gets so large that it is hard for you to speak to Him.

Bible-brokenness

You must seek Him!


For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
Matthew 7:8 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/mat.7.8.KJV

A Prayer the world needs today


Minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is what they heard:

“Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says: “Woe to those who call evil good”, but that is exactly what we have done.
* We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.
* We have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it Pluralism.
* We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism.
* We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle.
* We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
* We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
* We have killed our unborn and called it a choice.
* We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
* We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem.
* We have abused power and called it politics.
* We have embezzled public funds and called it essential expenses.
* We have institutionalized bribery and called it sweets of office.
* We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions and called it ambition.
*We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.
* We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.
Search us, Oh GOD, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Amen!”

In America and around the world, we NEED this prayer today and every day!

What would you do?


Each of us needs to take notice of something truly remarkable. Each one of us on this planet is completely and totally unique! There is not one other person on Earth exactly like you (unless you have an identical twin), and even for twins each of you is unique because even though you may look alike, your fingerprints are different and there are other things which are unique for each person.

Why did I ask this question and then dive into how unique each of us really is? Because asking a question makes you think about the answer and our uniqueness is something which sets all of us apart.

So, what would you do with your life as a Christian? We are commanded to go out into the world and tell others what He has done for us. What has He done for you and what would you do for Him?

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Ask…


Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
Matthew 7:7 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/mat.7.7.KJV

Are you ready?


In the parable of the ten virgins, five were ready to meet the Bridegroom and five were not. Which group are you in?

Are you seeking His wisdom and taking Him with you on a daily basis or do you attend church occasionally and only read the Bible when you are there? We are expected to be faithfully working for His Kingdom daily in the faith and the hope of His return at any time. The “works” that we do are not where our salvation comes from but they are the fruit which we should be producing in our lives.

There are many studies which show that our country is not the Christian nation which was envisioned by the settlers who originally came here. We claim to be Christians, at least 70% or a few more do, but when the questions get down to the small degrees of service and reading the Bible, the percentage drops quite a bit. Although, earlier today I read an article which said that even though many are leaving some mainline churches they are going to nondenominational churches and serving God more fervently than ever.

Churches are losing people because of their liberal doctrines and by not following the Bible’s teachings faithfully. God is glorified when we are satisfied and faithful to Him in our praise! Being satisfied with God is the most honoring and happy with God Who has paid for your salvation through Jesus’ blood! Live your life in persuit of Him and His service into eternity because He has sought you out to be His child!

In the parable of the ten virgins, the five who made sure of their lamp’s never being without oil shows a persistence of their belief in the Bridegroom’s coming. They didn’t know when He would come but they made sure that they had enough faith (oil) to carry them until He did come for them. This is exactly what we are supposed to do with our faith today, be persistent in seeking Him in everything that we do until He does come for those who believe in Him.

As Jesus said: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all of these things will be added unto you.” By serving Him and having faith in His Word, we show that we are His and He is ours through faith, amen. We are called to be His when we feel the Holy Spirit touch our hearts and when we answer that call by accepting Jesus as our Savior then we are made into a new creation through the blood of Jesus washing our sins clean. Just as Jesus healed the ten lepers when He told them to go and show themselves to the priest and as they went they were made clean. It was their belief that they would receive the healing from Jesus and His willingness to heal them which made the healing possible.

God is our Creator and He is willing for all to come to know Jesus as Savior but it is our stubbornness which gets in the way most of the time. We choose not to believe in Him because salvation couldn’t be that easy or we want to add something to it so that we “help” Him in our salvation and that’s not how it works.

Make sure that you are one which has his lamp full and that you have an extra amount of oil to keep your lamp lit until He comes.