Category: Religion

Which gift do you have?


When we become Christians and allow the Holy Spirit into our hearts to change us from the inside out, God grants us each at least one gift and possibly more. So, which gift do you have? In the Bible they are called the fruit of the Spirit but we all exhibit at least one of these nine gifts: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Paul said that “against these there is no law”, so which fruit do you have?

In truth, we should all exhibit each of these to a certain extent. If you have truly given your heart to Jesus and allowed the Spirit to come into your heart and change you into the child of God that you are supposed to be, then at some point in your life, whether it is daily or weekly, you should express at least one or two of these. Yes, the world around us does not like Christians today and many of them don’t want to hear about Jesus or see any expression of these gifts, but that shouldn’t keep you from using them.

These gifts are, many times, the evidence which separates believers from non believers. I don’t mean to imply that people of other faiths can’t be loving or joyful or kind because anyone can exhibit those traits in their life, they are not unique to Christians. The difference is that we can do so even in trials and heartache because we have hope in Jesus! He went through many heartaches in the time that He lived on Earth so our Savior knows what it feels like and He cares for you and me!

The spiritual gifts which Christians have is part of our salvation through Jesus, what we use them for and how we express them is part of our service to Him. Pray about your life in Jesus and ask Him what you are to do with your gifts.

Time keeps on ticking…..


In every person’s life, no matter who you are, there is a certain amount of time. Only God knows our length of days in regards to our life, but when you and I wake up each day, each of us has 24 hours in that day, 1440 minutes or 86,400 seconds. We have an allotment of time given to each of us by our Creator, whether you believe in Him or not, when we are born. How we use that time and whether we use it selfishly or for Him is our choice.

eternityWhat have you done with your 1,440 minutes today? A number of those were spent sleeping since our account resets itself at midnight, so depending upon how late you sleep or how early you get up determines how many of those minutes you have to do something with. There have been songs written about time and how it slips away from us or how we should be cherishing our time with those we love. What about the time which we have to serve God?

After you have given your heart to Jesus, your time becomes more useful in God’s economy and for His Kingdom. How many minutes have you given Him today? Did you thank Him for waking you up this morning? Did you thank Him for your breakfast and your other meals today? What about the safe trips that you have made around town or on the highway, did you thank Him for watching over you at those times? God loves you and He does watch over us each and every day, but do you think about Him or thank Him for the good things which happen in that day?

That is the part of life which I think is the most useful because when you live every day in a thankful mood toward God, you notice things which you really are thankful for. Getting up in the morning, getting around the house, going to the supermarket or to Walmart, and doing all of this in safety without incident, those are accomplishments which deserve thanks to the One Who gave you the ability to do them!

We all have time and the same amount of it each and every day that we live. There is no day which is too short nor a night too long because no matter where you live or the time zone that you live in, the day is still the same. Savings time or standard time, the day is still 24 hours long regardless of your feeling that you need more time to finish a task or not.

Give God the glory and the praise for the time that you have with family and friends because each minute which goes by is gone for good. You can’t get it back and you can’t add to your day tomorrow to make up for any time which you feel was lost today. Consider this when you think about how fast time goes by and the family which you have is growing up and will soon be off to college or a career. It goes by so fast and you can’t rewind time.

The Lord is My Shepherd…


Psalm23

 

 

 

These six verses in the Bible are the best and most calming verses which David wrote. Take them to heart and close your eyes, listen to what God is saying in this poem. He loves you and cares for you, no matter what your life may be like and He will NEVER leave you!

Do you live in safety?


angelswatchingoverusIt is a scary thing to think that you are safe and then find out that you are not. When a gunshot goes off near your home or maybe someone breaks into your house and steals some of your possessions, your feelings of safety go away in an instant. Then what? Do you react to this and get a better door or a better lock for your door? Do you get a gun to protect yourself and your family? Should you get some training to use that gun in case it comes to that one day?

All of these questions are valid in our time today, but what good will it do? People who rob your home usually do so when you aren’t at home. If they confront you at the gas station, what good will that gun and training do if you can’t reach your gun? Safety in our world today is fleeting and tenuous and the only productive way to deal with it is to allow it! What??! Just back up and let them have your stuff!!

Yes. Stuff can be replaced up to a point, your wife and son and your own life cannot be!

Living in safety is an illusion in the best of times and the times that we live in are not the best of times. Yes, there are people who can pass a background check who snap and then they do a lot of damage and kill many people. Many times, we never find out why they did it because they either kill themselves or they cause the police to kill them and there is no real explanation for their violence.

Hate, racial tension, racist views of all kinds are sometimes considered to be the motivation of these tragedies. Sometimes even religious fanaticism is the reason behind them. Safety in our world today depends upon our diligence in being careful about our surroundings and how we present ourselves in those surroundings. Does prayer help? Yes, it does. Does being a Christian help you to be safe? I think so.

Why? Because God watches over those who belong to Him. He sends angels to watch over each of us who are part of His family. Their presence is felt by those intending to do us harm, whether they are demons or spirits or even people who are being influenced by those spirits. I don’t say this so that you can fly to Iraq or Iran and insert yourself into the area thinking that you won’t be harmed because of God’s Presence in your life, I mean lets use a little common sense!

God does want us to take His message to the world, to those who don’t know Him yet, but we don’t have to be idiotic about getting into a war zone or in an area where Christians are despised by most and killed on sight by some! There are places in America where I wouldn’t get into at night or day because of the violence which is happening in those areas either, but wouldn’t Jesus go there if He was here in person?

Yes, He would but He is the Son of God and our Creator! He can’t die! As I said, we aren’t supposed to be lacking wisdom in our endeavors for His Kingdom. But we are supposed to try to take Him to as many as possible while we have the time. God cares about us and our safety, but He cares about those who will die without knowing Jesus even more. Take Jesus with you everywhere. At work, at school, to the McDonald’s or whichever place you go out to eat, anywhere that people see you they should know that you are a Christian.

Am I asking you to get up an preach in all of these places? No, but give thanks for your food and someone will notice. Read a scripture on your Kindle app on your phone or on your Kindle. Wear a T-shirt which loudly proclaims that you belong to the King of Kings! Why? Because everyone around us is proclaiming their views and their beliefs and this is no time to be timid about being a Christian! Should we be radical about it? No! I don’t mean to march down the street with signs and shouting or bombs and such, but this is not the time to be the meek of the Earth either! God loves us and everyone else, but if you don’t tell them…how will they know that He loves them?

Why worry?


Good deedsJesus told His disciples not to worry about tomorrow or about things which you have no control over, so why do we do it? During my life I have noticed that we tend to worry about things which are just out of our reach and our control and it seems to be just part of the human condition to do so. Worry serves no real purpose except to spur us on toward attempting to fix different problems.

Occasionally, fretting about something will help us to seek the solution, maybe even give us a bit of insight into an eternal solution for our real problem. What about when your anxiety turns into something which almost feels like you could be a killer? What do you do then? At this point I think we should step back and read in the Psalms for a while, clear your head and your soul of the negative emotion which anxiety can bring on and just meditate on God’s Word.

Why is that important? Because, God’s Word can heal your mind and open your heart to His grace and mercy. That’s why it is important to keep His Word close to you and read it when you are having problems, no matter what the size of the problem! Anxiety and worry are two sides of the same coin and they are both concerned with things which you can’t control. Some of those worrisome thoughts are of a kind which can derail almost any plan.

But, God is faithful to heal your mind and shield you from the enemy if you will keep your part of the equation going. By that I mean reading His Word and meditating on it every day, particularly when things aren’t going the way they should.

God loves each of us and for those who have given their hearts to Jesus, we have access to His strength and His comfort through whatever life may put in our paths. Will it make life easier? No, it will make some things harder to do because Satan and his demons will try to stop you or place things in your pathway to slow you down. When you are a Christian, the world does not like you. Satan hates you because you belong to Jesus now and you may cause other people to become Christians too.

Each of us has a part to play, just as each part of your body does its part to work and run together effectively. Each one of us is capable of doing that in the body of Christ while we are doing His will in our lives. The only way that we can do these things for God’s Kingdom is to allow Him to work through us, every day. No matter where you may work or what you do, do it as if you were doing it for Jesus.

Don’t get discouraged because of bills or your health, just pray about them and give them to Jesus. Let Him work in your life, in your bills and in your health and in His time to bring about His solution for you. Don’t get ahead of Him and don’t try to do it for Him either because, even though that is hard to do, if you do try to do it for Him, your solution will fail because you didn’t let Him do the work.

What is your comfort zone?


Many of us have one and sometimes it extends to the point of making someone else uncomfortable. Is that your comfort zone? Would you extend your own story into someone’s life if they asked you about your life? What if they just wanted to start a conversation? Would you listen to them or would you walk away or make an excuse to get away from them?

VineandBranchesWe are tasked with getting out of our comfort zones each day. Some of us more than others, but at some point we do step out of our “zone” during the day either at work or at the grocery store on an airplane or a bus. We will come into contact with a person who needs to hear something from us and that is where the voice of God speaks up and tells us to talk to that person or this one!

Are you comfortable enough to say something to them? Will you say what God wants to say to them? Regardless of your feelings about talking to people, God has given you a voice to use for Him, so do that. While it is true that many of us are introverts and like to spend the day away from people, some of us don’t have that luxury. God loves you and the person sitting next to you on the plane or the bus. He also loves the drunk who is passed out on the corner and the lady who is pushing an old buggy around with all of her possessions in it.

Will you talk to them? Pray about it and if the chance comes up, don’t hesitate, tell them what Jesus did for you and for them too. It doesn’t take a long, King James prayer, just one like, “Lord, give me the words to say. Amen”, will be sufficient. That is the same prayer that I pray when I begin writing here! Surely you don’t think I have come up with all of this on my own? I am not that good!!

I don’t claim to be a prophet or some Old Testament-type writer, but I do ask that God give the words which He knows are needed and necessary for our world and those who might read them here. Are you comfortable with telling others about your Savior? You should be. Why do I say that? Because I was very shy when I was much younger, and when I began preaching about seven years ago I was still shy. But, for the most part, God has helped me to get over that.

I don’t mean that I would be comfortable preaching before a huge crowd, but I am a lot more comfortable than I used to be.

We are capable of doing more for God’s Kingdom than we realize, if we will let Him use us in this ministry. Sometimes we just have to step outside our own comfort zone in order to be useful in the ministry which He knows that we can do.

Which Jesus do you know?


There are many versions you know. Some of them are radical clerics who will tell you that Jesus wouldn’t vote for this candidate or that law or this proposition. Some will tell you that Jesus, or at least the One that they preach, wouldn’t condone the killing of babies in the womb, that one I do believe! Sometimes the Jesus which is preached in pulpits on Sunday or even on Saturday if that is your Sabbath day, sounds as if He would go along with almost anything that the right or the left or whichever direction your pastor is leaning which is being reported this week.

Have you ever really found out about the Son of God and Who He is? Does your pastor even know the real Jesus or His viewpoints on sin and salvation? In many churches it seems that there are many Christians, pastors, deacons and members alike, who really don’t know Who Jesus really is today! This is the very reason which, in my opinion, is causing the decline of so many churches in attendance and causing them to close their doors. Is it possible that we have created our own version of Jesus and placed Him at the head of the table, in front of the congregation and declared that this is your Savior?

When He walked through Palestine almost two thousand years ago, Jesus sought out those who were marginalized, those who were persecuted, those who weren’t allowed to climb the steps of the Temple let alone enter it to worship! He taught those people who we would consider outsiders and even vagabonds, the ones who were lame and addicted to substances even then. He went to the lepers who had to walk around yelling “Unclean!”, what an embarrassing way to have to walk through town.

The clothes which Jesus taught in werePsalm23 dirty from the dust and the water at the shores of Lake Galilee. He didn’t look like He just stepped out of a dry cleaners, with His clothes all white and glowing. In many of our churches today, Jesus would not be allowed in because of His dress and His hair and beard, because He would look like a homeless person. Even He said that “the Son of Man has not a place to lay His head“.

Would Jesus be seen as a radical cleric today? In many ways, yes He would. He would be in the shelters and in the parts of the city where “church people” are afraid to go. Why are we afraid to go to these places? Is it because of our dress? Is it because of our jewelry or our cars? Why can’t we enter into the places where those in need are? Is it because we don’t feel that we belong there or that we won’t fit in because of our race?

In today’s society and the culture which has developed in our country in the past few decades, it is true that we are divided by race or skin color and also by culture. We are not a society which has gotten past our collective wrongdoing in the past, simply because we have ignored it or brushed it behind the door or under a rug. We have done this with the pretense of being enlightened and better than our past, but we never really learned the lesson of our past.

When you choose to ignore a lesson in school or in life, you will repeat it. There is no possibility of not repeating it. Life and experience are hard teachers, just as Jesus was a taskmaster in the Temple when He ran the money changers from the court of the Gentiles! Except, He was doing this from His love of the people who were coming there to worship and not out of bitterness.

God loves us, regardless of our clothes or our car or our house. Stuff doesn’t matter to the Creator, it is your heart which makes the difference and where your heart is in serving Him. If you are in conflict between being popular and having money or serving God and His Kingdom, pick God’s Kingdom. Stuff like popularity and money are temporary and only work here in this life. Eternity is a very long, long time and if you aren’t prepared for it by trusting in Jesus and His atonement for you then you are wasting His time.

Humor, it is a difficult concept.


It feels strange writing words which I heard first in a movie about the Federation of Planets and Star Trek. My blog has nothing to do with science or fiction, but I thought I would start off this way, if for no other reason than to get your attention.

joyHumor and laughter have been proven to be beneficial to our health, mostly in ways that doctors can’t really explain. It does release endorphins which ease pain and it has been shown to help in healing with some cancers and other injuries such as surgical and other breaks in the skin and bone. Here is a quote from one of many sites which give the benefits of laughter: “Laughter decreases stress hormones and increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies, thus improving your resistance to disease. Laughter triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals. Endorphins promote an overall sense of well-being and can even temporarily relieve pain.”

In the stressful times that we live in, sometimes humor is not appropriate and it may cause hurt feelings and anger. Used wrongly, anything good can cause problems, even humor or religion. So, how do we live our lives daily in light of the effects of our beliefs or the effect of laughter? Some might say that you have to live circumspectly. What the heck is that? It is a big word meaning “cautious” living. The definition of it is this: Near synonyms are prudent and cautious, though circumspect implies a careful consideration of all circumstances and a desire to avoid mistakes and bad consequences.

Why should we be cautious in our living on a daily basis? Because today everyone that you meet has a small movie camera and a recording device called a cell phone. Anything that you say or do in front of people is very likely to be posted at some point whether you like it or not! But…Jesus told us to take His Message to the world! So, how can we do that?

One person at a time. I know that is limiting in our reach to those who don’t know Him, but in any town or city today there isn’t a huge crowd of people who will be receptive of His salvation message. Many of them will call it “hate speech” and try to have you arrested or maybe beat you up like they did Paul and Silas. Yes, in these days that we are living in now, life and living is getting to be a hard to understand prospect in light of our mission given to us by Jesus.

God loves each person, regardless of their belief or lack of belief in Jesus or even whether they believe that God exists. Yet, we are supposed to take His message to the world as best as we can. Whether we do it by means like this or by going in person and telling others about our Lord and Savior. One person at a time is the best way to go, maybe two if you can get them to listen. Jesus said to His disciples: Go into all the world; and that is what we should be doing, every day.

Do you see?


At times, we do see the problems around us or at home or at church, but at other times, where we seem to be blind to the happenings and the life which is there…right in front of us. Why can’t we see? Sometimes it is because we are being selfish, other times it is because we choose not to see. But if you are a Christian, why would you choose not to see what is wrong with the world around you?

Elisha prayed so that his servant would see that they were not in as much danger as he thought. In 2 Kings chapter six where this took place, Elisha had preached in Israel what God had told him to, but the king of Syria, Ben-Hadad, warred with Israel. Just prior to this encampment, Elisha had prayed for Naaman who was a leader in Syria’s army who had leprosy. God healed him and when he departed, Elisha’s servant had gone out to receive some of the payment which he had brought to Elisha.

Greed can blind you to many things and that is what happened here. Gehazi was coveting the silver and the garments which Naaman had brought as gifts for his healing. The Lord struck him with leprosy just as the Syrian had when he came for his greed. In many ways, we are like this servant. We desire something in this life which doesn’t have any spiritual benefit to us or for those around us such as wealth or lands or just more stuff. You can hear and see that stuff has become a real problem in America today because of all the self-storage units that are being built every month.

Getting back to our story, even though Gehazi was stricken with leprosy for his greed, it seems that he served his master for many years. No doubt because Elisha prayed for his healing after he learned his lesson about greed. It isn’t mentioned in the Bible, but considering that leprosy was a death sentence on anyone who had it, I believe that he was likely healed later.

The topic is “Do you see?”, so what do we see in this world? Poverty, hunger, wars, famines, loss of life in many ways, actually the list could go on and on from here. My point is this: why do we not see? In America, we have been spoken of in history as a Christian nation because that is how our country came to be. People in England fled their country because of religious persecution so they could worship in freedom and in the way that they chose.

So, why don’t we see the things around us which we could do something about? Do we choose not to see the things which we could help with because of our greed and selfishness? Are we so blind to the suffering around us because we don’t want to see it or just because we walk in this world with spiritual blinders on? In the link above to a part of 2 Kings where Elisha’s servant is anxious about the army surrounding Jerusalem, he cannot see what Elisha can. So, Elisha prays for him to be able to see into the spiritual world and he finds that God’s army was far more formidable than those who surrounded the city.

In our lives today, we can’t see what is happening in our world spiritually. Some would say this is a good thing because we would be scared out of our wits if we could see the spiritual warfare and the beings which are here and all around us on a daily basis. Honestly, I believe that it would open many people’s eyes to the fact of their own frailty and the reason that they need Jesus. But, God has chosen not to allow our sight to be opened in that way for a reason.

Pray that God will show you His will in your life through His Word because the days are drawing closer to that time which is prophesied at the end of the age. We don’t know the day or the hour until that time comes, but God doesn’t lie and the time is swiftly approaching, so don’t hesitate. Call on Jesus for your salvation and seek Him out for your deliverance because He is the only way to be saved from the punishment which comes after you leave this world.

Job’s trials


Jobs trialsThis book has always fascinated me because according to some scholars it is the oldest book in the Bible. It is an account of a man who worships God and acts as a priest for his family, offering sacrifices for their transgressions regardless of whether they have asked him to do so or not. In the beginning of the book, God is meeting with “the sons of God”, those angels who are tasked with watching over humanity at the time, I suppose. Then Satan shows up at the meeting and God brags about how righteous His servant, Job, is.

Job’s trials did not come upon him as punishment for something done wrong, but because of his exemplary life! His trials came to him because God wanted to prove a point to Satan about his servant Job. To make a long story short, everything was taken from Job, even including his health, but he never cursed God even though his wife told him to. He never truly blamed God for his situation either. At the end of the book, God speaks to Job and his “friends” who have not really helped the situation, and He straightens their conception of Him out in a hurry.

Why is this story so important to us today? Because, it is indicative of our lives in some ways. Every person on the planet can identify with Job in one way or another. From being stricken with disease like cancer to losing much or all of your belongings, there is a bit of Job in all of our lives at some point in time. The best part of the story is this: God loves you regardless. Particularly if you don’t give up your faith in Him! He is faithful to bring about all your blessings and to protect you from Satan and his demons.

So….why do people look for another god or religion to make them feel complete or whole? Mostly, it’s because of Satan and his influence on the minds of people who haven’t given their heart to Jesus. He can manipulate and coerce people into believing in doctrines and practices which have nothing to do with God, but he can make them sound as if they did. That is the reason why people have broken the church into so many pieces and invented their own religions and their own idea of who god is and what he asks of us.

The biggest problem with this god which they follow is that he lives in their mind only and he isn’t real. They believe that he is, sometimes with their whole heart, but they have been deceived by demons, giving them the idea for this to replace the real God and Savior, Jesus our Savior. Some of these people even preach this kind of “religion” from a pulpit and make it seem to be the real Truth! They pick and choose scriptures which support their beliefs and they don’t dig deep into what the context of the Scripture actually says.

God loves each of us and He wants us to come to Him to be saved through belief in Jesus who paid our price on the cross. If we can and will read His Word and pray about finding His Truth in it, then we can see the difference between man-made religions and God’s Son and the church which began almost 2000 years ago. Learn more about Him through reading His Word, pray about what He says in His Word, and ask Him to reveal the Truth which is there for all to find if we will look for it diligently!!

Life is too short to waste it looking for meaning in a life which hasn’t found the path to walk on which leads to Life eternal! There is only one Savior and He isn’t in the Koran or in any other book except God’s Word. His name is Jesus the Son of God, any other name or person is not a savior nor are they able to save your soul to get into eternity! Please, read God’s Word with a prayerful heart and ask Him to show you the Truth which is in it because at the end of your life, you will have to give an account for the reason why you didn’t follow Jesus. Especially if you have ever heard the gospel preached or read the Bible!