Category: Salvation

Ever wonder…?


What did God think of when He first thought of you? Did He think of your eye color or your skin color? Did He look at the person that you would become and think “Wow, how did I do that?”

He could see all of those things before you were ever born. Even before your grandparents were born. But…that last question, God never thought “How did I do that?”. He knew how to put you together and which talents and abilities He would give you. He knew all of this and more, many years before you were born. So, what do you think He feels when a child is aborted? He knew that their mother or father would want them aborted but don’t you believe that He hoped for them to live?

God predetermined many things for our lives that we won’t find out about for years. We may be in heaven before we find out exactly what He had planned for us. I pray that I finally became the person that He had planned for me to be. God knows each of us intimately and He loves us completely. So when you turn away from Him or refuse to give your life to Jesus, I think it hurts God’s heart a bit.

We truly are living in those “last days” before Jesus’ return. I pray that everyone who reads this will seek Him out as their Savior before our time is up. When that happens, the whole world will know that the Bible and its message was true but it may be too late at that point. Please make sure of where your eternity will be while you can.

Dip yourself in muddy water


There is a story in the Bible about a general in command of a country’s army but he had leprosy. Thankfully, it was in the beginning stages though. He knew it was a death sentence but he found out that there was a prophet in Israel who could pray for him and heal him.

Naaman, commander of the army of Syria, was a mighty man of valor but he was a leper. His wife’s servant girl told him of the prophet, Elisha, in Israel that he could be healed if he went to him. In 2 Kings 5, the story tells about how he got a letter from his king to be healed and he took many gifts for the prophet with him. Here is the story beginning with verse 5:

So he went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing. 6 And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you Naaman my servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy.” 7 And when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Only consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.”

8 But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel.” 9 So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha’s house. 10 And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.” 11 But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. 12 Are not Abanac and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. 13 But his servants came near and said to him, “My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, ‘Wash, and be clean?” 14 So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

Why am I putting this story here? Because, sometimes God asks us to do things that are outside our comfort zones. Not because He likes to make us uncomfortable, but because we need to trust Him in our uncomfortable places no matter where they might be. Regardless of the place that God places you in, He has a plan and a purpose for you and the place you are in. Will it bring a healing or some other miracle into your life or someone else’s life? Only God knows that answer. Go to that uncomfortable place that He is sending you and in faith believe that He will accomplish His purpose…whatever it may be.

The End of the age


Have we come to the end of the age? All of the prophetic indicators are pointing to it, but few people seem to be noticing it as such. It is “climate change”, it is “global warming”, it is “the pandemic”, and it just seems to get different names from week to week. This was foretold in the Bible long before Jesus was born and by Him as well. The “end of the age” would be characterized by the same conditions and problems that happened before the flood that Noah and his family witnessed. Granted, they didn’t have pollution and I doubt they had more people than the world could support but the things that were going on were very similar to what is happening today.

Does this mean that Jesus is coming soon? Yes and no…actually. He is coming soon but we don’t know how soon. It could be in a few months or weeks or possibly years but He is likely to come in our lifetimes. Am I trying to bring doom and gloom to this site? No, I’m not. I’m just pointing out that we don’t have hundreds of years or many lifetimes before things really get bad in the world around us. I’m not speaking of global warming, I’m speaking here of the times of Tribulation that are coming. During that time people will do whatever they wish to do and it will be okay. That is beginning to happen in some places today but it will grow much worse.

The church or at least those who fully believe in Jesus as their Savior will be taken up just as Noah was taken up above the flood during his time. The world that we see today will devolve into true anarchy and essentially “hell on Earth” during the seven years that constitute the Tribulation. I pray that anyone who reads this will seek Jesus as their Savior so they can escape this time.

You are saved by His Grace


For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:8‭-‬10 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/eph.2.8-10.KJV

There is no other way to be saved from an eternity in hell. His grace and faith in Him is the only way to be a saved child of the Living God! Believe it so that you can be in heaven when your eternity begins. It could be tomorrow or tonight or next year but when it comes you will know it.

Bible study


That is something that I used to dislike with a passion. Why? Because I thought I was saved and didn’t need to study the Bible. Kinda like having “insurance” against the flames. At the time I thought being saved just meant accepting Jesus as your Savior…period. I didn’t think there was anything that I should do from that point on. But when you truly are saved and you realize that you really needed Him…that is when God truly got your attention. Before you were trying to “do it yourself”. You walked down the aisle and you might’ve even been baptized but you only got wet. There was no change and you didn’t feel the need to change anything.

That is the type of “faith” I had many years ago. It wasn’t real. Even though I thought it was for a while. But eventually, I would go right back to where I was before. As they say, “it didn’t take”. The fact is, I was just trying to do it myself. When God touches your heart and breaks it, He shows you why you need Him and that He can fill that empty place that you’ve known about for a long time. When this happens, studying your Bible becomes real. It teaches you about your Savior and your Creator. The Bible also reads your spirit, because every time you read a chapter or a book in it you will find a pearl of new wisdom or truth that you didn’t see before.

Studying God’s Word is the best way to learn about Him and His voice so you will know when you hear Him speak. If you don’t know His voice then Satan can speak to you and deceive you easily. While I was a pastor, I read through the Bible at least once every year. Since I’ve been away from preaching in a church, I actually read it more than once per year. God’s Word never gets old or stale because it is His Living Word. Give your heart to Him and get acquainted with Him more than ever by reading His Word every day.

Wisdoms beginning


The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: And the knowledge of the holy is understanding. For by me thy days shall be multiplied, And the years of thy life shall be increased. If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: But if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it. Proverbs 9:10‭-‬12 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/pro.9.10-12.KJV

This fear is not the kind that you feel watching a horror movie. It is a respectful fear of the Person and the power of God because He is your Creator and your Savior. It is the kind of respect that some of us grew up knowing about. At one time we were taught to respect our elders and our teachers and the police and many others who were in positions of authority. We even respected our parents and grandparents…imagine that? If you were to ask a young person today if they respected their parents or their grandparents many of them would likely laugh at you.

Respect is something that is foreign to our culture and to many in society today. We don’t have respect for people because of their job or position and it seems that we don’t have respect for many things that were respected in society a few decades ago. Why? Because we don’t teach respect or even the reasons for it at home and especially in schools today. God demands respect because of Who He is but people don’t want to hear that today. They don’t believe that He exists and if HE does they don’t think He cares about them. Why? Because they aren’t learning this at home or in churches because fewer and fewer people attend church services today.

Comfort and feelings will cause failure in the future. If you only follow your comfortable life and how you feel about this or that, you will always fail. God’s wisdom is found in the Bible and it is the only book that contains wisdom that is infallible, particularly in regard to money. Seek His wisdom in the use of and the ability to use money in the way that God approves and your life will be more blessed than you can imagine.

Intimidation


The act of making someone feel a certain way for being or believing a certain creed or lifestyle. This is what is happening in America today and depending on which side you may be on it is okay to do this to certain people. I’m not poking fun at or pointing a finger at anyone here but our government is doing it more than it should. They are conducting a farce of a “trial” about a citizen-led group of people and on the other side of the “proverbial coin” are asking people to point out certain people (judges and clinics) who don’t agree with their “agenda”. They are also asking people to attack and destroy “clinics” that they don’t want to be available, but this is acceptable in their viewpoint.

Intimidation happened in the past during Jesus’ ministry and it has been happening in every century since then. But…when you say something about it or point it out there is all sorts of name-calling and anger that comes out. Living in this world has become more intimidating and harder to handle especially from a Christian point of view. So, how do we manage our lives in light of the way that everyone looks at Christians and their beliefs?

We need to live our lives the way that Jesus told us to. Do not worry. Life is too short to worry about today or tomorrow. God is the One on our side and He controls what is happening or even what will happen. Why worry or even feel intimidated by the world? God is in control and He is our Savior and Lord, why would you feel the need to worry? Give your heart to Jesus. Follow Him and learn from His Word because the Bible is the best educational Book available.

Praise the Lord!


Let everything that hath breath Praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD. Psalm 150:6 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/psa.150.6.KJV

The whole world needs to do this. God inhabits the praise of those who praise Him and all of us need to praise Him because we have today to live!

Amen!

Why did I want to put this up today? Because our world and everyone in it should praise Him for life and our health and the fact that the Lord loves us! We may not feel it sometimes…we may even doubt it from time to time but God loves you with a love that I don’t understand and could never explain. Give your life to Him because He gave His life to bring you salvation.

We’re all broken…


In some way this is true. Some people are more broken than others and some may not realize that they are broken even a little bit. Life tends to do this to us in one way or another. It may start out as a small crack when we are bullied in school or maybe someone close to you dies for one reason or another. Then, later that crack gets a bit wider and a part of us feels broken, like it may never heal.

Brokenness in today’s society is accepted to a certain extent. We are usually surprised if we find someone who has not had an issue in their life that left a scar or a crack. So…why is that? It began about sixty years ago (actually it has been 59 years this year). The year that John F. Kennedy was killed and a great writer died, C.S. Lewis. They died on the same day actually but one died of natural causes and the other was killed by an assassin.

Their deaths left a crack in the world I believe and it is one that hasn’t really been fixed. It is likely that it will never be in my lifetime. In America, JFK’s death caused a ripple effect that has lasted until now. The hope and youthful exuberance of his Presidency died with him that day and America has been mourning it ever since. This may come as a shock to some who follow this site but I believe that much of our cultural problems began with that gunshot in Dallas and they continue until this day.

We kinda gave up on religion in a way on that day as well. It just seems that our entire country lost their faith in God which had seemed to keep us going before that day. I realize that this post is not as encouraging as most of my other posts but I do want to end here on a positive note. Jesus said that He would come back to take all of us who believe in Him for our salvation to be with Him. That is the Hope that I am holding onto today and I pray that you will too.

Trust in Him