As Christians, we have the Holy Spirit of God living in our hearts. Jesus said that “I will send the Comforter, and He will teach you and guide you in everything.” In today’s world, we desperately need this Companion…this Comforter. We receive the Holy Spirit when we become Christians because it is His job to convict us of our need for salvation through Jesus. Once we have given our heart to Jesus the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our heart or our soul and He begins to teach us more about our Savior.

Sometimes it takes a while for us to learn from Him because we may not be ready to listen. That is a very dangerous way of living but I’ve done it and many others have as well. We accept Jesus and ask Him into our lives but we don’t fully accept Him. In reality, we aren’t actually saved at that point. We know about Him and we know that we need Him but truthfully we are not ready to give up our way of living…yet.

Sometimes we think we are saved at this point but we don’t want to study the Bible. We just want to go back the way we came and come back to Him later when we need Him. The problem with this is that Satan is going to get into your head at this point and you will hear him more strongly than you ever have. Thinking that you are saved is a dangerous place to be and Satan will convince you that you are alright but you can go back to your old life and then come to Jesus when the time is right. The problem with this is that not one of us is guaranteed to be alive tomorrow! Satan knows this but of course, he isn’t going to tell you. He wants you to die without your salvation.

When you won’t fully accept salvation through your belief in Jesus as your Savior, even when you know that you need it, you are playing a very dangerous game. When your feel that you need Jesus and you know that you are a sinner, don’t turn away from Him. Don’t go back to your life as it was…allow the Holy Spirit to change your life. It will happen a little at a time, sometimes it will happen all at once. God’s Holy Spirit will strengthen you to live in your Christian walk one day at a time and that is exactly how each of us should look at our life after we have accepted Jesus.

Wake up in the morning and thank God that you have another day to learn more about Him by reading His Word before your day begins. Thank Him for the opportunities that come during your day. Praise Him on your way home from work because He has kept you safe today and made your day a success. Some days won’t feel like a success, but unless your Spirit is telling you it was a failure then it was a success. God’s version of success is very different from the way we look at it. Your conduct today may have impacted someone’s life today and you might not know it.

It takes reading God’s Word on a daily basis with the Holy Spirit teaching it to you and helping you to understand what you are reading. One verse at a time, one chapter at a time, God will help you to understand it well enough that you will be able to use it in every situation in your life. Walk with His Holy Spirit from the time you wake up until you go to sleep at night because He is the One that loves you above and beyond every person that you meet. God sent Jesus to pay your debt of sin because He values you and He loves you just that much.

Psalm 34:8 says, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him”.

Just living in God’s Presence each day is a joy that cannot be found anywhere else. No amount of “fun” or material things on this Earth can bring you the peace and the joy that is found in Him. Some people confuse joy with happiness but happiness wanes when the feeling is gone. Joy is found in faith in Him because our joy is eternal and cannot be taken away by anything or anyone.

Doctrine and discipline are found in religions that do not produce eternal joy and peace. Only faith in Jesus and in His atonement for your life can give you joy that cannot be understood by anyone outside of having faith in Him. James 4:8 says, “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.”

Knowing that you are in the presence of the One that loves you most brings peace and joy that cannot be found anywhere except in His Presence. 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 says, “But, as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him’—these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.”

Finding peace and joy in the midst of trouble and sorrow can only be done in the presence of God and by prayer, knowing that He loves you and you are cared for more deeply than anyone on Earth can possibly do.

Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; Him shalt thou serve, and to Him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name. Deuteronomy 10:20 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/deu.10.20.KJV

There is life everlasting in the name of Jesus, yet our world doesn’t want to hear this today. Mainly because those who are in the world and not a part of the church can’t see much difference between the people in the church and those outside it. Why aren’t we, as Christians, trying to live our lives as a reflection of Jesus instead of a reflection of the world around us? This is not the way that Jesus wanted His church to be.

We are supposed to live as a reflection of Him on a daily basis, not just on Sundays or holidays. We are supposed to take the example that He set for His disciples and be that example to those outside the church so that they will want to know Him as their Savior. If people know that you attend church regularly and then see or hear you acting outside the church like someone who doesn’t know Jesus as their Savior…why would they want what you say you have?

Your life as a Christian is not going to be a perfect reflection of Jesus but you should at least try to live your daily life as one of His disciples! This is why you hear so many people saying that they won’t attend that church because there are too many hypocrites in it. Some won’t come to church because someone said something to them in the wrong tone years ago or they criticized the way they were dressed. Jesus accepted anyone regardless of their status or their clothes and we should do the same.

In the parable of the banquet, this parable was spoken to the guests at the Pharisee’s banquet. Jesus had noticed them picking out the places of honor for themselves, and this prompted the parable.

Jesus presents to them an imaginary or hypothetical banquet scene in which they themselves figure. Suppose they presume to take the high place reserved for the guest of honor. Then they may be asked to move to a less honored place, and thus be disgraced and embarrassed. However, if they choose to sit in the lowest place, they will likely be asked to take a more honored position and this will reflect their credit.

Yes, He was crucified for your sins and mine but He lives today, seated at the right hand of God. He is coming back to take His church, His Bride home to be with Him and I believe it will be soon. How soon? I don’t know but we are living at the edge of the age of grace right now. Prophecies from Daniel and Ezekiel are coming true right now, we are at the very cusp before that trumpet will sound and the dead in Christ will rise and those of us who are His will rise after them to meet Him in the air! Oh, what a glorious and wonderful day that will be.

For many people, that day will be a very different day. If you haven’t given your heart to Jesus yet, on that day you will surely know that your place was taken and it was offered but you refused to accept Him as your Savior. At that moment you can give your heart to Him but…the next seven years will be rough. The book of Revelation tells exactly what will happen during the next seven years and for those who claim Jesus as their Savior, it will be hell on Earth. It will be hell on Earth for anyone who refuses to worship the leader of the world at that time, the antichrist.

As the publican said in Jesus’ parable, “God, be merciful to me a sinner.” When your heart knows and you will know that you are a sinner when you are convicted, don’t turn away. Give your heart and your life to Jesus and seek Him every day in the Bible. Even though all of the persecution and trials that will come during the Tribulation, God will recognize that you are His. Just because the whole world is going through the judgment of God doesn’t mean that He has turned His back on everyone. You can still be saved by doing the very same thing that would save you before all of this happened…just repent and ask Jesus into your life and your heart.

The simplicity of salvation is in the verse of John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but will have eternal life.

Your belief in Jesus’ atonement for your sins is all that is needed. Remember the theif on the cross? He only asked Jesus to remember him when He comes into His Kingdom, and Jesus told him that “Today you shall be with Me in paradise“. There are no works to perform, no ministry needed and no amount of money given that will gain your access to Heaven, only your belief in Jesus as your Savior will accomplish that.

We are all sinners when God touches our hearts and then we see the true nature of our sins. We are sinners and nothing more until we are changed by the Holy Spirit. It is the touch of God’s Holy Spirit that begins the change in our hearts and it is at this point that we realize how much we truly need Him as our Savior.

God’s love for us is so deep and so encompassing that we cannot understand it. Anyone who has been touched by Him can tell you that the depth of His love cannot be understood by mankind. But it was this love of His that sent Jesus to Bethlehem as a baby so He could truly understand our condition by experiencing all of our pains and sorrows Himself. It was this compassion that kept Jesus on the cross and, during His ministry, caused Him to be favorable to those who needed Him the most.

God’s love for Israel and the Jewish people has always been evident in how He saved them from Egypt and how He took care of them during their travels in the wilderness. Yet, He knew that they would stray from His commandments after entering their Promised land. He always kept a remnant who didn’t follow other gods or defile themselves in other ways and He brought them back to Himself. But when you read the Old Testament, you get the feeling that they didn’t appreciate His care for them. Sometimes it seemed that they didn’t recognize that He cared for them at all.

God created this universe for us to see Him in everything around us. From the smallest animals to the mighty Sequoia that stands high in the mountains. His creative fingerprint is everywhere but there are so many today who refuse to see it and acknowledge Him as the Creator. I pray that you will pick up a Bible soon, even if it is just the New Testament, read it and seek Him as your Savior.