What makes the difference?

What makes a difference in a person’s life? I don’t mean materially like having a lot of money, what I am speaking of is an eternal difference. Now, there are some in our country today who would ask, “What do you mean “eternal difference”? Well, according to God’s Word which, isn’t read very much in America anymore, all of us have an eternity to look forward to after we die. Some of us won’t like it there at all. They will see their eternity as a punishment and a prison. Well, it is.

You see when you live your life like the devil then your eternity will be to live in eternity with the devil. Now during this life, I have heard many people say that in hell we will be having a party all through eternity. But that is not the way Jesus describes hell. He said the smoke of their torment rises for eternity and that they will be thrown into the lake of fire with Satan and his demons. A lake of fire doesn’t sound like a party to me. Especially when your eternal body is capable of feeling pain even though the lake of fire can’t kill you.

The difference that we make in other lives and in our own life can only come by one Person, Jesus Christ. He is the Author and the Finisher of our faith and it is His Spirit which remakes us into a child of God. We cannot do this transformation on our own. There is no amount of money or time or work, which will miraculously make us righteous in the sight of God. Only belief in the Son, Jesus Christ for our salvation will accomplish this task. We do not choose this on our own because even when you have been in a revival tent or meeting if you feel that you need Jesus and you go down front that decision may be because of your friends going down or some girl going down.

When the Holy Spirit touches your heart and breaks it so that you know that you need Jesus regardless of who may see you or what your friends might say. Nothing will keep you from going down and making Him your Savior. God’s Holy Spirit will move you to make that decision and you will make it. Sometimes it may take a few more prompting touches from Him but you will get down on your knees and give your life to Jesus.

What does all of this have to do with making a difference? Because others will see the difference in you and they will want to know what happened? Your life and your way of living changed and someone will want to know how they can have the peace that you have. They will hear about your life turning in the opposite direction from where you were headed and they will see a difference in you. Some may not see it as a good thing and that’s okay but there will be others who see the change and they will want what you have found.

When your life changes like that then you will make a difference in someone’s life. Maybe even more than one person. Then they can go out and make a difference and the effect will keep going from there. God can make one person…one seed sprout into a field of new growth for His Kingdom. It only takes a spark to start a fire if the right kind of wood is there. Your “spark” comes from the Holy Spirit and the fire that He starts in your heart is what other people see. Once they see this change in your life, they will want to know what or Who it is that made this change.

Make sure that they know it was Jesus Christ Who brought you to this place in your life.

God loves you!

The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing. Zephaniah 3:17 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/zep.3.17.KJV

Endless love for…

We have heard songs for this and we’ve prayed for it to happen to us but until you realize that you already have it…it never really sinks into your conscience. God has loved every one of us since before the first blade of grass grew in Eden. He has known our weaknesses and our strengths and where and when we would make mistakes and He loves us anyway. Even when we refuse to listen to Him or we turn away from Him for a time and do our own thing…He still loves us. Feeling loved or unloved? Seek God in the Psalms and Proverbs. His love shines so bright that our own Sun cannot be bright enough to make a shadow.

Endless love. The kind of love that lasts not just for a lifetime but for eternity is the love that God has always had for each of us. Will He show this love to us while we are still alive? Yes, and He does it every time you wake up to a new day. When your day goes your way until you get home that was God making your day smooth and productive. God’s Spirit comes to live with you when you accept Jesus as your Savior and He is with you during the good days and the bad ones. He is never any further from you than a breath and a prayer. If you are hurting, the Holy Spirit can fill in the blanks that you can’t pray because of grief or the loss of a loved one. He knows your pain but He will give you the strength to get through it today and tomorrow and the next day too.

The gifts which the Spirit brings to your life will help with so much and add to your life and your enjoyment of it. God does so much for us each day and most of it goes unnoticed because He takes care of little things before they become big ones. Sometimes we ask Him to do something for us and He knows that we don’t need it or that it would cause problems for us later. He answers those prayers by not answering them. We don’t understand His logic but we aren’t supposed to understand Him. He’s God our Savior, our Protector, our Creator and our Redeemer. What more could you want or need?

Do the work of a Christian

Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you. Philippians 4:9 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/php.4.9.KJV

Put your faith in Jesus into practice every day so others will see Him through you!

Choose this day whom you will serve

And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord , choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord . Joshua 24:15 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/jos.24.15.KJV

Live in the Spirit

If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Galatians 5:25 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/gal.5.25.KJV

Be connected to God through prayer. All during the day, focus on Jesus and He will guide your steps.

God watches over the righteous

For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. 1 Peter 3:12 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/1pe.3.12.KJV

When you pray, God hears your prayers. If you are a sinner, the only prayer that He will hear is your prayer for forgiveness and repentance. After that, He will be near you every step of the way. God never turns away from a sinner if they are sincere about turning away from their sins. Only a prayer for forgiveness and repentance from a sinner will be answered instantly, if it is sincere. Just like trying to quit smoking or drinking will not work unless you truly mean it. God knows what is in your heart and He knows what you are thinking. It cannot be hidden from Him.

God does care about and He watches over all of us, sinner and saint alike, and His will for all will be accomplished because His will cannot be undone. The world around us thinks that they can change the future by their actions but the future is in God’s hands and it will happen the way that He says it will in His Word. Look to His Word for your peace and your salvation through Jesus Christ.

Don’t worry…

Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Matthew 6:34 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/mat.6.34.KJV

Worry is practical atheism. You don’t think God is going to come through for your needs. There are many other ideas that we get in our minds which get in your way, keeping our minds all stirred up. Put your trust in Jesus, give Him your trouble and your problems and LEAVE THEM THERE!

Most of us pray about our needs and our trouble but we don’t thank Him for the life that He has given us. We may not even pray about our friends and family. We just ask God to take care of those on our prayer list. That’s not specific prayer, it’s just a general open prayer.

Make sure that you are praying specifically and purposefully for everyone on your list. The list may be long but God hears your prayers.

When trials come…

There is a reason that I put this in the title. Because all of us have trials. Some are good and some are not so good. Some of them sneak up on us and some we have been living with for a while.

What should you do when trials come? Pray. If you aren’t a believer you need to ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior because that is the most important prayer that each of us needs to pray. Then pray for your country. If you live here in America, it needs prayer and I mean a LOT of prayer! If you live outside of America, you know what you need to pray for in your country. Because there are so many problems and trials it is hard to know exactly what to pray for or even how to pray for it. That is why you need to ask Jesus to be your Savior. When you do that, you will receive the Holy Spirit and even when you don’t know what to pray for or even how to pray, He can pray for you and let the Father know what is needed.

Trials will come, to Christians and non-believers as well. Just as it rains on the just and the unjust, trials come to all of us. Prayer is what is needed for all things. For your health, for your salvation, for your family and for your country’s leaders. God is interested in all of this and in each of us but many of us don’t believe that He cares about our lives. God has always cared about us and our world. Our problem is that we can’t or won’t believe in Him because many people in the world deny His existence. They don’t believe the Word and His book, the Bible or they pick and choose what they will believe and what they will not.

The problem with picking and choosing to believe parts of God’s Word or not is that you are calling God a liar. His Spirit inspired every word and promise in the Bible. There is no reason not to believe what He says and Who He is, unless you just don’t believe in God or Jesus Christ at all. When I think of someone who is in this state of mind, I truly feel pity for them. Because if you don’t change your mind and seek Him and ask forgiveness…you will have an eternity separated from Him to realize that you had the ability to be in His Presence with one decision.

Our trials in this life are small compared to much of the world around us. Truly, worrying about the injustices in this world is the least of our troubles. Your life and mine are only a puff of smoke compared to eternity. Make sure of your destination after this life because you will have a lot more time after death to either enjoy Life with Jesus or the feeling of death outside of His Presence in hell.

Peace in our daily lives

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Colossians 3:15 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/col.3.15.KJV