God determined from the beginning that a Savior would be needed for mankind. He knew this even before mankind was on the Earth but He gave mankind a chance to choose so that we could choose to follow Him on our own. But…mankind chose to follow his own path and disobeyed God’s rule in the garden. God promised that the Seed of the woman would come one day to bring salvation to humanity and He did. But do you know Him?
Jesus is our Savior and He came to bear all of humanity’s sins and pay for them all so that even those who had gone to hades in the past might have a chance to decide to accept salvation through His sacrifice. This is what is meant by the Scripture, “He led captive captivity”. Jesus descended into Hades and led away those who were captive there and who would believe in Him for their salvation. God has never wanted mankind to be captive in Hades or Hell because that place was made for the punishment of Satan and his demons, not man.
The problem arises when man chooses to follow another “god” or chooses to believe the lie that there is no God. When mankind, regardless of creed or color or nation, chooses to follow someone other than Jesus then they are under the same curse that Satan and his demons are. Unless their heart has not hardened to the point of no return they will be sent to the same place as Satan. Satan knows that this does not give God pleasure and that it hurts Him which is why he has become so good at fooling us into believing things and doing things which we wouldn’t do otherwise.
The most worrisome deception that people tend to follow is that many people know about Jesus and Who He is but they haven’t given their lives to Him. They haven’t repented of their sins and learned to follow Him. They have been to church and some may be leaders in the church but knowing about Jesus doesn’t bring salvation. Knowing Him and being known by Him does. Knowing that you need Him as your Savior is the first step but you have to learn to follow Him and trust Him for your salvation. This is another trick of Satan. You’ve been a member of the church for years. You may be a deacon or teach a class or even be the pastor, but do you really know and believe in Jesus for your salvation?
We are not invulnerable to the tricks of Satan because he has had thousands of years to perfect his lies. He knows exactly where our weaknesses are and how to probe and tickle us to the point of following our own ideas and lusts rather than listening to the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is only through belief in Jesus that we can attain entrance into Heaven but today the media and many other “outlets” tell us that there are many ways to get to God, Jesus is just one of many. That is a lie straight from Satan’s mouth! He knows it and his demons know it but they want to hurt God so much until they rebelled and were sent into outer darkness until their judgment day comes.
Belief in Jesus as our Savior and Messiah is the only pathway to Heaven. The thief knew it, His disciples knew it and every Christian since then has known it if they have heard the Truth of the gospel preached. Many times in the past two thousand years Christians have been punished and tortured and killed because of their belief in Him and it is still going on today in some parts of the world. I pray that anyone who reads this will seek out their Savior today and find Him in Jesus because one day soon the world will follow someone else and he will demand that you either worship him or you will die.
Please make sure of your salvation before it is too late. None of us is sure of waking up tomorrow so make sure today while there is time for you to do so.
John 3:16 says: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son. That whosoever believeth in Him should have everlasting life.
Don’t put off your salvation decision, make it today.
A life with Christ is not what most people think about when they think of Christians. Many people seem to think that being a Christian is a life of lack, one in which all of the fun things in this life are forbidden. God has given us a life of abundance but not one which we should live as the rest of the world around us lives. God calls us to be “in the world but not of the world“; Christians should live in this world but we are not to follow those living in the world. The world around us follows the ruler of this world, Satan, who deceives the whole world because that is his purpose. This is why we should keep our lives separate from those living in the world.
A life with Jesus the Christ is one which should mirror His life on Earth. We may not be called to be evangelists or healers or teachers or even preachers, but we are called to be “set apart” as His followers. If for no other reason than to be a beacon of light in a world of darkness. Sometimes our speech shows other that our progress in following Jesus still has a way to go and that is when people wonder about our conversion and whether it is real or not. God can come into your heart and change you so completely until your manner of life, your speech and your personality, is completely changed but you have to be willing to walk with Him to get to this point.
God doesn’t force us to change because love cannot be forced upon anyone. But the very idea that Jesus came to give His life so that you have a chance at being accepted by God into His family should humble you to the point of your asking Him to mold me and make me what You want me to be. Because it is only by becoming the person that God wants you to be and the person that He knows you can be so that you can be the most useful to Him. Why does He want us to be “holy or set apart” from the world around us? Because if our life isn’t much different from the world and those living in it, why would anyone be interested in becoming a Christian?
It is only because of the lives that are changed that people can even tell that there is a difference between a Christian and a Muslim or a Buddhist. If we walk and talk like they do or even like those who do not believe in any religion, then how will people know that we are different? Why would they want to know what makes us different? Yes, we can say and tell others that we believe in Jesus as our Savior but if our speech and our life doesn’t actually reflect that then how can they know? Will they actually believe that what you say about your Savior is true if you still talk and act as if you don’t know Him?
A life with Christ in it should be a life with love and compassion for others in it. It should also be a life with more of God’s Word in it than the words of the world around us. Seek His wisdom today to help you to see what may be missing in your life and ask Him to come in and clean out the old stuff and make your heart and life fresh and new and completely whole in Him.
I used to wonder exactly how I was supposed to find this out. Was God going to tell me or was I going to have to figure it out on my own? It has taken the better part of a decade of Bible study and I’m still not at the point of pointing to a passage or a dream where He told me “This is my will for you”. Our problem lies with our own stubborn nature. It isn’t just my problem, it is every Christian’s problem. We think that we have it figured out but we really don’t and unless you read God’s Word and listen to what He says in it, you will miss it entirely.
God’s will for each of us is different. Some of us are called to be teachers and some are called to be preachers or evangelists. Some of us are called to be prayer warriors for those who need God’s touch in their lives in whatever way He will provide for them. Some of us are to be healers by the way we serve others and some are encouragers to those in the ministry or the church who need that. It takes prayer and being receptive to the Holy Spirit’s words in your Spirit to hear and truly listen with your Spiritual ears in order to find out your calling, your path which God has for you to follow.
Some people pick up on this fairly early in their walk with Jesus and sometimes it takes a long time before their ears (Spiritual) can hear clearly enough to catch what He is saying. Many times it takes a good bit of Bible study and prayerful reading of God’s Word in order to learn His voice well enough to know when He is speaking to you. Unfortunately, many people in our churches today only open their Bible’s on Sunday and they leave it closed for the rest of the week. You can’t learn about God’s voice or His Wisdom by doing that, but a lot of people seem to be “reading” God’s Word along with the pastor and very little at any other time.
This is not a “how-to” article for finding God’s Will for your life but reading God’s Word is the best way to know His voice and to learn what He has said about His Will in the past. God doesn’t change and His will for us is the same as it was for His disciples and prophets in the past. Go and tell others about My plans for their salvation through Jesus. If they don’t know Jesus, then tell them. If they have walked away from the church then encourage them to come back and hear what God wants for them today! Young people need to hear this message more than any other because there are so many other messages which are being taught and put in their faces today on the Internet and on TV. They need to know which message is the Truth and it is God’s Truth!
Have you found it yet or are you still looking for that person or something which will give you complete contentment? I can tell you for sure that there is nothing in this world which will make you happy. No person or amount of money or things that you own can bring lasting joy and happiness into your life. Depending upon which one of those gives you the most satisfaction, you may feel content or even happy for a while if you do have the love of your life or an amount of money which allows you to cast all of your anxiety and worry to the wind…but it will only last for a while. The stuff that you own only gives you a sense of power because you have something which someone else doesn’t. None of these will bring true happiness for very long.
Many of us do equate happiness with less stress in whatever area of life you feel that in. Whether it is through a satisfying relationship or having enough in your bank account that makes bill paying day easy and fairly stress free. But, could you have or feel happiness and contentment if, like Job, all of it was taken away? How would you feel then? Would you blame God for your troubles? Would you blame yourself?
Feeling discontent and depressed because your life isn’t working out the way that you had hoped it would is kinda natural. Most of us do feel that way from time to time. But blaming God for your trouble or even blaming yourself won’t really help the situation and could make it worse. So, what can you do constructively about the problems in your life? Particularly if the problems were brought on by something that you did or didn’t do. The first step is to admit that you had a hand or even both feet in making your problems worse. If you get that far, then seek out help from someone other than the one who caused the problem. Preferably seek out your answer in God’s Word.
It doesn’t matter if your problem is related to a lack of money or if it is a relationship problem, there is Wisdom found in God’s Word which will give you the right advice to move in the direction of fixing the problem. You have to take the advice to heart and act on it though, God doesn’t reach down and fix things as soon as you ask. He wants you to act on His advice and seek His guidance in whatever area of your life that you need it in. Truthfully, we should be seeking Him in every area of our lives before a problem arises. Not seeking His advice and His wisdom is what gets us in trouble in the first place.
The Living Message of Christ 