From Acts chapter 16 starting at verse 29:
29 Calling for lights, the jailer rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 Then Paul and Silas spoke the word of the Lord to him and to everyone in his house. 33 At that hour of the night, the jailer took them and washed their wounds. And without delay, he and all his household were baptized. 34 Then he brought them into his home and set a meal before them. So he and all his household rejoiced that they had come to believe in God.
It is our belief in Jesus and what He did for us, all of us, that brings salvation to us. It has nothing to do with our gifts or our abilities or even the church that we may belong to. Your salvation and mine depend only on the work which Jesus did on the cross and by His resurrection from the grave! Anything which we attempt to add to His complete work for our salvation is covered in pride and it does nothing to elevate us in the eyes of God.
Believe in Jesus the Christ, the Son of God and you will be saved. Repent of your sinful life and its ways and follow Him until that day when you go to be with Him. Because He was raised from death to Life then we have the Hope of eternity as well through Him.
Have you ever doubted that He would do something, anything for you when you pray? If you did doubt Him or His ability to accomplish what you were asking Him for…why should He do it? Doubt is the seed which Satan sows in your mind toward God’s power so that when we are in need and we ask for God’s help, we still doubt if He will do the thing which we asked for. Do you understand what that looks and sounds like from God’s perspective? It goes something like this: “I know that you will supply all of my needs but…”; “I know that you said that you would heal me by His stripes but…”.
Do you see a pattern forming here? There is a “but” getting in the way and it is caused by your doubt towards God and His power. You really don’t believe that He will give you this or heal you of that or even provide for you in your time of need. You say it with your mouth and you may believe it with your head but it isn’t deep down in your soul belief! It isn’t unwavering belief which is shaken but not torn down by the winds of doubt and fear. God is able to do ALL things which we can ask or imagine, if it is His will for us and our ministry to give Him glory!
There is no power on Earth which can stop God from giving you that which will accomplish His work in you and through you but you have to believe in Him and in His ability to do what He said and that He will answer your prayer. Will it be the answer you want? Maybe, but if it isn’t then God may have something better planned for you, He just hasn’t showed it to you yet. God loves each of us and He is able to do all of the things which the Bible says that He can do, the promises and healings and the blessings. But, when you doubt Him you are telling Him that you don’t think or believe that He will do those things. Maybe not in words but God knows your thoughts and your heart so there is nothing hidden from Him.
Trust Him and believe that He can and will do the things which you ask IF it lines up with His purpose and His will for your life. Trust in God and His purposes for your life and put that faith to work for Him and through Him you will be blessed. Amen
Only fear the Lord , and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you.
1 Samuel 12:24 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/1sa.12.24.KJV
But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
Matthew 6:7-8 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/mat.6.7-8.KJV
On the news and on Facebook and other media outlets there are many so-called “news” stories which are true but there are also many which are fabricated to inflame emotions and add to the fear in our world. God is still in control regardless of what you hear on television. He allows things to happen not so much to punish people but to try to get them to open their eyes and see with their Spirit. Each of us has a spiritual person inside of us but they are not fully realized until we accept Jesus as our Savior. It is only at this point that our Spirit begins to grow and mature. God’s Word, the Bible, is the only nourishment which can give us the strength to get through our life with any certainty.
Yet, in many countries and in our own nation, schools can’t teach from the Bible. In some schools it isn’t even allowed in or on the school grounds. Why do people fear this book so much? Because it is the absolute Truth and it came from God Himself, the Creator of all things! Those who hate this Book know it and where it came from, even Satan himself knows Scripture and he fears it as well. He will quote it to you, but he will twist it into something that isn’t exactly like God said it just as he did in the Garden of Eden.
Some people are asking why preachers don’t preach on hell and the consequences of sin any more. The real reason is fear. They don’t want people to be scared away from their church. It looks bad when people begin to leave. The actual problem is that people don’t really want to hear that there are consequences for their sins. They want to hear that they will go to heaven anyway. The Holy Spirit told Timothy through the apostle Paul that people would be this way close to the end of the age. “They will seek out teachers who will tickle their ears“; the people don’t want to listen to the sound doctrine which was given to us by the Holy Spirit through those who wrote down His Word.
In our world, people prepare (at least some do) for their retirement but there are very few who are preparing for their eternity. Most don’t even seem to think that there is an eternity waiting for them on the other side of death. There is and you need to prepare for it now because there are no second chances. If you choose not to believe in Jesus and not to believe in God and His Word then you have chosen to be in eternity with Satan because no choice is a choice. Seek out Jesus and His doctrine and His Wisdom through the books of John and Romans because it is in these two books that all of the gospel is contained and explained. God doesn’t want anyone to perish in hell because it was created to punish Satan and his followers but if you choose to not believe in Jesus for your salvation then you have chosen to be with the demons in hell. Consider an eternity with once angelic beings who hate you because you were created with the image of God.
And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.
Daniel 12:3 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/dan.12.3.KJV
Living at the end of the age
I always wondered what it would be like to live during the last decade or so before Christ’s millennial reign begins. Why do I place that time limit on this age? Because, I don’t believe our world and its system has much more time than that. This is just my opinion, so don’t get the idea that there is some time-table for this because only God knows when the day and the hour is.
For some in the world, whether they are Christians or not, life at this time is not a very enjoyable prospect. There are wars and uprisings and hatred toward those who believe in Jesus, even if they aren’t actively telling people about their Savior. Just the knowledge that there is a “Christ-follower” or a “Jesus follower” in a village is enough to bring persecution to their families. In America, the hatred and resentment toward those who believe in Jesus as their Savior is building and it is getting worse. It hasn’t gotten to the point of our government locking up people or stopping us from worshiping but the threat is implied. It is very likely that before the next six years or so is past, there will be some limits placed on religious freedom, especially of the Christian faith.
Why the persecution of the Christian faith? Because of the truth which is God’s Word, the Bible, which is our guidebook for life. God gave it to us through those apostles and prophets which His Spirit moved to write His wisdom and His words down for everyone to learn from and live by. It is not a book of “man-made” wisdom and knowledge because there is a complete story and purpose which each book points to from the beginning in Genesis all the way through the book of Revelation. This fact alone proves that it is an Holy Spirit inspired book because it was written over a period of 1500 years by over forty different writers. Without the Holy Spirit’s involvement, the story would’ve been lost, the outcome and the prophecies would not make sense.
Abraham, one of the main characters in the Genesis book of the Bible, is the father of two different people and two different faiths as well. Judaism and Islam. Christianity is also the outcome of the prophesied Messiah of the Jewish faith Who came to “take away the sins of the world”, but the entire Bible points toward His coming and His message and His crucifixion and His resurrection. There is no possible way that forty different writers over 1500 years could’ve made up stories which were perfectly synchronized in order to prophesy His coming and His crucifixion even before it was a form of execution. God could see all of these things from His point of view outside of time and He knew when and where and even who to use at certain points in time so His purposes would be done in the way that He wanted them done.
God is Sovereign and rules the universe and it is His purposes which will prevail regardless of what mankind wants or doesn’t want to believe. One day soon, the whole world will see that He is the Savior and King because He is coming back. When that happens there will be no doubt about Who Jesus is or that He is real but there will be many in the world who don’t know Him because they chose to reject Him as their Savior. Then it will be too late to change your mind, especially if you have taken the mark of the Beast during those last seven years when God’s wrath has been poured out on those who would not believe.
Make sure of your salvation while there is still time to do so. Seek Jesus through reading the Bible, specifically the books of John and Romans because they both give good examples of His life, His death and His resurrection and also His love toward mankind so that you can know Him and He will know you too.
A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
Proverbs 17:22 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/pro.17.22.KJV
The Living Message of Christ 