Category: Salvation

Do you seek God?


There are some hard times coming to our world and you had best be seeking the One Who can strengthen you to get through them. Why do people think that they are Christians and rarely darken the door of a church? Many would tell me that they can worship Him just as well on a deer stand or on the bank of a lake fishing. The problem with that

is that most of us don’t think of God when we are doing those things. We are thinking of something else entirely.

God loves each of us and has desired a personal relationship with us from before we were born. Jesus told His disciples to seek the Kingdom of God first and all of these things will be added unto you. What did He mean by that? Some people interpret that as meaning wealth and riches will come to you but that is not what He was speaking about. Jesus was telling His disciples that all of their needs would be met as long as they were putting God’s Kingdom first in their lives.

So how do we put God’s Kingdom first in our lives? First, you have to give your heart to Jesus and ask Him to come in and clean up your heart. Then read God’s Word so you will know His voice when He speaks to you. Also, by reading God’s Word, you will learn His will for your life. I had many people ask me about knowing God’s will while I was a preacher and that is the easiest way that I know how to find it. God reveals His will for our lives not specific to each of us but in reading and studying His Word, then praying about what you have read. Especially if you don’t understand what you are reading…and most of us don’t.

If you are saved and the Holy Spirit is living in your heart, He will guide you and pray with you for understanding. He is your teacher through God’s Word and will give you the knowledge that you seek when you ask for it and it is needed for your calling. You may be wondering, “What calling?”. When you are called to be saved, God always has a reason for it and that is your calling, although you may not find out the specifics until later. He will reveal them to you. Seek Him through prayer by reading His Word and by studying His Word because He will reveal the knowledge that you need.

Being a Christian is not an easy job but the reward is well worth the trials that you will face. Jesus said we would face trials but He has overcome the world and He will equip you to do so too.

God loves you!


If you have never thought about that before now…it is the most amazing realization that you can have! The Creator of the universe loves you! Not just the human race but each one of you! Consider that for a moment.

God wanted to spend time with Adam and Eve in person in the Garden and He did for a while. The most amazing part of this story is that He is going to do it again! He has redeemed us through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus, and the only part that we have to do to receive His grace and forgiveness is to accept Jesus as our Savior, believing that He did this for me and for you!

Isn’t that the most wonderful news that you could hear especially today with all of the doom and gloom in the media now? God loves you! He loves you whether you have accepted Jesus or not but He doesn’t care for the life that many of us lead every day. By giving your heart to Jesus and reading His Word and praying for strength to be His every day, you can be more like Him than you could possibly be on your own.

Living the life of a Christian is impossible without His strength and His Spirit inside you and you only get those when you come to Him in faith believing that He will do what He said He would do. By accepting Jesus as your Savior and confessing that you are a sinner in need of forgiveness, you can be adopted into God’s family. Give Him a chance to show you how much He loves you in this life so you can spend eternity with Him after this life is over.

Do unto others…


Overcome evil with faith and prayer


What do you mean?


I have lived in what is called the “Bible Belt” all of my life. When I was a lot younger I never understood what that meant. But when I began driving 18-wheelers about thirty-some years ago (which didn’t last very long), I noticed that in other parts of the country there weren’t many churches. Oh, they were there but not like they were in the South. Most small towns in the South have at least two or more churches in the city limits and some communities have them scattered up and down the back roads too. That is something that is not seen outside of Dixie.

Now, just because I called it Dixie doesn’t mean I’m racist. People who live in the South and the Southeastern United States know exactly what I’m talking about.

Life in the South moves at a different pace than it does anywhere else. Mostly due to the humidity and the heat that begins in May and stays with you all the way to Thanksgiving…sometimes. Occasionally, it might begin a little earlier than May and hopefully, it won’t last into November at all. It didn’t when I was a child, but this “global warming” has pushed the heat into places where it shouldn’t be.

I used to hear about the “dry” heat out West and I did live for a little while out there. They weren’t kidding about it being dry! Coming from Mississippi I was used to more humidity than they even have when it is raining! I had my first nosebleed while I was out there and it was due to the dry conditions.

I’m not complaining about the dryness or the humidity in this post but God’s world is very different than it was thirty years ago and it will be getting worse in some ways before things get better. Why do I say this? Because God’s Word says that our world is going to pay for all of their sinful ways during the Tribulation and we are living right on the edge of that time right now. I pray that everyone who reads this will pick up a Bible and read the book of Revelation and the book of Daniel. They complement each other and will give you something to think about.

Why?


Many days we ask this question of ourselves and of God too. But…why? If you look at your hands and your feet you can see that God created each of us as unique individuals. When you look at the stars at night or at the birds and the trees you are seeing His handiwork. When you hear a newborn cry or see a baby animal of any kind, you are seeing His creation and His ability to keep all things alive and fulfilling their purpose in His creation.

God is the Creator. There is no evolution process that is going on in the world. It is His design and His ability to create that brings all of the differences and varieties of life into our world. Many of the “evolutionary” differences in all of the wonderous environments are adaptations. The universe is as it was when He created it all about six thousand years ago. You can tell me or anyone else that “carbon dating” shows this age but don’t you think that God can give rocks and stars the appearance of age? I do.

I know I don’t usually write about “why?” but the point of this blog is to make you think. Think about your Creator and your Redeemer. God cares about our little planet because He wants to. He doesn’t have to have a reason. God chooses those who He wants to choose for salvation and for the work that He needs them to do. Sometimes He chooses people, like me, who didn’t really want to work for Him, to begin with, but after a number of things that got my attention…I finally came around.

God loves us, all of us, but He knows who is stubborn enough to resist or even to walk away from HIs call. He sent His Son to bring us the possibility of salvation and an eternity in heaven. The problem is that many people don’t like the simplicity of salvation. They think that God needs their help or assistance to finish the process but He doesn’t. Remember the thief on the cross? He had no way of being baptized or of doing any “good works”. All he did was believe that Jesus was the Messiah and Jesus told him that he would be with Him in Paradise that day.

Believe in Him and you shall be saved. It is that simple.

He loved us first…


I usually let the picture and the scripture talk and I don’t add much to these but in the political climate that we are living in today something else needs to be added.

God LOVES us. It is not in the past tense. He always loved us, long before most of us were born and He loves those who aren’t here yet as well. The point of this is that He took the first step toward us, so when we feel Him trying to get our attention we should do the same. But…do we take that step? Some of us do and some of us wait, then some just walk away from Him.

But you can’t walk away from God because He is always there. Wherever you are and whatever situation you may be facing. Especially when He has a plan for your life that will bring Him glory. Many people would read that and say that God is seeking credit for Himself and He does to a certain extent. But…God doesn’t seek glory like we do. His reason and purpose for seeking His glory are to let others know how good He is at taking care of our problems. Our pains, our misconceptions, our fears, and even the keys that are missing are all important to Him.

Anything that is important to us in our walk with Him is important to Him as well. Sometimes it is hard for us to imagine that the Creator of the universe could possibly care about where my keys are but He does. Consider what Jesus said about the sparrows: “My father knows even when one of the sparrows fall to the ground“. One of the smallest birds that flit and flies on Earth, yet God knows where each of them is and He notices when one of them dies. If the Creator notices when a small bird dies, don’t you think He cares for us even more? He created each of us in His image and He knows how many hairs we have on our heads.

Yes, God loves us and He cares for each and every person, whether we care about His attention in our lives or not is immaterial. He loves us. Don’t you think we should give Him some love as well?

Grief and loss…


This is something that no one can know unless they’ve experienced it. The loss of a parent or a child or even a pet that has been with you for many years is hard. Each of them had a piece of your heart and when they passed from this world to the next, they took that piece with them. It feels that way too. Thankfully, I’ve not lost a child but a dearly loved parent and grandparent both went to be with Jesus in 1995. I have only gotten to the point, in the past two years, that the holidays don’t cause the pain to resurface.

Nearly everyone has had some loss in some form in the last two years. Whether it was a loved one or a job or your health, all of us have had some loss to go through. No person has escaped this and if you have then you are very blessed indeed.

God cares for us and we truly are His creation and “the apple of His eye“. He considers Israel as the center of His eye so when others come against them it is like poking God in the eye. Not a very smart thing to do.

Deuteronomy 32: 9-10 says:

9 But the Lord’s portion is his people,
Jacob his allotted heritage.

10 “He found him in a desert land,
and in the howling waste of the wilderness;
he encircled him, he cared for him,
he kept him as the apple of his eye.

God cares whether you feel that He does or not. He is always near when you need comfort or strength and all you have to do is be humble enough to ask Him for help. Seek Him to be your Savior while there is time because the prophecies are being fulfilled every day and one day soon a trumpet will blow and the church, the Bride of Christ, will be taken up. After that day, life is going to be much worse than it is today. Make sure you are taken up with the church.

Don’t worry about tomorrow…


Tomorrow isn’t here yet, so don’t worry about the trouble it MIGHT bring. Be thankful for getting through today. God is always with you if you will let Him be there.

Wisdom for Life


You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore before deciding to be happy. Nightbirde

The quote above is from an AGT contestant who died from cancer. She was fighting it while trying to gain a spot on America’s Got talent. It really is true and sad at the same time that she was such a good singer and yet cancer took her away before she could realize her dream. Her attitude toward life is inspiring and humbling too but it is one that I believe we should all try to live every day.

God didn’t bring this pandemic on the people of the world for punishment, He allowed it to happen because people need to wake up and look to Him for healing and salvation. Unfortunately, many younger people seem to be turning away from a religion of any kind. In some areas, there seems to be an awakening of those who need to turn to Jesus and many people are giving their hearts to Him. The difference is in the reaction of our nation and the world itself.

It seems that many people in the media and on social media as well are turning their backs on any news that relates to Christian salvation. Whether it is happening in America or somewhere else it is a good thing, but the media is still ignoring it. This is something that I cannot understand. Why? Because salvation is good news and the media doesn’t want to publicize “good news”. I would rather hear two minutes of good news than twenty minutes of drug commercials and ten minutes of news blurbs.

Life is hard sometimes but when you depend upon God for your provision and for your salvation, life will work for you and not against you. God can make that happen if you will let Him do it. I know that we tend to think “I can do this myself”; no…you can’t do everything yourself. God loves us and He intended for us to walk through life with Him. Acting like a toddler and saying “I can do it myself” is a sure way to find out that you can’t. God gives us the strength and the ability to do everything in our life, but it works better when we realize that we need Him to be in it with us.

The entire world is speeding toward a time when life itself is going to be harder to live. Food and shelter will be hard to come by and other necessities will be more expensive. Some to the point of being beyond many people’s ability to pay. We are truly living at the very edge of the time foretold in the book of Revelation so I implore you to seek your Savior as soon as possible and give your heart to Him, repent of your sinful life and begin serving Him while there is time. The day of the rapture of the church is approaching. I don’t know when but it is not far away. It is much closer than it has ever been before.