Tag: Creator

Blessings for every day


How can we claim and walk in the blessings that God has for us? I wondered that so much when I would hear my Mom or my grandparents talking about it. The same as I would wonder about it when I heard it in songs or at church growing up. It seems that nobody every explained it to me then and I suppose it was because they didn’t really understand it themselves.

I have come to realize that our blessings are those things that many of us take for granted all of the time. Waking up in the morning is a blessing, even if you wake up in pain be thankful that you can feel it. When you walk to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee, be thankful that you can walk, that you can see, that you feel the love of God in your life because you have these blessings.

I know, there are some who say that their pain or their troubles are not blessings. Maybe not, it is possible that God is allowing you to grow through your aches and pains like He did when Satan wanted to test Job. God did not afflict Job, but He allowed Satan to do so because of the faith of Job. Maybe that is where you are now. Maybe the pain that you feel in your body or in depression or some other ailment is a test or it may be Satan’s way of hindering you in your walk with God.

Be blessed in the knowledge that you have God in your life and that He is in control of all circumstances, good and bad. Get into His Word today and every day so that He can strengthen you and your faith in Him. His Word is more powerful than any weapon or disease, so use it every day to fight off the darts that the enemy slings in your direction. God is with you and me just as He was with David when he fought Goliath. He made David’s aim true and the strength of his sling powerful enough to penetrate a giant’s skull and He can overcome any obstacle that is in your life today.

Remember, you have the Spirit of God inside you if you are a Christian and you are made in His image just as Adam was. In that we are all the same, regardless of what race we claim to be or the culture that we live in. The Creator brought the universe together by His Word and the Living Word, Jesus, came and died to make you free from the bondage of sin! All that you need to do is claim His promises for your life and believe in Him, that He can and will accomplish them in your life today and the rest of your life!

Make sure that you follow Him in everything that you do, in life, in business and in all other areas of your existence. Read and study a chapter in the Bible every day, maybe two or three if you can get them in. Once you get into the habit of reading His Word daily, you will sorely miss it when you don’t. His Word can ease your pains and infuse your life with His power so that you can overcome those aches and pains and really be thankful for your blessings every day.

Why did Jesus come?


4thpage.jpg“Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34 These words were spoken by Jesus from the cross as He was crucified for our sins. Not just yours or mine but for every person in the past, in His present and in the future. Why did God do this? Why would God allow this to be done?

The simple answer is because of His love for us, all of us. This is a kind of love that we cannot comprehend…we cannot understand this depth of love. It is so far beyond our pitiful ability that it would be like explaining the concept of love to a shark or a snake. It cannot be understood and it can’t be comprehended by our limited minds. Of course, there are some who will contest this way of thinking but if you really think about it, the depth of love that it would take I mean, our human mind can’t comprehend a love like that.

That is the reason that Jesus said that we would have to come to the Kingdom of God with faith like a child. Trusting that God knows what is best and that we can give Him our life and our heart no matter what!

God created this universe so that we could experience the awesome reach of His power and know that He is the Creator and there is no other. No amount of spiritualism or pagan pseudo-religion will be a substitute for God, period. You can call the Bible a fake and the Word contained in it to be fantasy, but Christians have died believing in the God of the Bible and His Word. Of course, many people who don’t believe in Jesus will also say that they were delusional but people wouldn’t die believing a lie.

I know, sincerity breeds belief and beliefs are what those people ultimately died for BUT if that was the way that things have been taught for nearly two thousand years, what of it? At least Christians are not trying to kill all of those who won’t convert to Christianity. If we are wrong, then our lives have only been wasted doing the work of Jesus while we can. If there is no Heaven or hell, then why did Jesus come to bring the good news to the Jews and to the rest of the world? If the Bible is a lie, then the Torah is a lie and the Jewish religion is a lie.

Nothing about the Christian religion can be disproved. You can choose not to believe any of it if you wish, but the history contained in it has been proven by archaeologists. Science has proven many of the truths in the Bible as well. Such as the ordinance given to circumcise a child on the eighth day after they are born. A baby doesn’t have the capability to clot blood until that day is past, but that wasn’t proved until recently.

God loves each of us, this is proven because we live and breathe. You can laugh at this if you wish, but it truly is by His grace and mercy that our world hasn’t come to an end yet. When the time is up, every eye will see the result and hear it around them but if you haven’t made the decision to come to God by belief in Jesus…it will be too late.

Are you in charge of your life?


We all like to think that we are in charge of our lives, that we direct our own paths and destinies but the truth is that God has had a plan for your life from the beginning. Whether you have given your heart to Him and begun the walk with Him or not is irrelevant, before you have ventured too far you will turn to Him. It may be at the end of your life if you are really stubborn about it or you may give your heart to Him early in your life. We don’t know what tomorrow holds for us, but He does. He has all of it planned and perfected but it is up to you whether you follow His leading and His script for your life or not. Have you ever considered it? Have you thought of what it will take to do this?

Some think that being a Christian is a life of compromise and giving up on the fun stuff. This is very far from the truth, although there are many who would like for you to believe it. Giving your heart and life to Jesus frees you from the sin and worry of this world because you can lean on Him for strength and give Him your worries so that you don’t have to handle them alone.
God is in charge

It is because He is in charge of the universe and everything in it, that everything works as well as it does. Your heart, your kidneys, your liver, all of these things did not evolve. God created you and me for a reason and He is the one Who put all of those things inside you to keep you alive and healthy. Just as our solar system is the only stable one which is friendly to life, our planet and all of the environment around it were created so that we could live and be His people, His creation.

Yes, you are in charge up to a point. You can choose to follow Jesus and give your heart and soul to Him or not. Life isn’t much different for those who don’t follow Jesus except that they don’t have His grace and mercy working in their lives to His glory. The biggest difference in their life isn’t in life, it is after they die. They will stand before God and they will have to answer for all of the sins that they have done in this life, no matter how insignificant they might be. The only sin which will send them to Hell is the one where they didn’t give their heart to Jesus and ask Him to come into their lives. If they made it through life without Him, then that is going to be their eternity, their punishment for not allowing Jesus to save them from their sins, even if that decision was made at the last moment He will still forgive you and save you. Please don’t push Him away, you may regret it for a very LONG time.

The Preeminent Christ!


Have you ever heard a preacher call Jesus that? I don’t believe that I have and I have been going to church for about fifty years (although I don’t remember much of those first few years). Jesus was elevated to His position when He returned to Heaven and sat down on the right of His Father. Why doesn’t anyone preach this or tell about Him being in this position today? Because it is not in the Bible, I believe.

Yes, it does say that He occupies the right hand side of the throne but we never hear about what that includes. Why? Because it would be mostly speculation on our part. Jesus never explicitly told His disciples that He would be in control of all of creation, it is just assumed because He is the Creator along with God! It seems that nobody considered that He would be anymore than a man, even if He is the Son of God.

Consider this: He is already on the throne of David even though He is not on Earth yet. He is in control of all of creation because He is the Creator, the Living Word of God. He loves each of us with a love that goes far beyond anything that we can conceive or imagine, even if we haven’t accepted Him as Savior yet.

He is the I AM! He is part of the Trinity! He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords! He is Alive and He is RISEN. Our Savior and Lord, so why is it that His name and the church which began from His disciple’s going out to tell about Him causes so much strife and problems? The “church” from ages past, which sent Crusaders into Jerusalem and lands occupied by the followers of Islam, is not the church that I belong to. Though many people seem to associate Christians with it and lump us all together as one big group. We are so fractured and splintered into denominations and beliefs which don’t follow all of the teachings of Christ or have changed those teachings to reflect what each one wants to believe. How can we be so split up like this? The Bible is still the Word of God. It is still the same whether it is in a different language or translation. So what happened to the Christ and to Jesus and the message that He taught before He went to be at the right hand of the Father?

The scriptures and the words contained in them are still the Word of God, so why can’t the church act like a unified body of believers?

Because of our own beliefs and individual ideas about what should and should not be taught in church. It seems that church squabbles and divisions start because a few people don’t like the sermon which was preached last week or last month. Then, they go and stir up trouble by finding a few more people who agree with them. Pretty soon they have enough people that they can demand that the preacher leave or they can go start another church with another pastor. Who is behind all of this in-fighting and bickering? Satan.

When he was defeated at the cross, he purposed to tear the church apart by quarrels and in-fighting and he and his demons and principalities have done a very good job of it over the past two thousand years or so. The church has splintered into hundreds of denominations with different doctrines. Some which follow the teachings of Jesus and some which don’t recognize His deity at all. It is no wonder that there are so many people who are confused and have decided not to believe what our message says. All that can be done is to keep telling people about Jesus and His teachings and that He is the only way to salvation because that is His message. Don’t add to it and don’t take anything away from it and let the Spirit do its work in the world. That is the job that we have as His church.

No violence, no argument and no pushing “religion” on anyone, just tell people about His love and that He died for them so that they might live…forever.

In His Service.

Too much information….


Everywhere that we go today, whether it is to work or school or to a favorite store or even a restaurant, we are assaulted with advertising of some kind. In our email and text messages, sometimes we get sales calls from people and companies which we might never have had a relationship at all! We watch videos and read posts on twitter and Facebook and many other social media sites…for what? The information? The news, if there is such a thing anymore, is old five minutes after we see it or hear it and we move on to something else. Have you ever wanted to get away from all of this connectedness? I certainly would like to, although I wouldn’t be able to keep this site up if I did. But, it would be like a vacation just to have a few days without cell service and Internet. I would likely go through some withdrawal for the first day or so, but I think I could adjust and cope with it.

Life today is so covered in information until it is causing stress when and where there was no stress before. Even children feel stressed by it today, because of too much information and the fact that it is so pervasive in our society today. There have been plenty of theories about doomsday scenarios with electromagnetic pulses and such. If such a thing did happen over a country like the USA, there would be many people who would likely have a heart attack because they couldn’t check in with their friends and family every few minutes! I have heard some people say that something needs to happen to push us back into life as it was in the nineteenth century with no phones, no electricity, no food unless you grew it yourself, no milk unless you had a cow or a goat that gave milk. Sounds like fun doesn’t it? Not really. More than half of the people of America would die if this happened. Some because of violence, some because of starvation, mostly because of boredom on top of the other two!

There was a speech given once by a great President where he was consecrating a battlefield. One that had come on our soil because of stubbornness and laziness and the ideas of a privileged few that wouldn’t give up their way of life to set men free. Here is that speech, not because it is a light in a dark world but because the man who wrote it and gave it was:

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that our nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

The ideas that Abraham Lincoln espoused in this speech which we do still remember, if you have taken American history that has not been altered, come from a faith in God because even though slavery was OK in the Bible it wasn’t supposed to be life-long. Unless the slave loved you and didn’t want to be set free, they were supposed to go free in seven years. All debt was cancelled and land was returned to the original owner every fifty years. Life, given to us by God and His grace, is a precious commodity not to be used or squandered. We should honor it and celebrate it, even if someone doesn’t believe the same doctrine that you do or live according to the “book” that you do. We are created in His image and created equal in His sight, regardless of our skin color or religion and that is the code…the doctrine that we should live by!

 

Why are you leaving?


So many people are leaving religion and their belief in God today, why? I know they are dissatisfied in the religion or with most of the supposed rules that it has. Some are saying that they can get their satisfaction spiritually by going to yoga classes or martial arts class. Some just don’t seek any affiliation with any religion regardless of whether it is Christian, Muslim or Jewish or any other religion.

It is true that many people have found that during college their views of the world and their place in it changes and they adapt to those changes, but I would like to ask a question about all of this.

Are you willing to risk eternity on this decision? While it is true that if you don’t believe that there is an afterlife leading to an eternity then there is no reason to worry, but do you really was to risk it? Why am I asking this? Because I have to for one, I am a pastor and a Bible teacher so I am required to make you aware of your choices and what they could lead to.

Even if you don’t believe in God or His existence, He still loves you, and He has provided a way for you to escape the punishment in hell that comes with rejecting Him and the grace that is offered through His Son, Jesus. I know, hell is not real according to some people but if there is a Heaven then there is a hell where Satan and his demons will be punished. If you reject Jesus and His atonement for your life and your sins then you will be there with Satan and his demons and everyone else who believes that they are good enough to get into Heaven on their own.

Our righteousness is as dirty rags in the eyes of God because He is Holy and perfect and our imperfections just don’t measure up, no matter how “good” we think we are.

There are so many today who think that everyone is against them, even the church, and that is not true. Many things are happening today because God is orchestrating it, even if He isn’t directly behind the murder and mayhem that is happening He is in control. Satan and his powers and demons are the ones behind all of the evil in this world, whether you want to believe it or not. It is true that those who ridicule the existence of God or don’t believe in Him at all won’t believe in Satan’s existence either, but not believing doesn’t make anything or anyone go away.

Jesus loves you and gave His life for your healing and for your salvation, there is no love greater than that!

Huddle up!


In the game of football much of the game’s outcome depends upon what is said and done during the huddle. Of course, the talent that each player brings to the team counts a lot as well, but if each player listens to the plan and follows it, the plays will go as well as they can, depending on how the other team interprets your formation and your strategy.

In life, we have a much harder problem because our enemy can see into our minds just as well as God can. Satan and his cohorts can get into your mind and manipulate you in ways that appeal only to you and your desires. This is why we are instructed to put on the “full armor of God” so that we can be more successful in our life while following Christ. The full armor of God is shown to us in these scriptures:

Ephesians 6:11-18 King James Version

11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

These pieces of armor are only good if you place your life inside of them each day. Neglecting to do any of this can cause you to stumble, which we all do, but make sure that you get up and pray asking God to strengthen you and give you the wisdom and courage to follow Him every day. God emptied Himself into human flesh in order to make a way for us to become His children. He gave His life on the cross so that we would not have to go through the punishment and pain associated with a life that rejects Jesus as Savior.

Some people see God as being outside of the universe and outside of time and He is, but He is also present here. Some may say that with all of the evil in the world, where is God? Think of it this way: without an ultimate, pure, and Holy God there would be no option for evil. In some ways, the idea of a balance is right except when you look at an Asian Yin/Yang symbol there is good and evil on both sides. That is not how the world is nor is it how God designed it to be, there is good and evil…period.

The picture below shows what I am talking about. There is only one or the other, they don’t mix and there isn’t a little of one on either side. We are given a choice and many choose one side or the other, you can’t stand on the middle line and claim both. Yet, many people try to actually live on that line until they find that theScreen shot 2012-07-23 at 10.49.14 AMy can’t live there. You have to choose one or the other, you can’t wobble over here one day and then change sides and to back to the other.

God loves us that is why we have a choice in life simply because you can’t force someone to do something, like love you. Trying to make someone do something which they don’t want to do would be similar to giving a cat a bath or putting water back into a bottle while it is being poured out. Unless the cat has been trained to allow you to give them a bath, you will be needing medical attention before the bath is over!

We are God’s creation, made in His Image or as it is said in Genesis, “let us make man in Our image” since God is a Trinity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We are the only part of creation which God actually used His hands to mold and shape the clay from which He fashioned mankind. Some may wish to ask “when will evil be taken out of this world”, the only answer that I have for that comes from the book of Revelation. At the end of the millennium of Christ’s reign on Earth, there will be one last battle and Satan’s forces will be crushed. Then the White Throne judgement will occur and all of those who sided with Satan and did not seek Jesus in their lives will be cast into the lake of fire for eternity. That will be the end of evil as we know it.

Seek Jesus out in the Bible and learn of Him, ask Him into your life and ask for His forgiveness, then follow Him until He comes again or until the end of your life. Yes, there will be trouble and trials, even with Him in your life, but the reward in Heaven will be so much sweeter!

So little time….


Why do I say this you may ask? Simply because when you compare our lives with eternity, which is ahead for all of us, your life and mine seem so tiny in comparison. I have seen scientists compare our life-span to the age of the Earth, which is supposed to be ~4.3 billion years or so, and your life and mine shows up as a speck of dust. Eternity doesn’t have an end, so our life would be microscopic compared to it. Yet, we go through our lives preparing to live a long life into retirement and many of us never think much about what comes after our life here.

What would we do if we could get a real glimpse of our eternity? The eternity that each of us will have to face eventually could be very different from the one we think we will have. Some of us will be graced with an eternity in Heaven with many of our loved ones and friends. Some of us, who have been stubborn in this life and unwilling to believe in God or Jesus and certainly not willing to give our heart to Jesus and to following Him through our lives. We want to live our lives on our own terms with no rules except our own! The independent spirit of humanity takes someone to hell every second of every day, even if they feel that they have lived a good life! Many of them would say that “I haven’t killed anyone or robbed anyone!”, really? Have you held a grudge of hatred toward anyone, ever? Have you ever taken a pen or a notebook from work? According to Jesus, the hate that we harbor in our hearts toward someone is the same as murder and as far as God is concerned, stealing and robbing are the same whether it is a pen or a pad or a bank.

Yes, we are all sinners at some point in our lives. The sins may not be BIG sins to us, but in God’s eyes and in His judgement a sin is a sin, size doesn’t matter! In front of Him a “little white lie” is just as big as a lie told to a lawyer or a teacher or your spouse. Many people today don’t even consider a lie to be a sin, but it is. We hear them every day, we see the results of them in the courts and in politics and it doesn’t seem to bother anyone. But…God knows who said what to whom about the things of this world and there will be a payday someday for all of these SINS!

In many ways, people seem to look at our life here and think that they have all of the time in the world to decide to come to God and get their life straight. How do you know? When someone has a wreck in a car, did they know about it ahead of time? Not likely. What about when a stroke or heart attack takes someone’s life? Did they know that was coming on that particular day? No, not at all. I have heard of some people who have come into the kitchen for breakfast and fell over dead right there. We are not given a set date and time for these events. When you have heard a message in a church or from an evangelist on television, did you feel a tug on your heart or a voice telling you that you should give your life to Jesus? If you ignore those Spiritual callings to you, then you are walking on a very thin patch of ice above a very real torment in hell!

You can mock me or ignore me or my message, but when you kneel before God and He asks you why didn’t you answer the call of the Holy Spirit when He called, what excuse could you give? None really, because of the miracles that we see every day, the wondrous natural beauty that is around us and inside of us because our Father created us and everything to let us see Him so that we don’t have an excuse for not believing in Him. Don’t put it off.

Do you know Jesus?


Do you know Jesus, the Son of God? Have you come to Him and asked for His forgiveness, because you know that you need it?

What if…what if it were Jesus saying those words to all of you? How would you feel then? Convicted? Ashamed? Indignant? Humbled? UN-worthy?

I write this to show you how far God has brought me from where I was, so that maybe some of you might see that God can use the most unusual things…oops, I mean people, to accomplish His will and His purpose in your life and in mine, to use you to have a positive effect on someone else and their life.

God can do great things, with a thought or by His Word and by just His Breath He gave life to a model made of clay and it became a living, human being with a soul! Then he took a bone, and made a woman who most men would DIE to have on their arms, imagine that!

The point I am beginning with is this, God can do great and wonderful things with very little or a lot. He can also do great and wonderful things with nothing at all! Because He is God! What can you do with nothing? Not very much I would guess, because I can’t either.

Yes, a man and a woman can come together and a child will be born, IF God wants you to have that child. You can’t force it to happen, you have no control over what color their eyes will be or their personality, but God does. He brought you and your wife together because He knew that you complement each other. Not in the sense of, “You sure are beautiful tonight, honey!”, but because your souls and your personalities fit perfectly.

Now, you can ignore that little voice in your mind that tells you that you are marrying the wrong one, but I guarantee you that you will regret it if you do. God loves you and He loves your children, even before you finally find the right woman to have those children with.

Thirty some years ago, I was a very confused and angry young man. I did okay in school, but I was a loner and I didn’t make friends too easily. I kept to myself and kept my mouth shut, for the most part. But, one day I got introduced to whiskey, not Budweiser, but the real alcohol! The kind that didn’t take much to gets you to feeling more oats than you have. The kind that, in today’s climate, would get you killed before lunch break was over.

For some odd reason, I liked the way that alcohol made me feel. Almost like I could do anything, say anything and live to tell about it tomorrow. Many of us feel that way in our teen years, whether we have whiskey giving us more mouth than we should have or not. Since there was an old man selling to whoever had the money to buy, I usually went to a football game on most Friday nights. That was my cover story at least. I would go and buy a pint or a half-pint of whiskey and before the night was through, I would’ve finished most of it. For a sixteen year old kid who did weigh much over one hundred pounds, to put it simply, I would be crawling home drunk. I had a wreck a few weeks after this began that put me in the hospital for about a week.

When I got out, I swore that I wouldn’t do that again. Well, that didn’t last long, although I didn’t have another wreck. I got drunk or tight as we called it, almost every day at lunch time. Sometimes, I would smoke pot, most of the time I just drank whatever I could get my hands on. I was well on my way to being an alcoholic. My teenage years weren’t impressive at all and since I didn’t live in town, I wasn’t popular at school either.

This is all old news, my past, for some it’s your past as well. But, you know, God can use anyone in anyplace at any time…but only if we are following Christ! Saying so doesn’t work, talk doesn’t work, IF you are going to live into forever you must have Jesus in your heart FOR REAL! This is not and it will not be a well liked sermon, but you know what? The sermons which Jesus spoke in front of the Pharisees and the other religious leaders were not popular, but they were full of the TRUTH!

The truth is that a ball of clay that can be made into a man by our Creator is what we are. The Light of Creation He brought into being with His Word, everything in the first chapter of Genesis was brought into being by the Word of God, but Adam was brought to life by the hands of God! He had a special plan for us, before mankind (and that includes women too), was even molded out of clay or fashioned from a bone like the first woman.

We are special to Him and have been ever since Creation began. His plan has been in place since before Adam took his first steps. God knows you and me and has known us since before Earth was ever formed into the world that we live on. Love like that cannot be ignored, should not be ignored because God does love each of us that much. It is a love that we can’t understand at all.

It doesn’t matter how little that you know about God. It doesn’t matter if you have ever read the Bible all the way through. It doesn’t matter what color your skin is. God loves you! This is the message that Jesus was trying to get across to the children of Israel. They believe that they are special because they are descended from Abraham and in God’s eyes they are BUT that alone won’t get them into Heaven. No amount of good deeds or amount of money or even the time that you have spent in church or on missions will tally up your side of the page so that you can squeeze in the door!

Just having a membership in a church makes no difference whether you get into Heaven, sitting in church for forty or fifty years doesn’t do you any good except it makes you responsible for all of the Truth that you have heard in that time. Did you accept Jesus as your Savior? That is the only “ticket” that will allow you to stand in the presence of God, having Him as your Savior is the only covering which will allow God to see you as Holy enough to come to Him as His child!

It doesn’t matter what you have done in the past, the only way that you can be of any use to God now or in the future is to truly give your heart to Jesus and let Him come in and make a true and lasting change in your life. That change has to be all the way to the core, not just a surface change that lasts until the revival is over. It has to be REAL, the change has to take over your life, your family, your business, your friendships, your finances, EVERYTHING!!!

Why does it have to be that much of a change? Because YOU ARE A NEW CREATURE! You are different, you are not the same person that you were yesterday, your wife is not the same, your children are not the same. The change has to be COMPLETE and totally committed. If you haven’t made this change, this deeply, this far-reaching, then you need to DO IT! Because, unless it has been a heart change, deep inside, the kind that it will offend you if you hear someone take God’s name in vain to be used as a curse word, if it isn’t that deep then it isn’t real and genuine!

Will you make that deep of a commitment to Jesus? We are entering a time in history that has been foretold in God’s Word and if you haven’t made this kind of commitment, you NEED to do it TODAY! If not today or tonight, then please make it soon. We are not guaranteed tomorrow, and if you are going to make a difference then you need to make this change! If that voice or some part of your soul is feeling a call from God to be that person, the one that will stand in the gap, the one who will lead their family and their business and their friends to Him, to Jesus. If you are being touched by Him and by His Spirit please answer His call on your life. Today.

What do you depend on?


We all have different ways of making it through our days. Some of us start off the morning with a cup of tea or coffee and the paper. Some people get online with a cup of coffee and try to catch up with what is happening. But, who do you go to and depend upon when things go terribly wrong? I don’t mean when you spill the milk or break a nail, I mean when you get a diagnosis which makes you sit down. When someone in your family comes home with a letter that says you are being sued for something, or maybe they are the one that gets the diagnosis which is like a hammer to your head and your heart, what do you do then?

Many people turn to their best friends or even to their church, if they go to one. So, what or Who do you depend on for assurance or hope or healing? Many people look to their doctor if they get one of those diagnoses, some look to him as well if there is a wreck or accident. The Person that you and I and everyone else should be looking to and praying to FIRST, before going to the doctor or anyone else is God! He is bigger and able to handle all of your problems, to give you strength to get through them all and if it is His will to do so, He will heal you of whatever the diagnosis may be. He may do it through the doctor’s skills or it may happen by His power and your faith before your next doctor visit.

Bad days are going to happen. Accidents and diseases are going to crop up in your life and mine, we are human and that is just the way our fallen world is. Good people and bad get these circumstances added to their lives all the time, it doesn’t matter how good you are or how bad you may be. The reality you have to remember is that God loves you and will not forsake you in any of your problems, you must have faith in him and ask Him for wisdom.

You don’t have to accept a “bad day”, God can make a day which seems bad turn into a good day. Love, especially between two people as husband and wife, can make a shack into a home. Expressing your love for your children is something that many people seem to have forgotten how to do these days. Wake up people, they need to know that they are loved by you just as much as you need to know that God loves you!

If you truly want a successful life and a happy home, even if it is in a two room shack with cracks wide enough to throw a cat through, love works much better to bring this about than alcohol or drugs or anger! Where love is anger cannot stay, when you truly love your children and your wife there is no fire too hot that could keep you from rescuing them! God is the answer that everyone is looking for, they just don’t know it yet. Many people say that they can worship God in a fishing boat or a deer stand just as well as they can in church. NO YOU CANNOT! You are looking for a trophy bass or antlers that will strain the wall to hold them up, you don’t go out there thinking of worshiping God!

I used to think that too and I would pray and talk to God while I was out there. That’s probably why I don’t have any trophies on my walls. I would thank Him for His beautiful creation and the sunrise that many don’t get to see. I would praise Him for the beautiful birds and the chipmunks as they scurry around trying to find all the acorns they have hidden for the winter. Yes, praising God and thanking Him for these things is good, but worshiping Him with other believers is more gratifying and humbling than any deer or turkey. Yes, they are God’s creation and He takes care of them just as He does each one of us, but they don’t worship Him. Their instinct tells them that He will feed them so they don’t know Him like we can.

Your Spirit is lifted up and refreshed every time you hear God’s Word preached. Your soul shouts for joy and it is heard in Heaven especially when you find that the diagnosis that you thought you had is just some cells that are causing trouble and making you feel bad. Satan and his followers know how to make you feel this way and will convince you that you are going to die. They can make it so convincing that you will die, if you allow them to take it that far.

We have power through Jesus’ name to renounce the feelings of deathly diagnoses, and depression that makes you want to crawl under a rock, but it does you and me no good at all if we don’t claim the Word of God and tell Satan to back off because I am a child of God! God’s Word and the promises in it are more powerful than any drug or any situation that you have or that you will ever encounter. Don’t forsake the Word or prayer and call on His name because He can heal you of all the afflictions that Satan has placed on you and in your life.