Tag: God loves you

So much anger


angerIn today’s world, on the news, in your home town even, it seems that there is a lot of anger. You see the effects of it every day on the news and in your neighborhood. You see it and hear it sometimes in your own home. But…everyone seems to brush it under the rug and ignore it until, one day something blows up. Frustration with our government or with your family builds and builds until one day it is in the news on television. A couple kills each other over supposed infidelity, whether true or not the end result is that two people are dead. Someone straps a bomb to themselves because they were taught to hate other people who worship differently and they go to a marketplace and blow themselves up and kill as many people, men, women and children, as they can. What did that accomplish?

It is hard to understand these things because we don’t know what happened to cause them. Sometimes, it is a senseless thing which is happening, at other times it seems that there is a reason for it. Outside the culture or the neighborhood or even the family, the reporters and the rest of the public just don’t understand what caused this? Why did it happen the way it did? Is anyone responsible?

We don’t understand the reason even if one is given via email or post on social media, so how can we help? Can we help? Is there anything that someone could do or say to help in these situations?

The truthful answer is: we don’t know. I can’t understand the mindset of a person or a group of people whose intent is to do these things. Is there a way to help?

The only answer that I can come up with, comes from God’s Word: Love your neighbor as yourself. So, why aren’t people being taught this instead of hate? Because the world and those in it don’t like to hear the truth from an indisputable source. The world and its religions, besides Christian religions, doesn’t want to hear this and they can’t come back with a saying or a truth from their religions which is better!

The advice and love and mercy which comes from God’s Word can be disbelieved and thrown in the trash but you can’t find better wisdom and knowledge because it came from Him. God is the ultimate Creator and King of all and His wisdom is beyond our understanding. His wisdom is above us as we are above an ant or a snail, yet each of those is wise in their own way. The ant does his gathering for when things are tough, the snail does what God designed him to do because he is a snail.

We are created in His image to be like Him and in order to be like Him we should learn about Him and walk with Him daily. Not weekly or once every month or just a couple of times in the year, but every day that you wake up thank Him for that day and be thankful for the opportunities that you may have during that day. Living daily with Him and through Him is not something which is easy, you have to purpose and decide to follow Him daily. Christians all over the world, those who are saved by their belief in Him Who saved them, neglect to do this even though they belong to Him. Why?

Because, after their salvation they feel that they have all that they need from God until something happens and then they call on Him to give them help and healing. It is something which you see in the Old Testament from one chapter to the next, following God while they are without enemies or without drought. Then, they forget the One Who saved them from their enemies or from a drought and go back to living as they wish to until some other calamity comes upon them.

I am not saying that living with God daily, reading His Word and praying to give Him praise for His grace and mercy will give you a life without problems, it will not! We are not perfect, we will all fail in our faith at some point, but God is gracious and will forgive us if we will confess it and turn back to Him again. Life, even the life of a Christian, is not easy but as a follower of Christ, Satan will attempt to cause you to fall in the sight of all so that your witness to them is taken away. Sometimes, your witness will be stained not by Satan but by your past. If you are called to be a minister in an area where people have known you for most of your life, like Jesus when He came to Nazareth, many won’t hear the Word of God that you preach but will be listening to you as you were when you were younger.

Do not fail to deliver the Word in your calling, regardless of their view of you or their opinion, because that is what God called you to do. If they accept it and repent then God brought it about, if not then they weren’t listening with their spiritual ears to begin with.

Is listening so hard?


Sometimes it seems that we just can’t listen to each other’s problems or to our preacher’s sermons. Listening to each other is the best way to get along with each other, yet there are so many problems between couples and countries all over the world. Most of those problems could be solved if we could put our pride and our attitudes on a shelf and sit down like adults and talk and listen to each other!

This would solve many if not most of the world’s problems, but it seems that when pride gets in the way and our attitudes become broiled in the juices of envy and hatred, then our ears and the ability to listen to each other becomes cut off or stopped up. Believe me, Satan has his hand and his followers all in the middle of these conflicts, whether it is between a man and woman trying to make their marriage work or between political parties in a country!

Our ears, spiritually and physically, become muddled to the point that we don’t hear what we should and we hear only part of what we shouldn’t. Which causes more misunderstandings and problems and it just gets worse from there, like a wet snowball rolling downhill. Pretty soon the problem or the snowball is so big that it can’t be fixed or stopped by just one person!

Jesus listened with His ears and with His heart and that is something which the church in general seems to have lost the ability to do, especially in the times that we live in today! The problem that we have is that we can’t understand the problem today because we aren’t really listening with our spiritual ears, our heart. We listen with our ears but we try to use psychobabble to “take care of the problem”, or make people feel good about themselves, or try to work around the issue.

In truth…all we are doing is putting a band-aid over a large cut or rather we are bandaging it but we aren’t helping in the healing of it. This kind of “help” is not helping at all, it only makes the problems worse! Like putting used tires on a car every six months, they wear out sooner and will still go flat easier than new ones, even if they are cheaper it is not helping.

Making people feel better about themselves is good, but spiritually it is suicide and murder. If you smooth over people’s sins and make them feel okay about them without telling them about salvation through Jesus, you are not a preacher…you are acting as a psychiatrist and that won’t do anyone good for eternity! PREACH FROM THE BIBLE! Tell the salvation and healing story of Jesus and His atonement for all of us from the gospels!

People need that today more than they know! John 3:16 is so powerful that it is a sermon in itself! Please, the Church needs to wake up and be the Body of Christ that this world needs NOW! This world will soon be in more of a situation than anyone alive has ever seen or experienced and the only rescue is through Jesus!

False teachers


Jesus said that there would be false teachers that would come claiming to be Him, especially during this time that we live in. It is happening now. They aren’t getting much coverage yet, but they will. I caution you, beware of people, teachers who claim to be the incarnation of Christ or the “new” Christ. If you hear this from someone, especially someone who is acting as a teacher or preacher, RUN!

The angels told Jesus’ disciples that He will come back in the manner in which you have seen Him go. Jesus said that He would come back one day to set up His Kingdom on this Earth, and all will see Him and know that it is Him when it happens. There won’t be a question about it. Read God’s Word and learn from Him, not some person who wants to take your money and live like a “god” because you think that what he says is true.

False teachers are all over the world, not just in America, but it seems that more of them are coming out of the closet to be seen in the news and by people these days. The thing is, it is only going to get worse as the time draws nearer to the time of Tribulation spoken of in Revelation. More and more will show up, claiming all kinds of miracles and some may even perform some which will deceive many people! These are not the Christ, our Messiah, Jesus the Son of God!

His appearance will be seen by everyone without the aid of television or the Internet and it will be evident to all when He comes. Games and virtual reality will not show Him, but everyone will know that He has come! Some will cry because they weren’t ready for His return and some will be angry because of His return. Life will change everywhere in a moment, in the “twinkling of an eye” those who belong to Him will be taken up to be with Him, and those who have already died will be given their bodies as they are raised immortal!

This is not some fantasy, it is predicted by the Son of God and it will come to pass. If you don’t know Him, I suggest that you seek Him out and find out about Him and what it means to be a believer! When the Tribulation begins, it will be harder to become a Christian because of the persecution and because of the hatred toward Christians. Many planes and cars will crash on that day, so there will be many deaths on that day that are blamed on Christians and their God!

Don’t fall into that trap! Seek Him out while He can be found, today!

Living with….


We all have different things which we have to live with on a daily basis. Whether it is arthritis or Parkinson’s or cancer, at some point all of us have to go through life with pain or a condition which makes daily life harder or more difficult. So, what do you do to get through life on a day by day basis?

Some people take pills, some use other drugs such as alcohol or opiates, some use harder drugs than these. Some of us just suffer through with the pain and discomfort or with OTC medication. These coping mechanisms, legal or not, are ways to handle the discomfort and pain on your own. Sometimes they work pretty well, sometimes they cause more problems than they help.

Trusting in God and His Word will help with all of these problems and more. It is true that God will not always take the problem or condition away by healing it, but He can supply you with the strength to get through it a day at a time…if you will listen to Him and follow Him. Don’t try to do things on your own all of the time! We are taught to be independent, but when it comes to your life, God wants to share it with you through all of your good and bad days!

He doesn’t just want to hear from you when things go completely off script and throw you under the bus! When you wake in the morning, thank Him for it. When you get to the kitchen and get a cup of coffee, thank Him for your ability to do so even if you are in pain getting there. Live  life, everyday, with Him by your side and even if the pain is still there, God is with you too.

We have the privilege of having an awesome and mighty God and Creator Who can bless us in mighty ways. Sometimes by giving us the strength to get through a tough time and sometimes by healing us of the problem. It is up to God to decide which. Sometimes, His timing seems off to us, but in His time He will answer your prayer one way or another. Because, He is a good and loving God, Father, Savior and Creator and He says in His Word that “I will never leave you or forsake you“.

What will you do?


If someone asks you for the reason that you have joy in your life when you should be sorrowful, what will you say? What would you tell them? Would you say that “I take a happy pill every day!”, even if that is truly a lie? What answer would you give them? Would it line up with your beliefs and your faith? Do you have faith in God, the One that can give you peace and joy during times of pain and even heartache?

These are questions that many churches and pastors seem to be missing or even not teaching it at all, because they are trying not to offend people in order to get them to come to church. Since when did Jesus not offend people? He called the Pharisees hypocrites and sons of their father the Devil. Some of His teachings offended people to the point that many people turned away from Him. We are supposed to tell people about salvation and do likewise in our ministry, not coddle them with soothing tones in a sermon which will do nothing but send more people to hell!

We, as Christians or followers of Jesus, are not supposed to be politically correct. That is the job of those in office! We are supposed to show people the Savior Who saved us from our own stupidity and selfishness, not water the message down until you can’t tell it from a self-help book! God’s Word is the only self-help book that you need, because it takes self out of the equation when you put Jesus into your life and your heart and live daily with Him!

Being saved is not being perfect, because we can only strive toward that goal…we won’t attain it until we are in Heaven with Him. Even then, we will not be perfect, just more like Him because we will have our glorified bodies and will live for eternity! Praise the Lord!

Tell someone about the God that you serve, the One Who created everything and inspired the writers of the Scriptures to pen His Wisdom and not their own.

Walls and obstacles


Many times in your life, whether you are a Christian or not, you will come up against walls. Some of them are built by pain, some of them are built by envy or jealousy, some of them are built by a disease which causes you pain in a very deep emotional way. We all have to scale these walls and barriers at some point, some of them are hard to climb because they are so big, but they can be torn down.

Oh, we can’t do this by ourselves though, regardless of what counselors and some doctors may tell you. Walls, whether built by emotions, disease, death, jealousy, racism, or hatred, can only be broken down by God’s work in your heart and in your life. Day by day, walking with Him and seeking His wisdom and strength by which we can take the walls down brick by brick is the only way.

BreakingDownWallsIt is not a quick process and it isn’t easy either, especially when you have been able to take care of yourself in other situations in your life. What makes this so difficult or any different? It’s because of what the walls and barriers are made from. The ones which are so difficult are made from emotions like fear, anger, resentment, racism, hate, envy and greed. There are others, but you get the point. These walls keep out those who care about you, whether it is God or friends and family!

Each of us feels the effect of these barriers in some way or another, sometimes the effect on us is that which causes a disease or pain. Emotions can do this and the ones which hurt the most usually do the most damage. It may take a little time before you feel the effects of it, but until it is resolved in some way, it will only get worse over time. In particular, anger and hatred which are unresolved or unforgiven will give you ulcers and possibly high blood pressure and they will make other conditions worse. Do the research yourself if you don’t believe me, but I am not pulling your leg.

Barriers and walls made from emotional bricks can cause more hurt and pain than many people realize. It doesn’t have to be anger or hatred which cause these walls, it can be envy, or any of a number of other emotions which I named earlier. All of them get in the way of relationships, especially your relationship with God. Seek His help in resolving these walls, breaking them down to the point where you can still have a relationship with Him daily. He can do it but He wants to do it with you!

I had these problems for a very long time, and at times they still pop up and blur my “spiritual vision” in a way. I usually sit down and talk with God about it as soon as I realize what is happening, and it soon resolves itself or God helps me to resolve it. Give it a try, ask God to help you because He is bigger than any problem or wall that may be in your life and He can help you bring it down.

Racism and hate


Can we overcome these two demons? It is possible, but not under our own power and motivation. Unfortunately our independence and our ability to choose what we believe or not, on an individual basis, is what grew these two into mankind’s conscience. We are not born this way, but over time and exposure to other ideas and teachings at home or school, we do develop our own version, our own opinions toward others. That is where these destructive attitudes or emotions grow from.

Sometimes, they aren’t very potent in certain individuals but with a bit of prodding from someone who can stoke them and get your emotions involved in the matter then, like a small fire with alcohol or gas poured on it, they will explode. We see this everyday and hear about it on the news, if you can stand to watch it. Pride, arrogance, and greed follow along with these two and all of them together can cripple a country.

Why is it so hard for humanity to get past these kinds of problems? INDIVIDUALITY. We seem to be resistant to being in any kind of real, true relationship with each other. Oh, we may do so with our family, maybe our close friends, but anyone outside of that circle is out of luck. Even…God.

Oh, we may say that we “believe” in Him, but we mostly believe in our idea of God. Why is this? It is also because of our freedom which God allows us to have, because love cannot flourish without the freedom to choose. Many times we look at God’s Word during church and see that God allowed His people to choose many times in the Bible. He didn’t stop them from walking away from Him or worshiping Him, because He loves us.

Love is above hate and bitterness and racism and true love does not allow these emotions to flourish at all. It is mankind’s evil and hatred for other opinions which causes so much strife and trouble in our world today. God didn’t create evil, though He allows it to be. We should seek Him, the God of the Bible and there is no other. His Word is Truth and salvation offered to all who will believe in Him and in His atonement which is offered through Jesus the Christ.

Wisdom, where does it come from?


Some people say that wisdom comes with age, but I have seen some older people do some strange things that don’t seem to bear this out. I am not giving any examples here, but I think you know who you are. Some novels contain some interesting wisdom or at least some sayings which people like to quote or post on Facebook.

But…the greatest wisdom that I have ever read is contained in the Bible. Yep…that’s what I said, the Bible! In many ways most of our “wisdom” has come from God’s Word at some point, whether we heard it from our grandparents or parents. Sometimes, they don’t ever realize that much of their sayings are actually re-worded quotes from the Bible.

Why do I say that wisdom comes from God? Because He is our Creator, so don’t you think He is wise beyond our measure? He lives outside of time and space and He can see all parts of your life and mine from beginning to end.

We can’t understand Him, except by reading and studying His Word and even then we won’t understand Him even as much as we can each other. God is far above us in all ways, yet He loves us so dearly that He sent His Son to pay the penalty for our sins. Why would God do this? Because of His love for us that is why. Trying to reason out God’s ways with the wisdom of man doesn’t work.

His wisdom is only gained by reading His Word and by faith in Him. To the world and to those who have not accepted Him as Savior, God’s wisdom and His Word is just foolishness and can’t be understood. Without faith and belief in Him, it can’t be but God only asks that we believe in Jesus as our Savior and the faith which brings us to that point will allow us to see the wisdom in His Word. In this life, we won’t understand it, but we can at least live our lives as His servants and help the rest of the world to know Him.

Is Satan a real being?


Satan was an angel or as the Scripture puts it “a covering Cherub” at one time. Now, cherub in this sense does not mean one of those fat little angels that flits around shooting people on Valentine’s Day. Lucifer was and is still a very powerful being who is described as a dragon, a serpent, a liar and a murderer in Scripture. He is also described as a roaring lion looking for those he can devour here on Earth. What does all of this mean?

The King James version of the Bible gave Satan the name of “Lucifer” in Latin meaning “light bringer” in Isaiah 14, but the description of him in Ezekiel begins by calling him the king of Tyre. Although the description cannot be of a human being because of the attributes being described.

Jesus spoke of watching him fall from Heaven and he tempted Him in the wilderness after His 40 day fast, so yes Satan is real and he is alive here on Earth now. We see his influence and his activity every day on the news when evil is killing people all over the world for no apparent reason. All of the diseases that Jesus healed people of, or at least many of them, were attributed to demons as the cause. These demons were the angels who had followed Satan when he rebelled against God and was cast down.

Is Satan real? Yes! The world is paying the price for not thinking that he is or rather by placing him in positions of power over it by worshiping money, drugs, witchcraft and other things in this world instead of our Creator, God. Those who are doing these things believe that they are getting ahead in life because of their efforts, when it is likely that he is pulling some strings to get things working for them. Why do I say this?

Because, if they are successful then they won’t go searching for God! Satan and his followers are all about keeping as many people from becoming Christians as possible. He is trying to hurt God in this way because he can’t hurt Him any other way. Is Satan real and do demons and principalities really work for him or with him? Yes, this is true but if you want to investigate it please don’t invite them into your life or your home! Check out news about possessions, which will not be in regular news. Read about Haiti and the voodoo which goes on there, which is powered by Satan and his cohorts.

You can choose to ignore him or his influence if you want, but seek out Jesus in your life. Eternity is a long time and regardless of what your “friends” may say about Hell, it will not be an eternity of partying. Life everlasting in Heaven is much preferred over that!

Reflections


Are you reflecting Jesus or are you reflecting your idea of Jesus? Many people today seem to create their own version of Jesus or God. Not so much as an idol outright, but they don’t like the way that either is portrayed in the Bible or the obedience that is required of them that is also part of God’s Word. These people want to pick and choose which verses in the Bible that they will believe.

are-you-a-reflectionIf you wish to do that, its fine with me, but…what about your eternity? You can choose to believe or not believe that there is a hell even though Jesus says that people will got there. God doesn’t lie, it is not in His nature. So when the Bible says that there is a place where people will be punished for not believing in Jesus and giving their lives to Him, I would take that as the Truth.

When you are the first-born son, genetics usually plays a role in which of your parent’s you look most like. Sometimes you will look like your Dad but have your Mother’s temperament or complexion. Sometimes genetics will skip a generation and you will look like your Dad but have some characteristics of your grandfather, like hair and eye color. God’s Son has His Character in that He can’t lie about anything and He is part of the Trinity so He has the same ability as God the Father, in all things.

Your life and mine, whether you are talking about this life or eternity, are in God’s Hands. He is in control but He allows us the freedom to choose our own fate. You can refuse to give your life to Him and follow Him in your daily life, but your eternity would be most unpleasant. Or you could give your heart to Him, learn everything there is to know about Him from His Word and live daily in His Presence and your eternity is assured to be in Heaven with other believers and with Jesus Himself.

God loves you enough to give you that choice because you can’t force someone to love you, no matter if you are the richest man in the world or if you are God! Love cannot be forced it can only be given freely. Seek out the One Who loves you and Who is Love, perfectly and completely, then you will know real freedom.