Tag: God loves you

So much, yet so little…


godsblessingMaking a paycheck in today’s economy is not a small thing, its a necessary thing that people need. So, what do you do with it? Most of us pay bills with it first, then if there is any left we give a tiny portion of that to God when we go to church. That is not how God structured His economy though and each of us pays for that in the long run. An illustration that we could truly understand would go something like this:

A man or woman brings home a paycheck that they have cashed on the way home. Lets say they got $400 this week. Not a great paycheck but not too bad. On the way home, they filled the gas tank which took about ten percent of the check, $40. They also got a drink while they were at the quick stop, another $2. Now they have $358. The next morning is Saturday so they go shopping for groceries and spend about $100, now they are down to $258, so they deposit the rest in the bank, which won’t be available until next week. If they keep some out for themselves, maybe $25, now they are down to $233 which actually went into the bank. On Sunday morning, they give the church five dollars and they think they are doing pretty good because they gave that much.

Sound about right? Not to God!

God doesn’t need your money, but the church does and He has based your blessing upon the amount that you give and out of which portion that it comes. All of the blessings in the Bible came from the first-fruits of harvest or wealth, not the dregs after everything else is taken care of! Abraham gave ten percent of the first fruits and every other person who was blessed by God did the same thing. It doesn’t matter if you made one hundred dollars or ten thousand this week, before you pay anyone…you should set aside at least ten percent of it for God’s house. I am just as guilty of doing this as everyone else, so I am not standing on a pedestal preaching. I have suffered loss from doing so as well, but the point is that if you give it cheerfully to the Lord, then it will be blessed and given back into your hands.

God loves us and wants to bless us in many ways, whether it is through our health or our paycheck or our family doesn’t really matter, the point is the attitude which we exhibit when we give. If it is given grudgingly, then it wasn’t given in the right spirit and we will not see much, if any, blessing from it! God knows your heart and your thoughts, so you can’t hide from Him nor can you cheat Him because HE can see into your heart and the result of this can be good or bad but it depends upon you and your attitude.

Consumption


This word is what our entire economy is based upon these days. We do not produce anything which is exported to other countries, except for printing money. So, what is our country good for? Even the value of our money is suspect and dropping in the eyes of the world, so why do we live this way?

Mostly because of the culture that we live in today, but it started about fifty years ago and it has only gotten worse. When fast food became popular in the fifties, actually that was the start of “instant gratification”, so my estimate is off by about ten or more years. My point is this…when we got to the point of getting something fast or for free, things really started going downhill from there.

Our world was not designed by God to be based on consumption in this manner. We are supposed to produce our food, eat it and work to produce more. In today’s society, this has been replaced with our governments providing for us without even the need to work at all! The Bible says that “if you don’t work, you shouldn’t eat”, but we ignore that and go right along with all of the consumer driven economies and businesses that are available. The chart below shows that the number of structures (buildings) in each area have crossed over, so that now we have more retail structures than production facilities.

My ideas don’t really go along with our economy because we have more electronic consumer abilities today than we have ever had before. I use them as well, so I am not trying to get rid of it entirely. But, when I was growing up, my grandparents grew their own vegetables and we had a herd of cattle which we could choose to have at least one butchered each year for our own use. So our trips to the grocery store usually had to do with getting things which we did not grow or produce like coffee, flour, corn meal, cooking oil, and bacon (although we did have a few hogs which we could use at times too).

Our country and the people in it would be more healthy in every way if we went back to at least a partial agrarian economy where there were more local farmers who produced wholesome, organic foods. The problem is that we don’t have anyone to teach us how to do this anymore! Big farms and the regulations from the FDA have pushed small farms like this out of business.

We were meant to live this way, but we have allowed so much regulation and rules to interfere with our daily lives until the freedoms which our grandfathers and great grandfathers fought for don’t really exist like they once did. It is nobody’s fault but our own, so we can’t blame anyone but ourselves.

God’s Word says that we should live on and work the land that we have and eat the produce of it. Are we doing this? No, we are not and have not been for quite a while. We need to learn God’s way of living and working so that we can be more productive for Him and for us. His advice for this is in His Word, all we need to do and should do is to read it and learn from it.

 

5 things which God wants you to know


5thingsgodwantsyou2knowTruly, not much more I could add to that except…Amen.

A little at time


This is exactly how I recommend for people to learn about and read God’s Word…a little at a time. Why? Because our Creator’s Word and His Wisdom is better suited to learning and understanding a little at a time. That being said, we should all try to read the entire Bible in a year’s time, but it only takes a chapter or two every day!

Like the old commercial said, “A little dab’ll do ya!”. I am showing my age. 🙂

In any way that you want to look at it, God’s Word is worth more than any education, any college course you could take today! It covers finance, life situations, business, religion and relationships so there is no need for any self-help course or book! God loves us and has loved each of us since before the world was formed, He doesn’t give you bad advice and He wouldn’t harm you in any way.

Satan, the serpent from the garden, God’s adversary and ours, will seek to destroy you and he will send all kinds of problems your way in order to steer you away from God and His blessings for your life! Make sure that you know which one is hurting you or trying to steer you in a direction which is counter to what you know God would do. If it isn’t good for you and it is causing problems in your life, then it is from Satan and his demons, so get rid of whatever it is and seek God’s strength and His provision to do so!

He never leaves our side, but He will only come to your aide if you ask Him to. God doesn’t jump into your life and take over, He is only waiting to make His blessings available to you when you ask Him to, although some of our blessings are given to us as life itself. Breathing, walking, talking, thinking, going about your everyday work and play, all of these are blessings which most of us take for granted. We don’t look at any of them as blessings, yet that is what they are.

God gives us those blessings a little at a time just as we should learn more about Him a little at a time. He is the Creator in the first part of Genesis, He is a friend in later chapters of it. As the Word evolves and we learn more about Him, His attributes become clearer and sharper to us, eventually making sense to a point. Why do I say it that way? Because, we will never understand God on this side of life and we may not fully understand Him even in eternity, although we will know Him better.

God loves you and me with a love which we can’t comprehend because there is no human analogue for it. We can’t know a love as deeply because He is God! So, we can’t truly understand His love for us in the light of His being our Creator! He knows us fully and knew us this way, even before our world was made or anything in our world was even formed. The atonement which was given to us through the sacrifice of Jesus is given to everyone, freely, all each of us needs to do is ask for His forgiveness (which we have already), because we can’t receive it unless we ask for it.

Please, seek out His Truth in the Bible. There is no other book on Earth which is like it because the words in it came from Spiritual inspiration by God!

Search for the path!!


15253466_1686135641696714_7517591362023224275_nJesus said that the path which leads to eternal life is narrow and hard to travel, but the way is wide and easy which leads to destruction in hell. Why would the right path be hard to find and hard to travel? Because, we don’t sacrifice our self or ourselves easily! We are supposed to “die to self in order to live for Christ” right? Here is one verse which says this in a different way:

Galatians 5:24 “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

We are valuable to God because He loves us, but the life of a Christian is hard to do because He wants to know if He is important to you! It is hard to deny our desires or our preferred lifestyle in order to walk as a Christian and we have to do it DAILY, not just one day a week or once a month! This is what makes the way which leads to life a bit harder than just living.

God loves you more than we can understand. Think about it! He lives outside our universe, yet He came as Jesus the Son of God to Earth to live a perfect life and then die on the cross in order for each of us to have access to eternity! Coming to church is not a hard thing to do, yet people come up with excuses all of the time. Saturday night they may be at a bar or a dance or a party or during hunting season they will get up early in the morning to go hunt a deer or a duck. Isn’t your salvation, your eternal life more important than that!?

If you place more importance in a party or a hunting trip or a football game then I will just pray for you. If you finally come to church and seek out Jesus, then you will finally get on the right path hopefully. But, what if living life as a Christian interferes with your party or hunting?  Will you continue on that path or will you return to what you were doing before? If you return to your old life, then you didn’t change your life.

Soothing, calming, slow rain


rain-nature-animated-gif-31I live in Mississippi and we have been in a “drought condition” since the last week of July. God has now ended that condition during the last week of November and the first of December and listening to it is so soothing to my soul! It is falling slowly enough to soak into the ground and not flood and run off everywhere, which is great!

So many times in our lives we look around and see things which concern us at times and we get upset about them, but really can we do anything to fix those problems? Many times they are caused by natural processes or some careless individual with a match or cigarette and they are too far away for us to make a difference anyway. All we can do at that point is pray that the right people will be available to help.

Believe it or not, God does care about us and our situation, even though we occupy a small, speck in His Creation. Why does He care so much? Because He chose this speck to be the place where He would have His Presence and His people live. Why did He choose our planet? I haven’t a clue. The only explanation would be that it is His decision because He is God!

He is outside our existence, even outside our universe, but He chose to love and care for us and maybe one day we will understand that…in His Presence. Until then, we just have to muddle along and learn more about Him from His Word because that is the only way to learn about Him while we are here. Have you spoken with Him today? It is a privilege that we have which allows us to talk to Him anytime.

Seek His calming presence each and every day and if you don’t believe in Him, then pick up a Bible and read it. Ask Him, if He is there, to show you His Presence and His grace because He is there, I promise!

Holidays and loss


Many times we think of the holidays as the happiest time of the year but for some that is not the case. Twenty-one years ago my mother died on Christmas day which has impacted my holidays for a while. Some of my friends on Facebook have lost beloved pets just this week. Why do I compare the two? Because pets are part of your family and when their lives come to an end, it is just as heartbreaking as a child’s death or someone else that is close to you.

During the holidays many people are more depressed than during the rest of the year. Sometimes it is because of deaths in the family, sometimes it is because of loneliness or other problems, but the effects come down hard during the holidays. It happens to all of us at one point or another and it is natural to be emotionally drained and depressed when the holidays come around. Why? Because we expect or we are taught to expect this time of year to be happy with family and friends visiting and sometimes those visits just don’t happen.

God loves you dearly and He is always near to each of us. His Word gives us comfort and strength to get through this time. When depression comes to my house and involves me, I get into God’s Word, specifically in Psalms. Sometimes I read a number of them and I have spent three weeks in the Psalms to find my way out of depression or in the attempt to keep it at bay. God will give you strength and the ability to do this along with His Wisdom that you can share with others.

The loss of a family member, whether they happen to have fur or not, is a hard loss but with the wisdom and the comfort that is available from God, you can get through these hard times. Seek Him out for your comfort and for your salvation because both can be found in Jesus! Amen.

Why worry?


There are some thunderstorms and tornado warnings going on all around us tonight. Some have taken shelter in their shelters or in safe places. I live fifteen mile out in the country in a mobile home/trailer but I am nogodisincontrolt scared nor am I worried. God has got this and He is in control! Am I praying? Yes, but I am not worried because Jesus said not to do that. I can’t have any effect on the storm or the winds or anything that is coming, but God can! My Creator is able to take care of me in any situation, no matter what it is! Amen.

God loves us and when we are doing His Will, all we need to do is to lean into Him and trust that He has our best outcome in His hands. That is what I am doing. I hear some thunder coming so I suppose I better shut the computer down for the night. I will be back sometime tomorrow.

Are you sure about that?


I think many people are asking this question or they are being asked by those who are going to give them something for Christmas. Have you thought about it yourself? There are so many “deals” out there today because it is Cyber Monday and of course last Friday was Black Friday! I try not to participate in either one if I can help it. Go one step farther than just a gift at Christmas and think about a gift that has been provided for us all…and it doesn’t cost us anything!

Jesus came down from Heaven to be born as the Christ-child in a human body and from the very beginning, before the Earth was formed, He was chosen to be slain on a cross to pay for our sins! Blood from animals paid the price before He came, yet they were an imperfect payment because their sacrifice had to be performed each year, every year. His sacrifice was perfect, since He did not have a sin nature and didn’t sin during His life, yet He gave His life to the Father’s will so that we can come to the Father through belief in Jesus the Christ!

As Hebrews 7:27 says:  27 Unlike the other high priests, He does not need to offer daily sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people; He sacrificed for sin once for all when He offered up Himself.

Jesus gave His life so that we might have eternal life with Him. It is a gift which cannot be bought by us, but it had a high price. The price of the Son of God and His life, death and resurrection to purchase our pardon if we will believe in Him. This is a story which has been told through thousands of sermons over the years since His ascension to be with God, a story which many have believed in and on for their salvation.

Today it seems that we have many who have been in the church all of their lives, hearing this message, sitting in the church week after week, who have not taken the steps to finalize being a Christian! Many believe wrongly that because they have been in the church and heard the message and read the Bible that they are saved. They may even be fine upstanding members of the church, volunteering for all kinds of selfless positions and committees in the church. But…are they saved? Are you saved?

Are you sure?

Why do I bring this up now? Because, you and I need to be absolutely sure of our salvation! Why? Because, there are no second chances! If you left the church one Sunday morning or evening and just before you get home, you had a terrible accident which took your life. How would you feel standing before God and seeing your life and your opportunities shown before you, yet you are not saved. You didn’t act when the Spirit moved you in the revival meeting or when you felt Him touch you during a service because you thought you were OK. What a terrifying feeling it will be to hear, “Depart from Me, I never knew you.”

Your eternity lies before you, but it won’t be an eternity in Heaven. It will be one where you feel the burn of loss and the frustration and anger which can only be turned upon yourself because you thought that you already had something and you really didn’t. Nothing can change that now because your decision was made before your death.

Have you decided which direction that you want to go? Most everyone you ask on the street thinks that they have been a good person and they deserve to go to Heaven. How will you feel if your righteousness is not covered by the Blood of Jesus? Is your righteousness better than that of the Pharisees or about the same?

Think about it and consider doing something about it! If you felt the call of the Spirit and didn’t act, make sure that you do…soon!

How much more?


We are thankful and we were thankful yesterday, so how much more thankful will we be today? I have seen shoppers at stores who are waiting all night to get in when the door opens and some of them are pushing and shoving so they can be first in getting what they want and getting out of the store.

What happened between being thankful for God’s blessings and bounty and getting more stuff? How much more will we choose to get so we can be fashionable or in step with our neighbors? Do we really HAVE to have that new doodad that came out a few weeks ago? What about paying off your credit cards as a gift to yourself or your spouse? What about giving to your church or to the homeless shelter in town instead of spending over five hundred dollars on something that will be gathering dust in a couple of months? Does 4K resolution really matter that much when you are watching the Super Bowl in February? Does the price you pay for that resolution really bring you more satisfaction while watching any TV show?

All of these questions are the kinds of questions we should be asking ourselves long before we wake up at three am in order to be close to the front of the line this morning! What really is more important to you and your family? That is an even better question. Have you considered your relationship to Jesus in all of this too? I am a pastor and these questions do go through my mind about myself and about those who attend my church. I pray for all of the people out there who are traveling today and for those who are working today because they need God’s protection and His blessing, whether they realize it or not.

During the holiday season, which seems to have gotten off to a running start yesterday afternoon. Yes, many stores opened early, around four or five yesterday, just to get people out of the house and into the stores shopping. I don’t think I will ever get out there and into the thick of the lines and the crowds. It’s just too much!

God needs your energy and your presence in His family too and if more people would spend even ten percent of their time and money for His work, out world would be so much better than it is now! How is that possible? Because ten percent of the billions spent on gifts during this weekend could go a LONG way toward helping the homeless, both Veterans and non-veterans alike! It would also go a long way toward helping the hungry in the world too.

God can use your blessings in any number of different ways, but if you spend all of your cash on “stuff” and not on helping others, then what are you really doing? You are showing others that “stuff” is more important to you than serving God. During the holidays it seems that many people do just that and it makes me wonder what is keeping them from helping the church? What is keeping them from coming to church when they can get up before sunrise to get to a store and be one of the first through the doors?

Something to ponder during this Christmas season when we are supposed to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus! He didn’t tell us to go and spend, Jesus said go and TELL others about Him!