Tag: God

God’s viewpoint


The title sounds a bit grandiose doesn’t it? How could I possibly know anything about His viewpoint? Well, if you read the Bible which was inspired by His Holy Spirit you can find His viewpoint on many different subjects. Life, love, hate, anger, fear, jealousy, foolishness, adultery, the list could go on and on. He gives His view on these things in a format that is similar to an instruction manual. Some of the books rattle on about how the priests are supposed to carry out their work, but somebody had to tell them!

God views each of us as a child, His child. Those who are following Jesus are adopted into His family because they have washed their sins away by accepting the atonement and His grace. It is a gift which we can’t do anything to purchase or add to because we have nothing to purchase it with on our own! God gives it to us freely, all we have to do is realize that we are sinners and that it is His grace and the blood of Jesus which will save us from an eternity in hell.

Many people will think that, “God wouldn’t send you to hell for your mistakes if He loves you so much.” He doesn’t send you there, it is a consequence of your decision NOT to accept Jesus as your Savior which sends you there. It pains God to see us refuse a free gift which provides us with an eternal home that otherwise we couldn’t have. The love of God is deeper than we can imagine just as the hatred of Satan for us is far deeper than we could imagine.

God sees us when we make all of our decisions, good or bad, and He sees the results of them before we do. That is why we should always consult Him in all things, seeking His guidance and direction first before we make a mistake. If you could step outside of time and see all of the mistakes that you have made and where you could’ve made a difference in your life or someone else’s but didn’t, you would understand how God sees all of us. The difference between us being able to see those mistakes and God seeing them is that, if you are a Christian, He can work out your bad mistakes so that you will make a better choice the next time. Sometimes, He will take you down a path that will bring you to a better place or choice than you had hoped for.

Think about all of the lines and paths that God can see each of us walking, good or bad, and how He can guide you and me without being intrusive so that our decisions still turn out for our good and His glory! Read the Bible because it gives us wisdom to live by, advice in our time of need, and hope for a better tomorrow with Jesus as our Savior.

 

What can I do?


We ask this when we see something that needs to be done and it seems that no one has stepped up to do anything. In the world we live in today…there are many opportunities to help others. So, what can you do?

Through the power of the Internet we can encourage and pray for people all over the world, and prayer is a powerful tool for helping people. But…can we do more? Can you do more? Should we do more?

If we are going to show that we care and have the love of Jesus in our hearts and our lives, then the answer to those questions has to be YES! People cannot see or know how much you love Jesus until you show them, in a tangible way, how much you care. Bringing a message of hope in a blog is one way to do this, but the result isn’t tangible. Hope is good because without it we don’t have much to cling to in this world.

Love is tangible because the love of God flows into each of us every day when we are given the grace to wake up from sleep and go about our daily lives. God loves all of us, He doesn’t like it when we break any of His commandments and do something sinful, because He is Holy and cannot have a relationship with sin. If you have felt Him in your life, even a little bit, then you should respond to Him, positively or negatively but don’t ignore Him.

The only unforgivable sin is the rejection of Jesus’ atonement for your sins which is offered to all at one point or another. You hear a broadcast or a sermon or maybe you attend church once or twice, you hear and feel the presence of the Holy Spirit touch you..and you walk away. Choosing to go your own way instead of following Jesus. It really is your choice, God doesn’t force salvation on you. It is offered freely so that you can begin a relationship with Him. Why would God do it this way? Why not, He is God after all! Getting back to my original premise, in your own strength and your own way of doing things what can you do? You are limited by distance and time and resources as well as physically, God is not limited by any of those things.

He can do, through you or your prayers or even your gift of money to an organization of some kind, so much more than you could ever do! Unless you happen to be blessed with billions of dollars and unlimited time, which very few are, there isn’t any way for you personally to have as much influence around the world and in people’s lives as God can.

Prayer is a big and powerful way to let God know about your problems and those of others, although He already knows about them. He wants us to petition Him to do something that will show people what He is capable of. Healing a child with cancer or a relative which has had surgery recently are two examples but He can do and accomplish them all and He will if you pray and ask Him for this. He truly likes specific prayers like, “Father, I have been diagnosed with a cancerous growth in my colon. If it is in your will to heal me, please do so. I thank you in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

A simple prayer to be sure, but God loves children and we are His children. Pray with the faith of a child and be specific in a child’s way. It doesn’t have to sound like you read the King James Bible to Him, just talk to God as if you were talking to your wife or husband or your grandmother. He loves you and will listen but I must let you know, the only prayer from a person who is lost that He hears is “God forgive me for being the way that I am. Help me to come to know you through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Clean me up and help me to be the person that You want me to be. In Jesus’ name, Amen.” Once you have prayed that prayer, you are what Paul referred to as a “babe in Christ”, you need to join a church and learn more about your Heavenly Father. Read the Bible and ask Him to show you what the words mean to you and your life, then you will be able to do “all things through Christ which strengthens me”.

In Service to Him.

Sad remembrance


Our country was still reeling from the impact and the horror that had happened only a few hours before at this particular time fourteen years ago. Most of us were in shock. Not wanting to believe what our eyes were seeing and hearing on television or radio that morning, yet it had happened.

America had been attacked on her own soil, in the very heart of one of the most populated and celebrated cities, New York City. Yes, it was a sneak attack, an unprovoked attack from our point of view. Why? was the question that everyone wanted an answer to, but that answer even today is elusive. Theories abound but no real solid answers have been given or found in the years since.

How can we get past this point? There is no specific nation to look toward as the instigator of this, the reason…if there is one is based in religion, just one religion. Islam.

The word itself in Arabic means literally “submission to God”. A fairly benign statement that many believers both Muslim and non-Muslim can agree on. Christians, Jews and Muslims can relate to this as being the path to Life eternal.”What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Romans 4:3

In all three of those religions, belief and submission are almost synonymous, and yet each treats the other very differently. Religion has caused all sorts of pain and suffering in the past as it does today. Yet, we should be looking to the Author and Finisher of our faith for the Truth and that is Jesus. He brought the Truth of God to us because, as John puts it: “The Word was God and became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His Glory.” John 1:14

We are remembering the act of terror, aggression and war that was committed fourteen years ago today, but we have not turned to the One Who can give us peace in our souls and love toward those who intend to do us harm. Oh, for a few days and weeks we did go to churches and worship places and implored with God to show us why this had to happen. Most people didn’t recognize the answer that we got which was “to get your attention”!

It had to be done so that we would, as a nation, turn to God and repent of our sinful ways. But, we didn’t do that. We took it as a slap in the face and with anger we rose up as a nation, almost as they did in 1941, and we struck at those who had struck us. The problem then, as now, was that was similar to swatting at an ant in an ant hill. It only spread the problem out and made then even more determined, which their Koran tells them to bide their time and strike harder the next time.

We cannot look at this from a religious point of view or a national point of view, it just is part of our world and the time that we are living in. The next strike will be worse.

We have a lot to do….


There are many young people and some older ones who have lived their lives without Christ. WE, as Christians, have to tell them about Him. This is not a request, but it is a command from Jesus written in the gospels. Christians have turned the other cheek and been quiet long enough and the only way that they will know, that many more will find out about their Savior is if we do our part and get the message out to them! I know that today, even in the USA, Christians are being targeted as hate groups because of our beliefs which come from the Bible. This treatment will likely get worse in the near future, but we must push our fear aside and tell others that the Hope that they are looking for can only be found in Jesus.

Why should we do this? Because of God’s love for us, because He gave His Son up to be the Lamb, perfect and unblemished, as the atonement for all who have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, because all of us fall under that category! There is no one on the Earth now nor has there ever been anyone like Christ! Failing Him and His command is not an option in my being. Like the one who blows the trumpet on the wall to let everyone know about an enemy outside the gate, I want others who follow Jesus to begin to let your friends know, let your family know about Him! We are held accountable for the Truth that we have heard and read in the Bible, therefore we can’t be silent and we shouldn’t be.

If you could save your friend from certain death, wouldn’t you do it if it were in your power? If it were your child or your parent, you certainly would if possible! We are coming to the end of the age of grace, which we have been under for almost two thousand years. Evil is spreading in the world, anti-Christian speech and laws are being passed and reported on around our country and in other parts of the world. The world that most of us grew up in has changed so much in character until it is barely recognizable as the same anymore. It’s not the same as it was, it is much worse!

Television shows and talk shows are bringing up subjects that are occult in nature, much of what is on TV does not fall into the “wholesome” family category anymore. It seems that just in the past fifteen years that it has become harder to find entertainment that is good for the family to watch together anymore. The Internet itself is a place where kids can find anything that they want online, even if mom and dad don’t approve of it. They can bring it up on their phones or their tablet or any connected device available to them.

Even many of the books and games offered on Amazon and other “toy” stores are occult oriented as are many of the games on the Internet. Children don’t think anything is wrong with tarot cards or other occult and witchcraft oriented games or books. Some are innocent to an extent, but if the door to the occult gets opened a crack, many things which you don’t want in your house will have access to your home and to your children.

Read God’s Word and ask for Him to help you understand the wisdom contained in it. Give your heart to Jesus and lead your family in prayer and study of the Bible. The strength and protection that He can give you and your family is needed in these times.

What will the Iranian deal do?


Nothing to stop Iran from getting a nuclear missile in reality, it is just a show of idiocy in international farce. Iran is a theocracy. Their leaders follow the Koran fanatically, religiously, to the letter. They are allowed to lie to those who are not believers in Islam and that is exactly what is going on. They are lying to us in order to get the sanctions lifted, once they are lifted then they will go right ahead and do what they want to do. They won’t tell us what they are doing, until it is too late entirely and we will be in their cross-hairs. Once that happens, we will see an ICBM on radar and we won’t be able to do anything about it.

Why am I bringing this up on a Christian website? Because, we are on the verge…the very edge of the prophecies found in the book of Revelation. This will begin a time of chaos in the Middle East and it is this chaos that they hope will bring their messiah, the problem is that their messiah is the same as our anti-Christ. He will kill Jews and Christians who refuse to bow to him. It’s in their prophecies, if you don’t believe me.

The “deal” only has an effect on old centrifuges that are rarely used for enrichment of uranium anymore. Iran already has the newer version and the “deal” doesn’t even mention them. They can produce enriched uranium with the newer ones in a few weeks, so after the one year grace period is over they could easily have a warhead ready for either the USA or Israel. Will this bring about the last days? I don’t know, but you can bet that God is watching and He will bring the last days down upon those who attack His chosen nation and people! If we are aligning ourselves with Iran, our country will also suffer from His wrath and I don’t want to be in His crosshairs!

It seems that many people are against helping Israel in any way. God said “I will bless those who bless you and I will curse those who curse you”, He wasn’t talking to Moses, He was referring to the people of Israel. We shouldn’t be on the side getting cursed, we need to be on the side being blessed regardless of what the rest of the world thinks of us. But, that is not how our government sees it today. The future of the world is in jeopardy and it seems that nobody cares.

We love and feel loved but….


Humans are selfish beings, you know it and I do too, and when we feel loved by someone we want it to go on forever but there is only one love that can and will do that very thing and it is the love of God toward you! He has loved each one of us for a very long time. He loved us so much that He allowed His Son, Jesus, to die on a cross and take on your sins and mine and everyone’s since the beginning until the last person dies, just for the purpose of giving us grace and forgiveness and a way to become His children!

Isn’t that WONDERFUL!!

He isn’t fickle like we are with our love because if we can’t feel another person loving us then we will find a way to end the relationship and find someone who will love us. God is patient and loving, so deeply and so much until we cannot understand His love. We cannot believe HOW could He love someone who has never gone to church, never read His Word, never prayed to Him, and all of the other sinful things or thoughts that we have had or done in our life. We feel as if we are not worthy of His love. It hurts to think that someone can love us in spite of those faults and sins that we know that we have.

God’s love is so deep and warm that it can wrap you like a blanket that has just come out of a dryer when you are cold and lonely and you really NEED that kind of love and forgiveness. To quote a character in a popular film: “I like warm hugs!”; God likes to give them away! He doesn’t care what you have said or if you are in a gang or part of a squad of soldiers who have killed people for no reason except they don’t believe they way you do. Yes, He can forgive you for those things. He can forgive the doctor and nurses who work in an abortion clinic who murder children every day for money, and they think that they are doing the world a good service. Except, it isn’t. Choice is the god that people use to make them feel better about it, but what does choice do for you? Yes, you can wake up tomorrow and go about your life without worrying about a child to care for and feed but that child was sent to you by God for a reason. You killed him or her before the reason for their life could become real! But God can forgive you too.

We do sometimes find love and feel loved by another person and it is a blessing when that happens, especially when it produces a child to care for and help to see the world that God made for us to live in and to wonder about. Every day should be an experience of childlike wonder at the sky or a butterfly or a puppy but the most wonderful experience is watching a child find things to wonder at and about. To discount that as an inconvenience is selfish in the extreme.

Give God a chance in your life so that you will have a chance to experience His. I heard these words in a movie recently and they are so important, especially today: “We all have two dates on our tombstone a birth date and the day that we die but the important and amazing stuff happens where the dash is that is between those dates.”  

That is where your life can mean something, so live it like it really does mean something. God put us all here for His purpose and the only way to find that purpose is through reading His Word and praying that He will show it to you!

Some deny it, others await it….


Many in the so-called “liberal”media deny that Christians are right. I don’t mean that we are on the right or the left, but that we believe the Truth of God’s Word! Watching the news, seeing all of the prophecies coming true before our eyes, if you can’t see it then you need to get into God’s Word! Pray about what you are reading so that He will open your eyes spiritually and allow you to see what is there!

Why am I asking many of you who DON’T  believe in Jesus or God to at least try praying for Him to show you the Truth in His Word? Because if you don’t find it out, if you won’t go to a church or read God’s Word, then when you stand before the One that you don’t believe in…uh-oh won’t cut it! Your life will be shown to you in vivid detail down to the words and thoughts that you had. The time for learning the Truth is now, not at the end of your life! Yes, you could be saved on your death-bed, but you may not get that chance.

Ican'tmakeitChristians don’t say these things to scare you exactly, but what if you had a wreck on the way home from the bar or from a meeting. What if you had a heart attack on the way home or in your bed tonight and didn’t live long enough to ask Jesus into your heart and life? We are trying to get as many people to open their eyes to the reason that Jesus and the Bible are REAL! This is not a “fake religion” like so many of them are!

Being religious can get you a ticket straight to hell, being saved by Jesus will cover your sins and allow you to get into Heaven. If you are able to do some things for Christ while you are here, you may have some rewards in Heaven, but the reward that I am looking for is eternity with Him! God in the person on His Son came down and became as we are so that He could provide a way for us to be saved from an eternity away from Him! He planned this long before any of us were born, even before our world or the universe was made by Him!

God loves you! It doesn’t matter what you have done, when you did it or how, all He wants is a repentant heart and your realization that you have sinned and you want Him to come in and fix the broken pieces and make you whole in Christ! Believe me, since He made the universe and mankind in six days, I think He can handle anything that you ask Him for, don’t you?

Our Savior in the Books of the Bible


Jesus in EVERY Book of the Bible!

In Genesis he’s the Seed of the Woman.
In Exodus he’s the Passover Lamb.
In Leviticus he’s the Scapegoat.
In Numbers he’s the Serpent lifted up in the Wilderness.
In Deuteronomy he’s the Cities of Refuge.

In Joshua he’s the Scarlet thread on Rahab’s house.
In Judges he’s the Perfect Judge.
In Ruth he’s the Kinsman Redeemer.
In I Samuel he’s the Trusted Prophet.
In 2 Samuel he’s the True Son of David.
In 1 Kings he’s the Promise Keeper.
In 2 Kings he’s the Jealous God.
In 1 Chronicles he’s our Reigning King.
In 2 Chronicles he’s our Deliverer.
In Ezra he’s the Faithful Scribe.
In Nehemiah he’s the Rebuilder of Broken Walls.
In Esther he’s Mordecai at the Gate.

In Job he’s My Redeemer Who Lives Today.
In Psalms he’s the Lord who is my Shepherd.
In Proverbs he’s our Wisdom.
In Ecclesiastes he’s our True Satisfaction.
In Song of Solomon he’s the Beautiful Bridegroom.

In Isaiah he’s the Suffering Servant.
In Jeremiah he’s the Righteous Branch.
In Lamentations he’s the Weeping Prophet.
In Ezekiel he’s the Son of Man.
In Daniel he’s the Fourth Man in the Furnace.

In Hosea he’s the Faithful Husband.
In Joel he’s the One Who Restores.
In Amos he’s the Burden Bearer.
In Obadiah he’s the Mighty Judge.
In Jonah he’s the Foreign Missionary.
In Micah he’s our Peace.
In Nahum he’s the Avenger.
In Habakkuk he’s the Lord in His Holy Temple.
In Zephaniah he’s the Lord Mighty to Save.
In Haggai he’s the Lord of Hosts.
In Zechariah he’s the Fountain of Cleansing.
In Malachi he’s the Sun of Righteousness.

In Matthew he’s the Promised Messiah.
In Mark he’s the Faithful Servant.
In Luke he’s Friend of Sinners.
In John he’s the Son of God.

In Acts he’s the Ascended Lord.

In Romans he’s the Justifier.
In 1 Corinthians he’s our Righteousness.
In 2 Corinthians he’s the God of All Comfort.
In Galatians he’s the Redeemer from the Curse of the Law.
In Ephesians he’s the Head of the Church.
In Philippians he’s the All-Sufficient Christ.
In Colossians he’s the Fullness of God.

In 1 Thessalonians he’s the Lord Coming Down from Heaven.
In 2 Thessalonians he’s the Judge coming with Blazing Fire.
In 1 Timothy he’s our Mediator.
In 2 Timothy he’s our Master.
In Titus he’s the Blessed Hope.
In Philemon he’s the One Who Paid Our Debt.

In Hebrews he’s Our Great High Priest.
In James he’s the Judge Standing at the Door.
In 1 Peter he’s the Chief Shepherd.
In 2 Peter he’s the Morning Star.
In 1 John he’s the Word of Life.
In 2 John he’s the Son of the Father.
In 3 John he’s the Truth.
In Jude he’s the Lord Coming with countless thousands of his saints.

In Revelation he’s the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

God Loves You!


Is it that hard to understand that He would do such a thing? He created the universe, including this little ball of dust that we live on. I know, it is only that small when you compare it to the size of the REST of the universe, but stick with me on this. God made all of this so that you can see how great He is and how much He really loves you and me and everyone else on this planet! Now, many of you might say that God is just showing off, that is what humans would do in His place. He ain’t human!

But, He is God! He can do whatever He wishes to do in your life and mine. It doesn’t matter how bad it looks to you or even how bad it feels, let Him know in prayer. He already knows, but He wants to hear from you! He is like a parent that knows there is a problem but until the child comes to them with it they are not going to interfere. We don’t go around fixing things in our own children’s lives when we see something happening that we know isn’t going to end well. They would never learn anything like that, so why do we expect God to swoop in here and fix every problem that we have?

I’ll admit, it would be nice but we would be a world full of lazy people if He fixed every problem that we had the second that it showed up! Nobody would do anything, we would just wait for God to fix it. But, what if He stopped fixing it one day, then what would we do? We wouldn’t know how to do anything because we had always depended on Him for everything. Depending on God is good, don’t get me wrong, but if He fixed all of our problems we wouldn’t know anything at all. There wouldn’t be cars or planes or cell phones or electricity or any of the thousands of things that we use all of the time because He had been fixing for us all of the moments that we went WAHH!!

God does love us but He allows us to go through life learning about life instead of doing it for us, healing our hurts and aches. We wouldn’t even have aspirin if He fixed everything!

Even in eternity, we aren’t go to have everything our way, we are going to be working with and for Him, not sitting around looking at stuff! God cares for us and wants to spend time with us, but sitting around in Heaven looking at each other will last about ten minutes! Get up and get going! Do something for God, ask Him what you can do and let Him show you and don’t be afraid of it

Pray, America, Pray!


Our country needs REVIVAL to break out and break down the walls of hate and bitterness in our nation! We can’t wait for Washington, DC. to fix this, because they don’t know how! God does!!

Life is hard enough without having to worry about being shot going to get gas in your car, or being carjacked at the grocery store, our nation needs God back in people’s minds and hearts! Like it was the first few days after Katrina and 9/11! People turned to the One Who could help and did help. Sometimes His help came a little slow, but it came. God doesn’t give up on us until we give up on Him!!!!

Movies can inspire us, heroes inspire us, sometimes even politicians inspire us, but God is the One with the REAL answers! Inspiration lasts only for a little while, on your knees prayer to the Creator and Finisher of your faith is what gets the job done, no matter what that job is! Whether it is fixing your marriage or your finances or a child with a deadly injury or disease, God is bigger than all of them and He can FIX them all, when we come to Him with our problems and leave them in His hands and get out of His way so that He can work!

Don’t try to do His job for Him after you have prayed to Him! If you couldn’t fix it before the prayer, what makes you think you can after you have prayed? Let Him do His work on whatever the problem is, keep praying and believing that He will and He will! Too often we are the ones that short-circuit our prayers, because we pray and hand it over to God and then tomorrow morning we take it back and try to fix it ourselves. How could your car get fixed like that? It wouldn’t.

Pray and keep praying and leave the problem in His hands, then pray some more! Remember this acronym: Pray Until Something Happens (PUSH)!