Tag: God

Can you see or are you blind?


When we sleep or just close our eyes to the outside world are we like little children who think that because they can’t see anything, they are invisible and the world is too? There are times that I would like for that to be true but, it isn’t. When we were blind to the truth of God, did His truth still exist? Of course it did!

The world and all of the created things in it exist regardless of our position in it or our comprehension of it. The sun comes up and the moon rises, the tides come in and flow back to the sea, seasons change and the wind blows. All of these have been since the beginning when God put them into motion and they will not stop until He causes them to.

The same is true in our lives. We go to sleep at night and dream, we wake in the morning, eat breakfast and get ready for our job, and this is a daily ritual that goes on until we retire or we die whichever comes first. The novelty of life is that it shouldn’t be a novelty; we should live it as real as it is and thank God that we can do so.

The ground under your feet and the air that we breathe are real because God made them so. We did not and cannot create anything that He did not create first; a painting or sculptures are only as real as our imagination and our talent allows us to make it. He created the stone and the paint pigments that are used in its creation by us if we have the talent to do so. God Himself sculpted Adam from the mud and breathed His life into him and afterward He said that it was very good. Adam’s own decision to not follow God’s instructions caused all of us to pay for his mistake but God knew that was going to happen before it happened. He had a plan then and He has a plan for all of us today through Jesus and the work that He did for all of us.

The life that we are given to live here is for God’s glory and for His purposes. Whether we choose to work for Him and with Him is still our choice but our life will be the greater for it if we do choose His ways and purposes. While we are living and working in this world, regardless of our vocation, we should use our time and energy to further His kingdom as much as we are able. The pay for working for God in this life may not be profitable as our world views it, but the rewards in the next life are beyond measure by any standard that anyone on earth can fathom.

If you died today, where would you go? I hear many people say, “I hope that I will go to heaven”. If your hope is in Christ and your faith is in Him too, you will. If you are counting on your own deeds to get there, you will be disappointed. Our righteousness is as filthy rags without Christ because nothing that we can do on our own is good enough. Give your life to Him and ask Jesus to save you from your sins today. Once you do that, there will be no doubt about where you will be after you die. You will be with Him. Then your life will really start!

 

God is Awesome!


He is Who was and Who is to come, the Alpha and Omega, the One who was slain for our sins yet now lives forevermore. The Father, the Son and the Spirit all comprise the Living God of the Bible and yet they are three distinct persons of the Trinity and all have their own parts to fulfill in Creation.

We would not be here if it were not in Their design for us to be. It is impossible for the human mind to accept or comprehend the universe that God created or the reason behind the creation. We are part of it and therefore cannot know the why or the how, just realize that it is and that God brought it into existence. There is no dispute about what is in the universe and yet there have always been questions about why am I here and what is my purpose? Here are a few verses from the Bible to prove God’s awesomeness:

Isaiah 45:7 ESV

I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things.

Numbers 23:19 ESV

God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

Genesis 1:21 ESV

So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good

The Everlasting God is the only God that exists beside Him there is no other, even though He exists in three persons as a Triune God. All of them are God, just with different aspects of Him. One is the Father, then there is the Son, the Living Word of God and there is the Holy Spirit who empowers us to work and do the will of Him who saved us. Our lives are meaningless without Jesus, who gives us our purpose in this life and the next.

The tiniest creatures on the planet, protozoa and plankton, were created by God to serve a purpose for our world as well as being food for the largest mammals on earth, the whales. I know, the protozoa aren’t food for whales but without them the plankton and other small creatures wouldn’t exist. Everything is connected in some way but it is all in God’s plan for our world and to show His Glory to the world. All of creation testifies about Him everyday, so there is no excuse for anyone to say that there is no God.

A message for Father’s Day


Today being Father’s Day, I thought we would concentrate on finding out what God’s Word says about fathers and their place in the home. Truly, fathers are the leaders in the home, the ones who set the example for their children to follow. Do we have an example to follow? Did our father or grandfather show by his example how to be a father? These are a couple of references from the Bible which give us some idea about being fathers:

HOSEA 11:1-4

(NRSV) When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. The more I called them, the more they went from me; they kept sacrificing to the Baals, and offering incense to idols. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them up in my arms; but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love. I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to them and fed them.

EPHESIANS 6:1-4, 10-12

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.  “Honor your father and mother”–this is the first commandment with a promise: “so that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”  And, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

The way that we can do these things is to make sure that we have a relationship with our Father in Heaven.Then make sure that we live that daily in front of our children. Don’t break the speed limit unless it is a true emergency, don’t cheat on your taxes, you know the drill. Everything that you do is being watched carefully by your children, whether they are grown or not. They watch and they learn by what you say and do in front of them.

When you tell them that God is important make sure that you let them see you doing that, not just saying it. “Do as I say and not as I do” is no way to bring up a child. Your children will do as you do, regardless of what you say. Even in God’s Word, when He told them to do things a certain way they didn’t do it. If they did, it would only be for a little while.

The lives of the next generation are precious to us and to God so we should live our life and our beliefs daily, not just on Sunday. Giving your life to Christ is the most important decision of your life. Living that new life in Christ in front of your family is the next decision that is important because of who is watching. God is watching you and watching over you, but your children, your wife, your co-workers are all watching to see the change that has happened in your life. If there has been a change, it will be evident.

Your character will be affected by that change and it will be what everyone sees on a daily basis. No matter what happens that change can’t be undone once it truly occurs. You won’t lose it and no one can take it from you. You can walk away from God, just as Jonah did, but when God decides to bring you back……He will. Hopefully without a fish swallowing you.  He will guide you back to Him one way or another.

Are you strong enough to be meek?


Everyone thinks that when Jesus was speaking of being meek, that He meant passive and weak. When Jesus sat down to teach and said: “ Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” Matthew 5:5; He did not mean that we are to be door-mats. That is not and never has been what He meant by that word.

Recently, I found out what the word “meek” actually means and it is like a broken horse, strength under submission to the master. That is exactly how we are supposed to be in our walk and our daily lives, submitting ourselves to Him daily and gaining strength from Him yet allowing that strength to be under His control not ours.

Allowing Jesus to have control of your life is not something which we are accustomed to doing. Our nature is to retain control of our own life and situations at all times if it is in our power to do so. Being willing to give up control of your life and allow Him to guide you daily is what being meek and surrendered to Him is all about. We have been given a gift of divine Grace from our Creator and all we have to do is decide to accept it or not. I know it doesn’t sound like a big decision, but the simplicity of it, in my opinion, is what makes it hard for us to accept completely.

In our everyday lives, the decisions that we make have an effect immediately for us and our family. There are also those who are watching us, usually unknown to us, who take notice of what we do and how we do it. These are the ones that we can cause to change their lives for good or ill by the seemingly little things that we do or say. That is a huge responsibility and most people don’t pay any attention to it or have no idea that their actions have any impact outside of their family or friends.

Your life and how you live it will have tremendous consequences in the lives of those around you. Consider the apostle, Peter. He was a married man with a family and a fisherman when Jesus called him to be His disciple. Peter was brash and bold but not meek, until the night that Jesus was arrested. After he denied that he knew Jesus three times, Peter realized what he had done and it broke him as a pottery vessel being hit with a hammer. He became a meek servant of the Son of God at that point and stayed that way until he was crucified.

Your life and the life that you give to the Lord is the most important decision that you will ever make. Think about it, pray about it and seek Him.

Have you ever met me?


I was a baby at one time, like we all were, who lived with his parents in a small home. I was born to very poor parents as far as wealth goes, but the love that was in that home was very evident. So in practical matters we were rich. My childhood was not remarkable. I had all the knee-scrapes and things that kids get into. There was no television, no Internet, no electricity either but we didn’t know about those things because no one else had them either! I made all sorts of toys out of wood and mud and used my imagination to entertain me and my cousins and my brothers.

As time went along, of course, we all had to grow up. That is when I found my vocation as a wood-worker and carpenter. I worked with my dad and learned all that he could teach me about his trade. He was very good at his trade and I learned a lot from him. I missed his laugh and his smile when I became a man. Soon after my thirtieth birthday I was called into another line of work, being a minister of the gospel. My cousin said that I was perfectly suited for this because he had become a minister as well and he knew the people needed to hear the message.

I found his message to be compelling and in line with the one I had been called to bring, so I asked him to baptize me. He agreed, though with some reservations. When I came up from the water, I heard a voice and saw something like a bird land on me. I hoped nobody else heard it, they would think crazy things about me if they did. I went off to be alone and pray and was confronted by someone who kept trying to get me to worship him, but I didn’t give in to any of his plans or temptations.

I managed to gather a few followers, twelve in all who were faithful. There were many more but these stayed close through the time that I had. My message and other things which happened during my ministry angered some and gave hope to others. Unfortunately, the ones who were angry had much more political power and influence than did the people who gained hope from my teachings.

They finally arrested me and gave me a mock trial of sorts and had the ruling government official to condemn me as a traitor and an insurrectionist. All during this time, my Father never left me until I was put on a crucifixion stake as a criminal. He had been with me the whole time. Giving me the words and the wisdom to give others hope and comfort, then during the darkest hour at the end of my life, He left me. I felt alone like I had never felt in my life.

I was placed in a borrowed tomb with a sealed stone over the entrance. I am not sure why they did that since I was dead at the time. Three days later I saw a blinding white light and opened my eyes. I was alive! The scars from the beatings were gone, but the ones from the nails were still there. I walked out of that tomb as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. By the way, my name is Jesus, Yeshua to my Jewish brethren. If you have met me, great! My work is not done yet and yours isn’t either. If you don’t know me, we need to talk about a great many things. The most important of which is your heart and your soul.

My Father’s Word, the Bible, is available to everyone and in every language. My story is told from the beginning to end in one fashion or another. My twelve disciples made sure that they told as many as they could and wrote many letters to the early churches that are still being read by many people today. Your life will never end when you come to the Father through belief in my saving work that He had me do. I have prepared a place for you, won’t you come to me. I am waiting.

Just as you are


It doesn’t matter what you look like or where you live, Jesus loves you just as you are. He has always known you because He knew all of us before we were born. He knows and knew ahead of time who will come to Him and who will not. He also knows the gifts that He has given you and how to teach you to use them for Him and for the glory of God.

You are special to Him, it doesn’t matter who you are or your status here on earth. If your family has lots of money and status and fame, you are special to Jesus. Not because of who you are or because of what you think you have in this world, but because Jesus values you because you are you!

The “stuff” that we and our families gather during our life and on a daily basis doesn’t matter at all, especially with eternity hanging in the balance. The only real stuff that matters is what you choose to do with Jesus and whether you accept His gift for your life! God loves you and truly wants you to come to know Him and His Son, Jesus.

Once you make that decision, your life here will be forever changed in ways that you can’t imagine if you have never given your life to Christ. If you think that you are a Christian, but are having doubts, ask Jesus to clear things up for you. Ask Him to show you exactly what He wants you to do and what you need to read in God’s Word. Once you find the meaning and purpose for your life through Christ, eternity is your destiny because you will have that long to serve Him and to find out more about Him.

If you have access to a Bible, read Romans chapter 8. It has plenty of information for new Christians and for those of us who have gotten a bit rusty in our faith as well. For example: Romans 8:28 says: 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose.

God loves you all and wants you with Him, please come to Him before it is too late. You won’t regret this decision, I guarantee it!

Even Satan believes in God


Satan believes in God to and served Him at one time. Until his pride led him to believe that he could be equal to or greater than God, Satan was Lucifer the Anointed Cherub. He was the most powerful of all the angels until pride led to his fall from Heaven along with a third of the angels who followed him.

Believing in your heart about God and helping people while on earth are good things but nothing that we do, even going to church faithfully, is enough. You have to ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins and repent from them and pray for the strength to follow Him. Because unless you lean on His strength, living as a Christian can be hard to do because the temptations of the world are always there. The money that you can make, the house that you can buy or the car or any of a hundred different “things” can become hindrances and even “idols” which can truly get in the way of a Christian’s life and your witness to others.

We have to live our lives daily as if it is our last one because we are not guaranteed tomorrow. A blood clot could break loose tonight, a tire could blow out and cause a fatal accident, you might choke to death on a chicken nugget. Any number of things could happen to end your life, and when God decides that it is your time it won’t matter where you are or what you are doing. So, living for Jesus is the most important thing that you can do with your life. Even if it doesn’t pay much to follow Him, I guarantee that you will truly enjoy the benefits!

God loved us all enough that He sent Jesus to be the one final sacrifice to pay for all of our sins. I used to think that meant that He died for our sins up until we are saved but that is wrong, He died for everyone’s sin, past, present and future! All of the people who have ever lived or ever will live as well. That is why after His death, He went down to hades and set the captives free. Those who would accept Him and His sacrifice for their sins were forgiven and taken out of there and into Heaven. What did you think He did for the three days and nights between the crucifixion and resurrection? He didn’t just lie there in the tomb waiting to be sprung from the grave, He had work to do!

Our God is an awesome God! He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Lord of Lords and King of Kings! He is the Lion of Judah and the Prince of Peace and the Good Shepherd and He is the Son of God! He is still doing His work today and performing miracles for His children! Don’t limit Him by putting human limits on Him because anyone who can create the first man from a pile of mud and breathe life into him can do anything!

Pride, the ultimate sin


We today are facing a time in history that has more trouble than ever before. We seem to be at the very beginning of what most would call the Apocalypse. The church has not been raptured and yet there is so much evil in the world, until I’m not sure if we as a church can truly have much of an impact on the world. I know that God is in control and that he won’t allow Israel to be harmed as the Muslim nations intend to do.

In light of all the news reports from the Middle East and from around the world, the condition of our world is truly bleak. Partially due to the influence of Satan but also due to humanity’s pride. Pride can be good but it can get out of hand. I am proud of my son and for what he has accomplished in school so far, but if I were to take that pride to a selfish level it would cause much heartache.

Pride is the cause of many, many failed marriages, friendships, partnerships in life and business, and it has torn apart numerous churches and denominations. It is also the main reason for so much conflict in the world between countries, religions, and people. Unlike money, which the lust for can cause much heartache, pride is something which cannot be used or sold. It cannot be spent or bartered with, and yet it can and will cause much dissension between close friends, marriage partners, business partners, clergy and congregations if allowed to.

Pride is a sin which was cultivated and nurtured before the world began by Satan himself. It is his work and his most prized tool to use against humanity. The only way to uproot pride is to empty yourself into Jesus or rather allow Him to pour Himself into you. Get your “self” out-of-the-way because while you are in the way, Jesus cannot have you fully. Cultivate your knowledge in His Word, pray about what you have read and ask Jesus to come into your heart, because once you do that He will move pride out and move humility in.

When pride is out-of-the-way and you have given your life to Jesus, you can be so much more than “just a Christian“. You will be a servant of the Most High and a disciple of His as well and it will show in and through your life so that others will see Him through you. God loves you far more than you can possibly realize and He wants you to return His love as well in service and in your daily life.

What should we do about Jesus?


If you are asking this question, of yourself or just wondering, isn’t it time that you made a decision for real? Your eternity hangs in the balance. The condition of your eternity, whether it is comfortable and with friends or terrifying and painful and alone, also hangs on your decision about Jesus. There was a preacher once who preached a sermon about humanity hanging by a frayed rope over the pit of hell and the only way that we could get free from that situation was by accepting Jesus as our Savior and into our life.

What will your decision be? Do you have an opinion about Him based on what the world tells you about Him and Christianity? Or have you got a relative or someone that has told you that it is a bunch of baloney and don’t worry about your “so-called immortal soul” because when we die, we are dead and that is it. That is some dangerous advice to listen to!

You know what really bothers me? It’s the fact that so many people in this country “claim” to be Christian when in actual fact, they are not! I am not judging anyone in this regard, but if eighty percent of Americans really are Christians, why is our country so messed up? When I say that I am a Christian, I mean that I believe that Jesus died for my sins and that the Word of God, the Bible, is true….all of it! Our world and the universe that He created is not billions of years old, and the Book of Revelation is not fiction nor is it allegory. The prophecies contained within it will come to pass at the appropriate time.

God sent His one and only Son to earth to be the sacrifice for all of mankind. If you cannot believe this, read the Bible and pray about it. Your life will never be the same once you accept Jesus as your Savior, it will be more alive and vivid than you can possibly imagine! Without Him, you can do nothing, with Him, you can do anything!

Humanity, the ungrateful child


A wealthy man had a son whom he loved very much.  He gave him gifts.  He spent every moment of the day teaching and caring for his son.  But as the boy grew into manhood, he turned away from his father and came to despise him – yet his father continued to support him hoping that he would come around.  He paid his bills, furnished him with a home and wrote to him.  But, instead of being grateful, the son ripped up the letters, ended all contact with him and cursed anyone who dared mention his father’s name in conversation.  However, he never stopped taking his father’s support.

Sadly, this ungrateful son illustrates humanity.  God is our heavenly Father and many of us imitate the son’s attitude.  God spends every moment with us, whether we know it or not:  giving, teaching and caring – yet, many turn away.  In spite of this, God still continues to care for us with the desire that we will come around.  He supplies us with the riches of the universe, things that cannot be measured in wealth (like sunshine, oxygen, gravity, atmosphere, environment and more); He has paid our bills (Christ on the cross) and written to us (the Bible).  We may curse God – but isn’t it ironic that we still expect Him to continue supporting – which, as the perfect Father, He does.

What would happen to us if we woke up one day and the sun had dimmed to one-tenth of its output? Or if the magnetic field which protects us failed and we were exposed to the radiation of the full spectrum, not just the visible light that we have come to know? Would we blame God or would we pray and repent, asking for His protection again? What would we do in that situation?

In the current condition that our world is in, we would look for all sorts of scientific reasons for what was happening. We would also attempt to find ways that we could protect ourselves, but if something like that happened to our world the only one who could do anything about it would be ignored. If any of the situations that are outlined above happened, the only One who could do anything about it would actually be blamed for it.  God is the only one that we should be turning to, not Allah, or Buddha or anything else. God loves us all, far more than we would ever understand. He is outside of time, for He created time. That is why all of time is seen by Him, today, yesterday and tomorrow are all there for Him to see. He knows exactly how long each of us has to live and serve Him, and He knows if or when we will come to know Him personally.

Our Lord created everything and everyone who ever lived or ever will live on this earth. He also created those who were supposed to be born but weren’t for one reason or another and even though He is in control, He doesn’t because He wants us to have the freedom to choose. Whether it is the choice to live for Him or the choice to have a baby or to finish school and become a doctor or whatever you want to be. Our lives would not be what they are if He controlled us to the point of not giving us that choice. He even gave the angels the right to choose to serve Him or not, that is why Satan was cast out of Heaven. He chose to become greater than the Most High, knowing that he could not but that was his choice.

We are, as a people and a planet, blessed to be cared for by the Creator of the universe. Our “frail, blue marble” of a world would not be so perfectly positioned if it were not for His hand. If you consider for a moment that when we breathe and move around in our homes or on the street, there are trillions of chemical reactions and cellular processes which occur all of the time just to move you. If all of these did not work perfectly every day, you-we would die! For instance, in our brains, there are more than one hundred thousand chemical reactions happening every second. So in the time that it took me to write this, over ten million reactions have taken place just during the last few sentences and that is only one of the organs in the body.

The point of this is that we had to have been created by a Creator who loves us and knows what we will do and what we can do. We did not come to be what we are and where we are because of evolution. Random mutations and accidents do not create life as we know it, God does! Bring your heart to Him and offer your life as a sacrifice so that He can use you, you will never regret it, I promise.