Tag: Holy Spirit

Live, love and persue happiness


The life that we have been given and the love that has been shown to us through Jesus’ sacrifice for all of us, is a gift of immense proportions. Unfortunately, many people miss this gift and don’t realize just what they have been given until some trial comes along and shows them what they have and what they could’ve had. Also, we tend to miss it because we don’t want to believe any of this because of Who He is! Many people don’t want to know Jesus because Christianity and Jesus Himself said that He was and is the Son of God.

God is love and this is part of the message that Jesus brought to the world and to His disciples. But, we should be trying to live like Jesus did and love the way that He did and if we did that then happiness would follow. We also should be letting Jesus live through us so that others will see Him and not us, so that they will see the love of Jesus in our words and our deeds. That is the gift that we need to be giving to others during our time here.

It is true that during this time of year, we are looking for gifts from our family and friends, our boss, our wife or husband, our parents, but you have already been given the most valuable gift that could be given…that of the Christ, your Messiah, Jesus. He made the sacrifice that could not be done by anyone or anything other than the perfect Son of God. Why do people reject Him and His gift? Because they don’t believe in Him or in Who He is, plain and simple.

Most just think that He is a prophet or he was and he was crucified and died,  and that is it! Many don’t think that the story of His resurrection is true or that He is the Son of God, but He is! Jesus is the only Man of God that is almost always spoken of in the present tense, not in the past tense. “Why is that?” you might say; because He sits at the right hand of God right now! He is not dead, but alive and waiting for you to ask Him into your life. He will not force you to accept Him, neither will He ask you to kill someone who doesn’t accept Him. That is not His way.

He was born to a virgin, by the will and actions of God through the Holy Spirit to become the Son of Man Who is the Son of God. No contradiction exists in this and He is the only One that could fulfill all of the prophecies concerning Himself from the Old Testament, which He did at His birth, through His life and with His death on the cross and His resurrection! He fulfilled them all, no mere man, prophet or not, could accomplish that!

Give Jesus a chance in your life and in your heart. You won’t regret it and others will see Him through your actions as well and may turn their life over to Him because of the changes they see in you. Wouldn’t that be wonderful! To know that even one person came to Christ because of something that you said or did, although you may not even find it out until you get to Heaven, won’t that be a great blessing?

Think about it!

 

Have you ever been down?


By that, I mean depressed, angry, upset with almost everyone about something that you can’t put your finger on? This is the kind of “down” that I have lived with most of my life. I never really talked about it with many people, not even my immediate family, but it has always been there. Like the monster in the closet or under the bed, never seen by anyone except the person that is scared of it, it haunts us in our minds and in our dreams when we are asleep.

That feeling of being down and not worthy of anything that the world might give you except despair is constant and it doesn’t go away. Christians get this way too. I feel it at least once a week, sometimes more, usually after a good sermon in which I delivered the words and tried to bring some feeling with those words. Yet, it was not received with any feeling by the congregation. I have no feedback as to the effectiveness of the sermon and it makes me feel hollow and empty, similar to someone talking to a wall.

The only solace that I have is to bring my voice here, that I might be heard by someone that will listen and give me some feedback. Then there is my prayer life and my study of God‘s Word which gives me hope because His prophets were hated, killed and despised by the very people that they were sent to, so I am thankful that I haven’t had any fruits thrown at me or anything that might cause bodily injury.

Many people think that, as Christians, we are immune to these sorts of problems when the very opposite is true. We see the world as no other group of people see it…through the eyes of prophecy and the Word of God. The news that we hear each day, is written in God’s Word. Maybe not word for word, but there are places in the history of God’s people that sound as if they were taken from today’s headlines. But, few people think that what we base our belief on is the truth. Today, many people call this book a work of fiction and fantasy. One day, when the sky’s roll up like a scroll and Jesus comes in the clouds, they will know that it is the Truth. I pray that it will not be too much longer.

It is true that being happy is a choice, but in today’s world it is hard to make the decision to be happy with so much happening in the world and so many people hurting in our world today. I hope that you can find some hope and encouragement in my posts here and in Jesus, because He is the answer to the questions that people are asking, many of them just don’t know it yet.

Many people try to mold their version of Jesus. To change Him into the savior that they want, and not accept the Savior that He is. This is something which our recent, within the past fifty years or so, Christian preaching has caused. We are responsible for making people think that He is only a personal Jesus. He is in truth, but He is so much more than that.  I think that is what causes us to feel down many times. We don’t give Him the credit and the position that He deserves in our life and in our ministry, whatever it may be.

Only through Him can we accomplish the calling that has been placed on us. He and the Holy Spirit are the Ones which accomplish the conviction and the transformation of souls into Christians, we only bring messages that point people in their direction. It is usually our own pride which causes us to make Jesus in our image instead of being transformed by Him. When we can get out of His way and let Him do His work through us and through the words which He gives us, then we will see the changes and the results that come from being “little Christs” like Christians are supposed to be.

Why not Jesus?


Do you believe in Him? Does He offend you?

Is belief in Him too hard or offensive to you?

Why?

What is so offensive about Jesus? Is it because Christianity believes that He is the Son of God or because He died on the cross and rose from the grave alive to ascend to the Father?

He is the only Savior that we have, all of us, and yet few people claim to be true Christians. Many do claim to be Christians but they say they only attend church when they feel like it or they only go to church once or twice a month. How is that being a follower of Christ? Peter, James and John didn’t follow Him on Monday and Wednesday only and let the other disciples take over during the rest of the week! Being a “sometimes” Christian is like being a sometimes husband or wife, how long would that last? Not long at all!

The price that you are willing to pay for hope and strength in any situation, depending on the severity of the situation, is also dependent upon your desire to find hope and salvation in that situation. Your life, whether it is this one or the one for eternity, is precious to God whether you believe it or not. Nothing that God has done or will do is dependent upon you or your input or opinion, it is up to Him and what He desires for you and your life! Belief in that is good but it is not necessary because He will cause things to work in such a way that His will and purpose will be fulfilled.

Sometimes or part-time relationships don’t work or last for long, whether it is a friendship, a committed relationship or one that is supposed to be one that is for your own salvation! Part-time commitments just don’t last. The one who is doing things part-time is you! Jesus is all in, He has loved you since before the world began and it was His love for each of us that held Him to the cross, not those nails.

If you have ever felt a tug or a pull on your heart, inside while you were reading something inspirational or maybe at a service of some kind, that was the Holy Spirit knocking at the door to your heart. The only thing that you need to do is to invite Him in. You don’t have to clean up your act or get to be a better person, that will happen when He comes to live with you. He will clean up your heart and your mind and make you a new creation. Your belief in Jesus and asking Him into your life is all that is required on your part and as long as your change is real, you will never lose it.

If you just have a feeling, all fuzzy and warm inside, but no change in your life. No real relationship change between you and Jesus, then maybe you need to check again. Pray and talk to God, read the Word and ask Him to make Himself real to you. He will hear your prayer if you mean it, but He knows whether you do or not. You can’t fool Him and you can’t hide from Him either. Remember Jonah? He tried to run from God and His call too, and look where he ended up? Once you truly decide to let Jesus into your life, you are never alone again. It is your choice and yours alone which will decide your eternal destiny, but if God has called you and you have felt it please don’t ignore it because He has something great in store for you!

If you don’t try, you can’t succeed!


Basketball great, Michael Jordan, and hockey great, Wayne Gretzky, are both attributed with saying, “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.”

When we are telling someone about what Jesus has done for us, it is glorifying God, but if we don’t tell them how will they ever know? If John or Peter or any of the other disciples had not gone on their missionary journeys how would the Church have started? We also wouldn’t have much of the New Testament since the books are letters that were sent to churches that they started in other parts of the Middle East. If Saul had not been as zealous for his faith of Judaism as he was, he might never have met Jesus and become Paul. Paul truly did write nearly half of the New Testament because of his travels.

If you stay at home, you never will know what is on the other side of the hill or the state or the world. You will miss out on all of the wonders that God provided for us to discover, and you will miss out on all of the chances that you will have to share your faith. Success in life and in anything that you try, whether it is a business or a chance to witness to someone about your faith, will never succeed if you don’t try. The Spirit of God will give you the words and the ability to do and say what is needed when the time comes, whether you are shy or outgoing and it won’t matter whether you have memorized scripture or not because He will give that to you too when the time comes.

Our God loves all of us, individually, more than we can imagine. This is the reason that He sent His Son to die as a sacrifice on the cross, sinless and pure, so that we could have eternal life through faith in Him. We are not required to do anything and we can’t do anything to add to what He has already done! The task is complete in that Jesus did it all for us, all that we have to do is accept it and then tell others about it. Even if we only tell one other person, and that person may take it to a group of over twenty or fifty and then those people may each tell two or more people so just one witness can accomplish a lot.

We may never find out how much our witness may have impacted people’s lives until we get to Heaven, and then we may be amazed at what our words and witness meant to God’s Kingdom! Even though we didn’t cause the number of people to come to Him, the seed which we planted did. It took root in one person’s heart and then planted a seed in others and those seeds grew and produced more fruit for God’s Kingdom.

Like the song says, “it only takes a spark to get a fire going”, and that spark is each of us doing what God wants us to do. Some people may want to say that they could never do anything like that; well I didn’t think that my blog would make much difference but I think it has with the Holy Spirit‘s influence in my life and in the lives of those who read these words. I pray that you will find something in this or in other posts that I have here. God bless you all and I pray that your heart will receive these words in the spirit in which they are written.

Charismatic movement a cult?


I just read a little of the article which carries this as the title and I couldn’t believe it! If the Holy Spirit is drawing people to Christ all over the world right now, I don’t care if they are speaking in tongues or jumping pews or whatever, if God is getting the glory for it then it is not a cult! On the other hand, if the man or woman bringing the message is getting the glory then it most likely is a cult!

Jesus told His disciples that “No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draw him: and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:44). If the Holy Spirit is moving in the world today, and He is, then who are we to say that it is wrong? The Holy Spirit or the Spirit of God is moving and will continue to draw those who will answer the call to come to Jesus until the Father decides otherwise. It will do so until the end of the age, if God wills it, so who are we to say if it is something out of the ordinary.

Arguing and fighting between denominations and churches should not be happening, and yet Satan will cause this to happen because if he cannot get rid of the church then he will tear it apart from the inside. He has done it before, numerous times in the past, and he will continue to do it. If we can’t agree on Biblical teaching and preaching and stick to the Word of God as the Truth, then we are wrong altogether, regardless of denomination or translation.

The disciples argued among themselves during their evangelistic efforts after the resurrection, about doctrine and law. The point is that if we are going to show a united front to the world as Christians, then we cannot allow the body of believers to come apart because of disagreement between doctrines and denominations. The facts are that our churches have come apart in the last two centuries, mostly over small disagreements and sometimes over things which have nothing to do with evangelism or Christ.

This is the kind of divisive work that Satan enjoys the most because he can show that we are petty, spoiled children. Unable to cooperate or get along with each other and continually sniping at each other about points of doctrine and disciplines and man-made laws that our congregations should abide by if they want to belong to a certain conference.

How is it that Christians can claim to know the Truth from God’s Son, Jesus, and yet we make up rules and statutes and disciplines for those who belong to our conferences to follow? Isn’t this what the Pharisees and Sadducees did in Jesus’ day? They laid so many rules and regulations on their people until they couldn’t possibly fulfill them all. Many of our churches today are doing this, especially in the Methodist group of churches. I am not against the Methodist denomination, but it seems that they are a divisive and divided group.

There is little wonder why people call the church a place of hypocrites, because it seems that we cannot make up our minds which way we will follow Christ. Biblically we are supposed to be following Jesus and the doctrine that He taught, not our own! After His resurrection and ascension, individual congregations existed in different localities, but they were not religiously divided. All of them had the same pattern of organization, doctrine, worship, salvation, etc., so why can’t we do this today? The reason is Satan himself. He is the one who is putting the divisions and the jealousy in our churches to break them apart so that they will be ineffective for God’s kingdom!

We must cling to the Word of God and to its doctrines and not our own. Stick to the teachings of Jesus and don’t add anything to it nor draw your own conclusion from it, if the wisdom is not coming from the Holy Spirit then it should be questioned and proven through the Word of God. Pray that our churches can stay the course until Jesus arrives in the clouds to take His saints home.

Is hell real?


(To those who may read this be warned, this is the dream that I experienced during a sickness that I had about a year ago. The scenes which I have portrayed in this story were scenes which I was allowed to see, but which frightened me at the time. I have just now been able to put this down in writing so be patient and kind in your comments, but take heed to the warning given.)

I stood looking over the edge of the world as I knew it, I noticed a place that had not been there before. No light illuminated any part of it, although I could see it and see down into its depths. I suppose God was allowing me to see this, whether it was in a dream or a nightmare (more likely), I am not sure but it was frighteningly terrifying to my soul …. to me.

The reason that I say it terrified my soul is because I felt a fear deep down inside, in a place that I didn’t know was there. I couldn’t feel the heat physically but by the look of the place I knew that it was hot, much hotter than any place on earth. There was fire, but it seemed not to be the kind of fire which had light. I know this sounds crazy but this is my nightmare, so it was crazy and I knew that it was a place that I did not want to go. Nor did I want anyone that I know, whether they are a friend or not, to go there either.

There were places which seemed to throb with wave-like motion sort of like an ocean of liquid pitch or tar and yet it was more than that, because it seemed to be the hottest part of this place. Yet, it did not produce flames. I could hear screams of agonizing proportions, as if someone was being cooked, boiled alive in this lake but they would not die or could not die. The screams came at different intervals so I guess it was due to the wave-like action of the lake of fire, since this is the best description that I can give it.

Outside the lake, on the shores of it, there were caves that were just as hot as the lake but they were relatively dry because the oily lake did not reach them. There seemed to be people, damned souls, who were bound inside those caves so that they could not escape. These were those who had not accepted Jesus as their savior in life, but who had attended church or some religious meeting at some point in their lives. Intellectually, they knew of Jesus and what He could do for them, but they never accepted Him. Some had been deacons, some were even former pastors. They had used their position in the church to gain power and money and for some, prestige, but they had missed the real point of their own ministry, the focus of what their real ministry is about and that is Jesus.

The information on these souls was given to me by the Holy Spirit and He told me that after I had learned all that I could about what I had seen, He would give me the words to go with it.

The descriptions that I have or can remember of this place had been blocked from my mind until tonight. They were so horrific in their magnitude of pain and suffering along with the certainty of this place being part of hell, if not the very place itself. I am very glad that I didn’t experience this place directly or I might have gone completely mad. The fear that these nightmares brought into my being at night was of a type that I have never felt before. I have been a firefighter and have seen some horrific things but nothing that I had ever seen compared to this.

The imagery that I have used in this portrayal, this story, is the best that I can give because, like John, I saw things, images, which no human eye was meant to see. Hell was not, is not made for us, we were created to reign with Christ, not be punished in hell. It was created as a place of punishment for Satan and those who rebelled against God with him, but if you rebel against God then you are part of Satan’s kingdom. I know this sounds crazy, the images and the fear and terror that they brought out, but this was a nightmarish vision which I experienced and I believe it was for a purpose. Not to write a book and make money off of it, but to use it to tell others about the place that we have been saved from.

It may seem that I am making it up as I go along, but I experienced these nightmarish dreams last year while I was sick and they terrified me so much that I would wake myself, shaking from fright! I have never been that scared before and it is just now that I am able to remember the details by the Spirit’s prompting. The point of this sermon, talk, whatever you want to call it, is to bring into your reality and mine, as much as possible the terror of hell, and also the eternity of it so that no one would want or desire to go there.

Even though we think of glorified bodies that we receive in heaven, in order to endure an eternity of punishment in hell we or at least the people who will go to hell also receive immortal bodies. The difference is that they will endure pain, suffering, and heat that would be enough to kill a mortal body, but they will endure it like the immortal demons and Satan, for eternity. The reason for this punishment is because of one simple decision: the people that I saw decided not to follow Jesus and believe in His atoning blood that was shed for you and for them or they just never got around to it before their time was up.

I know that some will say that I am trying to scare people into believing and following Jesus, and you would be right! I would rather scare you out of going to hell and into a relationship with Jesus, Who many people don’t believe in at all, than to see you go into hell and know that there was a possibility that you could be saved from that eternal place.

If you decide to follow Him and learn from the Living Word while studying the Word, then you will not go to this place. However, if you put it off or just decide that being a Christian is just too much for you in this life, because you want to do your thing and not be held accountable for it, then you are deciding to be on the side with Satan. Hell was prepared for Satan and his demons and those who won’t follow Jesus, who decide that they want their fun rather than finding out about the fun of being a child of the King!

The time is now to make up your mind, so which will it be? An eternity in a place where the heat of the day doesn’t beat down on you and you are living and working with those who decided to love and follow Jesus or an eternity in a place where there isn’t much light at all. Where the heat is not from the sunshine, but from hell itself, where the heat and the burning never end for eternity, because there will be no parties in hell, there will be no place where you can “chill” in hell, there isn’t any water there at all, only heat and plenty of it.

What is the truth?


Is the truth found in our everyday lives? Can each of us have our own version of what is true or not? If we did, then everyone would be fighting over which truth was or is the real one! How can we know which truth is the right one? Is it the one that we are taught as children by our parents or is the truth that we are taught in school or college the correct one? What about if we make up our own truth, wouldn’t that be the one for us? If so, then which truth is the one for my next door neighbor or the people who live in the next country?

People have been arguing over the truth or a lie for centuries without either side knowing which one is correct. So, how can we be sure about the validity of the truth? The only real, way is to ask the author and finisher of Truth, Jesus! How can we know what the truth is if we don’t read God‘s Word on it because His Word is truth!

The Word of God is the truth regardless of what truth you may be looking for. So how can we know that it is the truth? Simple, if God’s Word is not the truth, then we have absolutely no hope!Nothing in the mind of man can save us from the judgement to come if we have not accepted Jesus as our Savior!

There is no religion which was conceived by man which will get you into Heaven because we are sinful creatures! We are not able to save ourselves from destruction and judgement and we cannot be sinless on our own merits. Jesus came to pay the price for us because He is the only One who could and He did! He obeyed the Father‘s will and submitted Himself to the hands of man to be put to death on the cross! The only thing that we can do is to trust in Him and believe in Him and the work that He did for us, then submit our life to Him so that we can tell others!

The Truth is that God loved us before we were born and sent His perfect Son to be the sacrifice which would satisfy all of the requirements of the Law that we cannot! Jesus did this for all of mankind, whether we each accept it as a gift of grace from God or not is our choice! It is not forced upon us, we are not required to act on this knowledge but it is for our own good that we do so! It is provided for us, without cost or obligation, but we need to realize that it is for our own salvation and for the glory of God! It is our responsibility to give our lives as living sacrifices to God daily because it is the least that we can do in light of what He did for us.

The truth is that God does not need us, but He wants us to know that He loves us and has provided all of the provision, the sacrifice needed for us to have the righteousness of Christ imputed to us through our acceptance of Him! God created each of us with knowledge of Him and the moral goodness that is needed for us to live in our societies, whether we have lived that way or not is our own choice and the product of our upbringing. Even those who have never had a sermon preached to them know that there is something more than what they have, and they search for it. They try to find it in many things or in drugs or alcohol or even sex but none of these satisfies their craving because the only way to fill that empty space is with Jesus!

 

Live according to the Spirit


“Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.” (Romans 8:5)

What do we do when we get into a bind? Usually, we cry out for help in some way to someone or sometimes some “thing”. Whether it is a friend or co-worker, a family member or even Facebook, we lean toward finding someone to help us deal with whatever the problem may be. When the One who can help the most in any and all situations is not even consulted in whatever the problem is, then your life could take a very different direction.

I am not saying that God will punish you for not consulting Him but the results could be very different than what they would’ve been had you spoke to Him first! Remember, we are to seek Him first in all things…this is what God’s Word says. We are not to seek out help from those who are powerless to help, especially if the situation requires the One who can affect all parts of a problem, even those that we aren’t aware of yet!

Can you have an effect on all parts of a problem? God can and He does, but only when you ask Him. Many people blame all of the bad things which happen on God, but all things are known by Him yet this world is under Satan‘s rule at this time. He cannot do things without God allowing him to, but he is in control of all the evil and bad things, whether it is natural disasters or from mankind’s own evil ways. We, as Christians, can have an effect on this world through prayer and by living our lives according to the Spirit’s leading.

We have a responsibility to do just that. It is not thinking that you are better than anyone else, but we are to let people know that there is a better way, the way that Jesus lived! By allowing yourself to be led by the Spirit of God, submitting yourself to Him daily, you can be a force for good in the world. Others will see what you have and they will want it, although many will persecute you for not following their religion instead of yours.

Religion by itself is not bad, but those who try to push their religion on others is. Telling people the truth about Jesus and letting them make up their own mind is not the same as forcing them to be or worship one way over another. We, as Christians, don’t force anything on anyone. We just tell others like our Lord told us to do, and then let them make up their own mind whether to believe in Him and change their lives or not…it is your choice.

Your salvation is exactly what Satan doesn’t want you to have! He doesn’t want you to belong to God, because he hates God and us with a hatred that we cannot know. Don’t fall for his lies and the lies of the world. Listen to your heart, read God’s Word and ask Him to show Himself to you through it and He will! There are many in the world who don’t want to believe what the Word of God says and they try to convince others that it is false, but it wouldn’t have been such a popular Book and one for whom many people died for if it wasn’t the Truth! You wouldn’t die for a lie and nobody else would either. God’s Son, Jesus, came to give us eternal life through Himself and belief in that is what many have sacrificed their lives for over the centuries. We are awaiting His return now and I believe that it will be soon, although no one knows when except God Himself, although all of the prophecies have been fulfilled leading up to His return with the exception of the appearance of the world leader that will usher in peace for Israel for a short while.

When that happens, the world and every religion of the world will take notice, but those who have truly been following Jesus will still have hope and the assurance of life everlasting.

Do you know Jesus?


We live our lives in a world full of technology. People are connected today in ways that only thirty years ago was not possible. What about being connected to your Redeemer? The signal clarity never goes away and it is always a clear signal because He hears our every prayer. So why do we not hear Him when He calls? Maybe because we are not listening? Or it might be possible that we just can’t hear that small voice for all of the electronic stuff that we have ringing in our ears between us and Him.

When we have come to know Jesus, do we decide or does our heart feel the pull of the Holy Spirit? Your only decision is whether or not to answer His call on your life, we don’t decide to get saved just on our decision alone. Unless your heart feels the pull of the Holy Spirit, you won’t feel the conviction to ask Jesus into your heart, that is why we can’t just decide to be saved on our own.

Jesus said that the only way to come to the Father is through Him and the only way that you will know that you need Him is by the conviction of your soul and your heart. Just as Peter was broken after he denied the Lord, we have to be convicted and broken to know that we need Him. We cannot save ourselves and through no action on our part can we be justified before God. Our justification comes through Jesus and faith in Him alone.

“Is it possible that you can lose your salvation?” is a question which gets asked many times. The answer is no, you can’t lose your salvation if you truly have it. If you were “saved” during an emotional event and your life didn’t change afterward, then you may not have been saved. If your character, the person that you truly are, didn’t change and your habits didn’t change then you likely didn’t truly ask Jesus into your heart. Yet, many people think that they are saved because of these things and in many instances they will not listen to anyone from that point on regarding their salvation.

This is a deception that Satan has used for many thousands of years. People think that they have their salvation, their so-called “fire insurance” and no amount of preaching or prayer will get their attention unless God does. They remind me of the Pharisees of Jesus’ time. So wrapped up in their religiousness until they didn’t recognize the Messiah when He came.

Why do we do this? We make up our own worldview, our own comfortable spot that makes us feel all fuzzy and safe, and yet we are deceiving ourselves. Still being taken in by Satan’s schemes, we walk in our comfortable religious “feeling”, and fool ourselves right into hell itself.

Now, I don’t want anyone to think that I am judging anyone, all I am doing is pointing out what some people do. The only One who judges is Jesus and He knows the condition of your heart, regardless of how well you may hide it from others.

God’s Word is the only text that we need in order to know how to be saved and then how to follow Jesus afterwards. It is our instruction book for life everlasting and for life here while we can make a difference in other people’s lives.

We have pushed God’s Word from our lives and from the education system that our children are indoctrinated in and yet we want them to grown up into moral, law abiding citizens. How can they when we have removed the teaching and the influence of God in their lives? Many people don’t go to church regularly anymore so their children are not brought up hearing God’s Word! We are creating a culture that has no fear of God because they don’t know Him or even know about Him.

This fact alone is shown in our culture today because of a small group of people who want freedom from religion, of any type. They don’t want to be told that anything that they may say or do is morally wrong, and yet they will have to account for every word and deed when they face God one day.

The answer to all of life’s questions is found in God’s Word and yet there are many who don’t even have a copy of it in their home. I have read through its pages many times and each time I get a sense of peace and security that I can get nowhere else, because it is a living Word and each of us gets a different message each time we read it or hear it.

Pick up a copy of it at the library or at a book store. Ask God to show you His wisdom for your life through His Word. You won’t be disappointed with the answers to many questions that you have had and you may be surprised about the answers that you never thought would be there. May God richly bless each of you!

Do you act like a child?


“When I was a child, I spoke as a child and played as a child; when I grew up, I put away childish things.” (paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 13:11)

This is something which we have heard from preachers for years, but what exactly does it mean?
To us, as Christians, it means that when we finally grow up, regardless of what age we may be when we do, we should act like it!
Do we act like it? Have we grown up? Are we, as adults, really grown up?
1. Most of us are not.
• We do what we want to do, when we want to do it, if possible. Then, we get mad if we can’t.
• People see themselves as good, but what about the thoughts that we all have. Are they good all the time? Would you want Jesus to read your thoughts every day? He knows what you think whether you have given your heart to him or not.
• Does it bother you that God knows every thought that you have? If it doesn’t, you might want to check your relationship with Him.
2. Can we fix our character, our heart or our soul on our own? Of course not! We can’t pull off something like that, only Jesus can do a soul-cleansing restoration on your heart and soul!

Many times, we believe that we are in charge. We start our lives wanting to be in charge of our life. “I can do it myself!” How many times have parents heard that? At those times it is cute, for a while, but when children get older it is called being rebellious. It tends to cause ulcers and grey hair and lost hair too.

The point is that, when we think that we are good enough to run our lives by ourselves, we are taking the throne away from the One Who is supposed to be there! We are doing the same thing that Satan tried to do when He was cast into outer darkness. He wanted to put himself on the throne which God was on or to put his “throne” above God’s. We can’t do that, although many people do just exactly that!

People that think they have plenty of time to get around to God do it. People who don’t believe that there is a God do it. People who have made their own version of “god” do it. This happens all over the world, every day. Billions of people think that they know better than God!

Can we be that ignorant? Are we? Many people think that they have all of the answers for their own problems and for the world’s problems too. You see them on television and on the internet every day. If they base their advice on God’s Word, and use its wisdom to advise people, then maybe they do have the answer for mankind’s problems. But, if they are using their own wisdom or some wisdom from man, such as Buddhism or Scientology, then they are mistaken. Even the Koran is only from a man, it was not given by God. God would not condone killing others because they won’t accept Islam as their religion. That sounds like it came from Satan himself.

The answers to our life’s problems lie in giving our hearts and our minds to Christ so that we can become more like Him. Following Him in all of our ways, every day and in all things. Give the day to Him before you begin it so that He will be in your mind and heart and direct your steps and words during your daily routine. It isn’t hard to do, but it is a conscious decision that we have to make. A decision that comes only when your heart is filled with the Holy Spirit and you have taken the Word into your mind. One sermon a week listening to someone preach doesn’t equip you for service to God, you have to do that daily!

I know that many people think that daily walks with God in His Word is what the preacher is supposed to do. It is what we are all called to do as Christians, to be followers of Christ. Walking with God daily is our responsibility because if we don’t, we won’t get to know the God who came to save us. Reading the Bible is the best way for us to get to know Him because it is His way of communicating with us and telling us about Himself.

God loves us more than we can understand but the way that we can learn about Him is by reading His word. Getting to know our Father better is one of the best things you can do for your relationship with Him, the better you know Him, the easier it is to recognize His voice when He speaks to you. I can’t imagine a more satisfying relationship than having one with the Creator of everything! He created us all for that, the least that we could do is return the love toward Him.

God knew you before you were born and He knows when your last day on the earth will be. Knowing this, He still chose you to be a child of His and all He is waiting for is your agreement with Him and your asking Him into your heart and life. God’s grace toward us is loving and eternal and doesn’t depend on anything that we may believe that we have to do, God doesn’t need our help in making us righteous. He works His changes in your heart and your life gradually and carefully, but sometimes those changes may hurt a bit.

We don’t agree with the pain and suffering that we have to endure during the time of God’s changes in our hearts and our lives because, even as Christians, it hurts or it is uncomfortable. That’s life! Jesus didn’t say that He came to make our lives easy. He told the disciples and us through them that we would have trouble and pain in this world, but He also tells us to take heart because He overcame the world and through Him, we can too!

There are many people in the world that are hurting every day and in more ways than we can imagine but God knows about each of them and His Spirit is with them through it all. He will draw them to Himself and if they answer the call they will have His strength to carry them through whatever they are being put through. Many people don’t acknowledge that call on their spirit because they are hurting too much or they are high on drugs or they are drunk, but God knows their hearts. He will keep drawing them until they tell Him to go away, if they recognize that it was Him to begin with.

Other times, which happens more often that we would like to believe, they don’t hear His call in their life. People are so caught up in what they are doing or having to deal with until they are spiritually deaf. Satan loves it when we are so caught up in our lives and our jobs or with our family that we can’t even hear God calling to us. That is when he will crank up the volume in our life so that we are even more involved and there is no way God can get through. But, God knows your heart and He knows whether you will hear Him at some point and it is at those times, whether you like what is happening to you or your family or not, that you will hear Him! You may wonder why this is happening at that point but it is because God has something that only you can do and He will not let you ignore Him.

I can hear many people saying that we are not predestined but God says that we are. He can raise up a ruler or bring him down for His purposes and He can do the same with us. He is the Creator and can do anything that He desires to do and if that means breaking down your will in order to build you up to be the person that He knows you can be, then that is what He will do. Give your heart to God before He has to allow that to happen in your life, so that He can use you in a more fantastic way than you could ever imagine! Won’t you call on Him today?