Tag: Holy Spirit

Be watching….


Be attentive and watching because you know not when the Master comes. (paraphrase of Matthew 24:32)

Many things are happening right now and we must not be deceived by those in power or those perceived to have power by others or the media. Keep your eyes on the sky and in the Word of God. Daniel 9 shows many things are coming which will show us the times that we are living in.

There are also many who don’t want to hear anything about religion in general regardless of the eternal effects that learning about Jesus will have on their life. Even if it is true that religion should stay out of the public arena, which I don’t agree with, God does have a hand in this world and on each of its citizens. Like it or not, you will appear before Him one day even if you don’t believe in Him! It seems that many people in the news are taking the view that if they don’t believe in God or the religion which shows them Who He is then He doesn’t exist! How ridiculous is that?

That is like someone saying that they don’t believe the sun is a star or that it won’t rise this morning, if God chose for us not to have the sun to rise today it wouldn’t but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. Life is hard enough to get through without Jesus in your life, but it is so much better when He is because you can lean on Him when you need it the most. God does love each of us and whether you believe in Him or not doesn’t change that. Today, it seems that so many people are searching for something, Someone to believe in above themselves mainly because we can’t do or be the person that we need to be without something…Someone to help us! Some look for and chase after money or prestige or even drugs to be that “something” that helps them to get through the day and for some it may work for a while, but it isn’t permanent and it doesn’t fill that space that we all have.

Jesus came so that He could  identify with us and our problems and fears and He came to be the One sacrifice which would take care of the debt that we owe because of our sins, no matter what they might be. We look at sins as small or large like lying to someone is usually considered small and killing a person is a pretty big one, God looks at sin as sin. So, we all need Him. Every church is full of hypocrites because, even if we are saved and practice our Christianity every day we are still sinners saved by His grace and mercy. If we weren’t convicted by the Spirit to change our lives in the first place then we may have gone down the aisle on our own because we felt emotional, not because we wanted or needed to get saved. If that is the case, then it may not be genuine but only God knows your heart and He is the one who will judge you when you stand before Him one day.

Life…again!


You know, there are many people in the world that think that we just cease to exist in any form after we die. Not true at all! God can’t lie and He speaks about life after you die. Jesus said that God is the God of the living, not the dead. Your life, your spirit keeps on living long after your death. Think about this, when Jesus was transfigured on the mount in front of His disciples, He met with Moses and Elijah and spoke with them! Both had been dead for hundreds of years and yet the disciples could recognize them! They were talking with Jesus!

God gives each of us a body, a soul and a spirit. The body dies at some point in our lives, but the spirit lives on and if you are a Christian so does your renewed soul! The essence of who you are lives on into eternity, especially if you are a Christian because you have Life everlasting through Jesus! If you are not a Christian…then your spirit goes to a place of torment for eternity. Your choices take you there, not God. God’s love is still shown toward you in that it is your decisions which have condemned you, not Him.

He loves the person, the spirit that is you regardless…but He doesn’t love or even like the sinful choices that we sometimes make. Which, if you die in your sinful condition having chosen NOT to give your heart to Jesus, then those sins actually convict you and send you to a place outside of God’s realm, into hell. It has many names right now. Outer darkness, Hades, hell, but the part that is most painful is the torment that you are in because of your choices!

We have been given and shown God’s grace by the life that we have here, the blessings that most of us enjoy and because we have been given the choice of following Jesus while we are here or we can choose not to follow Him and live life by our rules. Something that many don’t take into account is that you are responsible for what you have heard and learned while you are living. What does that mean? It means that if you went to church or Sunday school or Bible school growing up, from that point on you are responsible for all of the messages about salvation that you have heard. Even if you live to be 100 years old and you begin going to church when you are fifty, if you have never asked Jesus into your heart and life and you die at 100 then you will be sent into outer darkness away from God’s presence.

Sounds terrible doesn’t it? If you have spent fifty years being a faithful church attending “Christian” why would you be sent to hell? Because, you never gave your heart to Jesus. Going through the motions doesn’t mean anything. It is like going to work and sitting at your desk looking at Facebook all day, looking like you are doing something and then coming home. What did you accomplish? Nothing. You went through the motions of “working”, but you never accomplished anything unless you were confronted and forced to type up something. Jesus said “many will say to me ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we do great things in your name? And I will say, depart from me because I never knew you”.

Sad words to hear from the One Who could’ve saved you from the torment to come.

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.

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)!

Life, as it could be….


You have heard of life, the one you and I are living here on Earth. It is nasty sometimes, its dangerous sometimes, it’s just hard to deal with most of the time, and then some days, it turns out pretty good. Those days are few but that is what makes them special! If you had a great day, every day, life would be boring, fun but boring. How has life been treating you recently? It depends on your location and your circumstances mostly. If you work for Google, you have a hectic day but you get paid well for it so it’s not so bad from what I have read. If you work for the government…I am sorry. Yes, there are many different jobs and salaries which go from one extreme to the other, some jobs are hourly which is the pits mostly. Some are pretty decent in their pay and benefits, but those are few and depend on education and experience and location, location, location.

Life…is not really fair for most of us. If there were some way that I could help in this matter, I would. I am not kidding, but right at this time I am not in a position to help many more than my immediate family. People ask, “Where is God in all of this?”, He is here with us and with you, like it or not. Why doesn’t He do something to help us? He does, every day! You got up this morning, like I did. You had something for food and drink, maybe went to a job, come home to have something else to eat and then get ready for another day of the same thing tomorrow, all because God chose not to “punch your card” so to speak.

Much of what we call life, good or bad, is a gift from God and we should accept it as such. If it involves a degenerative disease like arthritis, like I have, then just enjoy the days when it doesn’t hurt really bad. If you have other problems which are chronic or severe, then God is still there with you giving you strength and the ability to get through it. Why am I so upbeat on life right now? Because today has been a decent day. I pray that I have more of these and maybe you will too. There is no reason for looking for a dark cloud coming tomorrow because it isn’t here yet!

God can clear it up before it does get here and that is the important part, give tomorrow to Him. Then do it again tomorrow, and the next day. Let Him take care of the stuff that is coming and you enjoy what He lets you have! Keep your eyes on Him for the rest of the day, and He will take care of your tomorrows, Okay?