Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? John 11:25-26 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/jhn.11.25-26.KJV
The tomb where He was laid in is empty because He’s alive!
We seem to be at a crossroads moment in our lives whether we are Christians or not. Each of us gets to a place where we look around and wonder if this is all there is. How can we live a blessed life each and every day when we can’t see or touch our blessings? The problem with this kind of thinking is that our life and our breath is a blessing every morning!
Job 33:4
“The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.”
King James Version (KJV)
It seems that many Christians have forgotten about that but God’s Word says so in many places. God has blessed each of us with a planet to live on that is tolerable in its climate, gentle with its gravity, and has a stable orbit that gives us four seasons in a year to plant, harvest, and enjoy the fruit of our labors. These blessings are just a few of the details that God did for us to be able to live and work to praise Him and give Him the glory for our lives. But…do we? Most of the population dismisses all of these details out of hand because of our schools and the curriculum that is taught in them.
Astronomy and physics classes teach that all of these happened to our solar system by chance when the opposite has been proved by the number of exoplanets that they have found. Years ago many scientists believed in God and the order of how our solar system was laid out was considered to be His blessing for humanity. In fact, it truly is a blessing because most of the planetary systems that have been found show planets that are far too close to their star for life. Many of these systems have no rocky planets with water, that we know of. In fact, most have gas giant planets whirling around their star so close that they are nearly touching it. If the study of other systems has shown anything it is that our solar system is completely unique because they have not found others like it within an observational distance of our home planet.
God designed the universe and placed us in the precise place that was perfect for our lives to exist. Many scoff at this and say that out of all of the stars and other star systems that there must be other life-giving planets out there. There could be some but I don’t believe we will find them by using our telescopes and our intellect. God may have placed other people and planets out in the vastness of space but if He did they are too far away for us to hear them or for them to hear us. So the opening line from Star Wars is very likely the truth “…a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away”.
We are blessed by God in that we are isolated from other civilizations. Not because we should be but for the same reason that the Jewish people were told not to mingle with the people of the land that God had given them. Because their ways and their religions were not compatible with the blessed life that He had given them. So we should truly count every breath and every step that we take on a daily basis as His blessings for us on that day. Give thanks for every one of them, even if it hurts to take those steps and those breaths that we are given each day.
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Romans 1:20 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/rom.1.20.KJV
You cannot escape the evidence of His existence no matter how hard you try. He has loved us since time wasn’t part of the universe. Give God your heart because He gave His life for you.
O Lord , thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. Isaiah 25:1 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/isa.25.1.KJV
Do you tell your “friends” about your Savior? By that I mean do they know, can they tell that you are a Christian? Or do you just act that way on Sunday?
Does Jesus Christ really know you or do you just know about Him? Jesus said that on that last day there will be people who will say “Lord didn’t we cast out demons in your name?” And yet I will say to them “I never knew you”. Would you want to be in that group? I wouldn’t.
The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing. Zephaniah 3:17 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/zep.3.17.KJV
Many of us have often wondered what our purpose in this life really is. We have also considered what our place might be in the “great scheme of things”. Neither of these ideas or wonderings have given us much comfort though. Why is that? Is it because we aren’t looking in the right place or maybe we aren’t asking the right questions? Actually, I think it has more in common with the Person that we are searching for rather than the question or even the place.
Your purpose and your place in this world are found in Jesus alone. There is no other name by which we can be saved from eternal wrath because of our poor choices in life. Your salvation comes through Jesus, period. This also places you squarely in God’s hands for eternity so your place is secure because nobody can take you away from God. Your purpose truly is found in Jesus but what is it? Truly, it is being His disciple and going into the world as a reflection of Jesus so that others will see Him in your life and if they don’t know Him then they will want to know Him!!
By some of the early apostles examples and their writings, at least those who lived after the first century, we should model our Lord and Savior in such a way that people will see Him and come to you so they can know Him better. Almost like your life is your sermon every day that you live and breathe as a Christian! Isn’t that the kind of witness that we should all strive for?
I know that we can’t live perfectly walking like Jesus walked and living out our witness without stumbling and thinking or doing something that would make people question our walk with Him. We are human and we can’t be perfect in our attempts to live as reflections of Jesus but it is the striving to be more like Him that is the real witness! Living the rest of your life as a Christian is not the easy walk that some people think it is. Before we become Christians, Satan doesn’t care what we are doing because by default we live according to our own rules and ideas. But…when we truly give our life to Jesus a target appears spiritually on our head and our heart.
Why does this happen? Because we are working for Satan’s enemy when we become Christians. Our life and every word which we say should reflect Jesus in our lives from this point on. Do we fall and fail at this from time to time? Of course we do, but God still gives us the strength to overcome these stumbles and failures. Recognize that we are weak and we need to ask God to give us the strength today to get through today and then tomorrow and every day after that. Does Satan target us after we give our lives to Jesus? Yes, he does. We might touch someone’s life and bring them into God’s family. The more effective our witness is, the more numerous his attacks on our life and ministry become.
Sometimes your ministry may be world-wide as it is by blogging like this. Sometimes your ministry and witness may be limited by your geography or your ability. But if your witness is effective and draws one or two people to God, then you will be targeted by Satan and his demons. I pray that every person who reads this blog will seek out Jesus as their Savior, if they don’t know Him yet. If you do and you find something here that you could use in your ministry, feel free to use it in witnessing to others. God will bless it.
Have you ever heard that term before? I have and I have used it to describe myself in years past. The definition of carnal is: relating to physical, especially sexual, needs and activities. It can also mean that you are a “Christian” just because you claim to be and nothing more. What exactly does that mean? It means that you are NOT a Christian, you just claim to be because you have morals, meaning that you haven’t killed anyone.
It also means that if you died tonight you would be judged by God for being a liar and a sinner and for rejecting the grace offered to you through the blood of Jesus. You would be sent to hell. “Well, I’ve been in church since I was two years old. My Mom teaches Sunday school and my Dad is a deacon!” So what? All that proves is that you have been in church more than most have and you have heard the message of salvation through the acceptance and belief in Jesus as your Savior. The problem is not that you weren’t exposed to His message and the Truth of the Good News. Your problem and the problem of many in America is that you have heard the message but you haven’t taken it to heart and accepted Jesus. You haven’t repented of your sinful life either!
You went to church. You may even have been baptized, but without a change in your life and acceptance of Jesus as your Savior…you went right back to your life. Nothing changed! You cannot meet Jesus and give Him your heart in repentance and then turn back to the “same old way of life”. There never was a change in your life if you did.
Being a Christian is more than attending church or Sunday school and getting baptized. When God’s Holy Spirit touches your heart and lets you know that your life isn’t good enough to be allowed in heaven then you know that you NEED Jesus! Have you felt that? Do you know that you truly need Jesus as your Savior? Or do you think of yourself in the same way as the Pharisee’s did? I worship God and I pray at least once or twice a week and I give some money to the church, so I’m not a bad person.
Maybe you aren’t a bad person but you also aren’t sanctified and saved by His blood and your repentance either. What am I suggesting here? Seek out your Savior and make sure of your salvation. Read the book of Romans in the New Testament and the book of John, then if you don’t feel the conviction of God’s Holy Spirit just put the book down and walk away. I feel certain that after reading those books and praying about your salvation, you will feel the need for your Savior. I will be praying for all who read this.
Have you heard that Jesus was the Living Word made flesh? Considering that He was with the Father in the beginning and it was the Word of God which brought everything into existence, I would believe it! John’s gospel tells us that He was with God and the Word was God and He was manifested with us as a man, the only begotten of the Father.
He is our Savior and Lord and He is our Creator too. There are many people who don’t want to believe in Him or the grace and salvation that He brings to us and all we have to do to receive it is believe in Him for our salvation. Then, to grow in His Spirit, we should choose to follow Him, reading His Word and studying it to know Him better and to be known by Him. This site is my only way of reaching out to the world and I pray that anyone who may be searching will seek Jesus out as their Savior and believe!
God loves us and He has loved us since the very beginning. That is why the Seed of the woman was promised so many years ago. Jesus came as the Son of God through His love for us so that we could regain our place in His house and His garden one day. Living your life as if the Word of God is null and void only makes your eternity an endless point of pain and suffering. Not because of your sins but because of the simple decision which could’ve saved you from that place!
God never intended for humanity to go to that place of torment, at least that is what I believe. But by deciding to do things your way and not His way, you are aligning yourself with Satan and his rebels. Eternity in heaven is only a decision away and I encourage you to make that decision soon. None of us are guaranteed tomorrow let alone next week. Make sure of your eternal destination soon because you may not get another chance.
Jesus sought out disciples with a simple request, “Come, follow Me”. Sometimes He chose to say it a bit differently depending upon which disciple He was seeking but essentially it was just “Come, follow Me”. Even today when He touches us and we feel His call in our heart and our lives the request is still “Come, follow Me”. Why is it so simple? Because, when you are speaking to a child, that is what you say and we are all His children.
So why are so many of His children, who claim to be Christians and followers of Jesus, NOT following Him or His teachings? There are so many who do know of Him because of things that they have been taught by parents or in Bible school or Sunday school but are they truly followers of Jesus? Do they know Him as their Savior and Lord? Even the demons in hell know Who He is but they don’t serve Him. Satan knows Who Jesus the Son of God is and can quote you every scripture which points to Him from either the Old or the New Testament but he doesn’t serve Him nor will he ever.
One day every knee will bow to Jesus as King and Lord but not all of them will do it willingly, especially Satan. God knows this to be true and there are many people in the world today who will not ask Him to be the Lord of their life, not because they don’t need Him but because they are too proud. They look at Christians and weak because we submit our lives to Him willingly. Do we fail at serving Him? All of the time! Many of us “lose our religion” on multiple occasions during one day but we are forgiven and all we have to do to claim it is confess and ask for His forgiveness.
Will we fail again tomorrow? At some point during the day, we will. We won’t do it willingly or on purpose but at some point, we will think a thought which we know we shouldn’t. God knows we are human and that our will and ability to serve HIm can only be accomplished through the strength which we get from Him! Because, trying to live the life of a Christian is impossible without faith and without Him in your heart and a mind which has been washed in the Word of Truth and by His saving grace.
Being a disciple of Jesus is an ongoing process because it is a life of surrender to our Risen Lord and Savior. Submitting our will to Him every day, reading His Word and studying it is something which we do because of His love for us. This is the love which sent Jesus to die on the cross and pay for our sin debt, every one of us, just for the privilege of being His. We don’t become Christians just by our decision or by anything which we do. We feel God’s touch in our heart giving us the faith which carries us from today until tomorrow and then the next day and the next until we know that we NEED Him in our lives. When we come to that point we will know and seek Him out!
I pray that you will seek Him out for your own salvation because one day soon I will be gone and this site will only have enough information to point you in His direction. Seek Him while you can because when the “world order” is taken in by the man who claims to be our Lord, many people will follow Him but they are on the wrong side. God wins.
There is no comparison between God’s love for His creation and for us in all of the Earth. No human can understand God’s love because His love is deep and without limits. He loves us because we are made in His Image and we are to be His servants into eternity. We will not be as slaves in this but we will be willing servants as bondservants in ancient days. They loved their masters and did not wish for freedom and would serve him even if they were to be set free.
God’s love for humanity is fierce and limitless and yet the angels have no understanding of His love for us. Why should God love mankind so? Because He is God and if it pleases Him to love us in this way then He will do it! God is our Creator and has made us be His adopted children, we are not forced to be His but we are voluntarily His children because of His love for us!
So, why do we live as if He doesn’t love us or doesn’t care for us? Mostly because of the fact that we can’t see God even though we can see all of His Creation and it shows His majesty and His creativity and His artistry in Creation! It is His Creation after all! We didn’t have any part in it except when He created us. He knows your talents and abilities and all of your problems. He gave you your talents and your sense of humor and your abilities so He knows more about you than you do about Him.
Why not pick up the Bible and learn more about your Creator and your Savior and get to know Him personally. Then when you hear His voice speaking to you, you will recognize Him and then you can respond accordingly! God wants the best for you but only if you know Him and He knows you can both of you benefit from what is best for you. Give your heart to Jesus and let Him come in and clean up every part of your life so that you can represent Him in every area of your life as well.
The Living Message of Christ 