Tag: Jesus loves you

Are you empty?


themissingpieceEmptiness is something which we all feel at times. Sometimes it is during times of stress or severe testing in our lives. Sometimes it is because of how we feel about ourselves. I feel it at times when depression comes on my day. I never know when it will come, but I know it when it does. Emptiness is a feeling that makes you feel like you don’t have enough..of something. At times you can’t put your finger on what is missing exactly, but you know inside that something just isn’t right.

Some people try to fill that place with stuff or sex or money or ???? You know what you put there and many times it still doesn’t feel full or maybe it doesn’t feel like what you have in that spot isn’t quite enough. So what do you do then? Most people go out and try to find something else to add to the pile. Like traveling, spending money on trips for no apparent reason because every trip can’t be for business and most of us don’t have family scattered all over the place.

Why am I writing about this today? Because, it is usually during the holidays when people feel empty most often which is why most suicides happen during this time. Make sure that you are close to your family and friends, especially if they are empty-nesters and their house feels that way. Holidays are bad for those of us who have lost a loved one, especially if it happened on a holiday. My mother passed on Christmas in 1995 and a few months earlier around Easter of that same year, my grandfather passed, so I do know a bit about how this feels.

There is an empty place at the table when someone isn’t there, an empty room or closet but most of the time the emptiness is felt inside yourself, as if something is missing from your life and you just don’t know what it is. That is where knowing Jesus comes into your life because that spot which has felt empty for a while is shaped specifically for and filled only by your Savior. It is a part of each person on Earth which each one of us has, it isn’t there because of something we did or didn’t do. That longing for feeling is part of your life and mine until we find the Person Who actually fills that space.

The only One Who does that is Jesus, the Son of God. It cannot be filled by a person that you have a relationship with except the Person of Jesus. It can’t be filled by anything other than Him either, so if you are reading this and you know what I am speaking of, don’t go looking for something or some other person to fill that place because it can’t be done. Only Jesus fills that space, so give Him the chance to make you whole and you will never feel empty again. I promise.

How does God feel about me?


My title here seems to be a silly one actually. I mean come on! God loves each and every person on this Earth! His Son came and died for ALL of our sins, not for just a few! What sort of God would do such a thing? Give part of Himself over to live as a human being on a ball of earth and water just to die on a cross for our sins? He is our Creator and our Redeemer and our Savior, that is the God that we serve!

1533781_811048015579131_2056361741_nBut…what if you don’t believe this? What can you say about God and His love for you if you haven’t trusted Jesus as your Savior? If you are in that position, then I suggest that you seek Him out for your salvation soon. Because the time of grace which the world has enjoyed for the past two thousand years or so is coming to an end. I won’t be presumptuous or vain enough to even try to give you an idea of a date or year in which He will return, but He is coming soon.

I can give you an example of His promise for Israel, which also applies to us today. This was given to the prophet Jeremiah around the time of Judah’s captivity in Babylon:

10 For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. 12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. 13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. 14 And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive. (Jeremiah 29: 10-14)

The “expected end” which God is talking about here is for the children of Israel to come out of Babylon and to have learned to trust God and serve Him instead of other gods as they had been doing since coming into the promised land.

God also has our life and our outcome in His hands as well. Believing in His grace for your life is required and if you have faith to believe in Him for your salvation, then you are already there. God can and does use us in His Kingdom iF we will listen to Him and follow His lead in doing His will.

Is it possible for us to be this obedient? Yes, if you will follow God’s will for your life. Many people come to church to get their “fire insurance” in order to stay out of hell, but the real problem comes along when those same people claim that they are saved and then their life doesn’t show a change from before they accepted Jesus.

I don’t mean that you are judging their salvation but whether it was genuine. Why do I say this? Because IF there is a true change in their heart through the Holy Spirit, there is no way that they can turn back to their old way of life or their sinful ways which held them in bondage before their salvation! Because when the Holy Spirit makes a change in your heart, you can’t undo it…it is permanent.

Time keeps on ticking…..


In every person’s life, no matter who you are, there is a certain amount of time. Only God knows our length of days in regards to our life, but when you and I wake up each day, each of us has 24 hours in that day, 1440 minutes or 86,400 seconds. We have an allotment of time given to each of us by our Creator, whether you believe in Him or not, when we are born. How we use that time and whether we use it selfishly or for Him is our choice.

eternityWhat have you done with your 1,440 minutes today? A number of those were spent sleeping since our account resets itself at midnight, so depending upon how late you sleep or how early you get up determines how many of those minutes you have to do something with. There have been songs written about time and how it slips away from us or how we should be cherishing our time with those we love. What about the time which we have to serve God?

After you have given your heart to Jesus, your time becomes more useful in God’s economy and for His Kingdom. How many minutes have you given Him today? Did you thank Him for waking you up this morning? Did you thank Him for your breakfast and your other meals today? What about the safe trips that you have made around town or on the highway, did you thank Him for watching over you at those times? God loves you and He does watch over us each and every day, but do you think about Him or thank Him for the good things which happen in that day?

That is the part of life which I think is the most useful because when you live every day in a thankful mood toward God, you notice things which you really are thankful for. Getting up in the morning, getting around the house, going to the supermarket or to Walmart, and doing all of this in safety without incident, those are accomplishments which deserve thanks to the One Who gave you the ability to do them!

We all have time and the same amount of it each and every day that we live. There is no day which is too short nor a night too long because no matter where you live or the time zone that you live in, the day is still the same. Savings time or standard time, the day is still 24 hours long regardless of your feeling that you need more time to finish a task or not.

Give God the glory and the praise for the time that you have with family and friends because each minute which goes by is gone for good. You can’t get it back and you can’t add to your day tomorrow to make up for any time which you feel was lost today. Consider this when you think about how fast time goes by and the family which you have is growing up and will soon be off to college or a career. It goes by so fast and you can’t rewind time.

Follow Jesus


Romans 14   Disagreement between believers.

In Rome believers squabbled over whether or not to eat meat or whether to observe Jewish holy days and customs. If they had kept their convictions to themselves, there would’ve been no problem but they began to criticize and judge one another. The squabbling hasn’t abated even today. We argue over many more things, such as the color of carpet or which flowers to put out on a certain day or week. Some churches argue over even less important things than these, but the point is…we are supposed to be united in Christ! Regardless of our denomination or doctrine, yet the collective church is very divided in many ways.

Verses 1-12

In this section of the chapter, Paul begins and ends it with an admonition. He addressed those who were strong in their faith and did not waver toward holy days or diets but kept their freedom in Jesus Christ. He also addressed those who were worried about their diet or the Law and told them that they were immature in their faith. Many people think that Christians who follow strict rules in their faith are the more mature, when it is really the other way around. In the Roman church, the weak and immature Christians were judging the more mature Christians and the strong Christians were despising the weak Christians.

Paul told them to welcome one another and gave four reasons why they should. We are only focusing on one today.

The first reason is: God has received us into His family

It is not our individual responsibility to decide the requirements for Christian fellowship in a church, only the Lord can do this. To set up man-made restrictions or rules based on the personal prejudices or convictions is to go beyond the Word of God. Perhaps St. Augustine got it right when he said: “In essentials-unity; in non-essentials-liberty; in all things charity”. We are free in Jesus Christ to do that which brings honor and respect to the church and to the Word which we hold as the Truth.

When God sent Peter to take the gospel to the gentiles, the church criticized Peter because he ate with these new Christians. But God revealed His acceptance of them because He gave them the Holy Spirit just as He had done in Jerusalem at Pentecost. Peter did not stay in this freedom because later he refused to fellowship with the Gentiles at Antioch, where Paul had to rebuke him.

God showed both Peter and Paul that Christian fellowship was not to be based on food or religious calendars, but on their faith in Jesus and the freedom that we are given through Him.

In every church there are some who are more mature in their faith and some who are weak. The weak and the strong, young Christians in the faith and those who have been studying God’s Word for many years, are not to look down on each other because one feels freedom through Jesus and the other sees being a Christian as “following the rules”.

Peter asked the Lord, “Lord, what shall this man do?”; the Lord’s reply was, “What is that to you? Follow thou me!”

In other words, the Lord told him this: “Peter, make sure you have made Me Lord of your life. Let Me worry about John” or any other believer. When other Christians are criticizing other Christians for what they do, we are being judges. Don’t worry about what someone else is doing, follow Jesus and let Him be your Lord!

Paul emphasized this in verse 8 when he said: “Whether we live, therefore, or whether we die, we are the Lord’s”. Our responsibility is to the Lord and following Him in our life, not worrying about other Christians and their lives. If your brother in Christ is still drinking beer, don’t chastise him. If Jesus hasn’t convicted him of this, let him be. The same goes with smoking or any other so-called “vice”, follow Jesus in your life and let Jesus take care of other Christians.

Paul asked those who were young in their faith, the weaker Christians, “Why are you judging your brother?”; then he asked the same question to the stronger more mature Christians in the church. Both of them will stand at the judgment and be judged by the Lord in their walk with Him, so what is that to you or me?

All of our works, good or bad, will be judged at the judgment seat of Christ by the Lord Himself. It is not our place to do so in this life and it has nothing to do with our sins or our salvation since Christ paid the price for all of them and as believers our sins cannot be held against us anymore. In 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 Paul compares our ministries in Christ with the building of a temple. If we build with cheap materials, the fire will burn them up. If we use precious, lasting materials, then our temple (works) will last. If our works for the Lord pass the test, we receive the reward. If they are burned up, we lose our rewards but we are saved “yet so as by fire”.

Anything that we do in this life for the Lord and through His Strength will last, we should make sure of our faith in Him and our belief in Him. Your life is your witness just as every word and deed which others see you do. If it is done to please Jesus and would be approved by Him, then you are secure in your salvation. Don’t worry about what others say or do in their walk with Him, because Jesus is the final Judge and it is His approval which we should seek!

What are we to do?


It seems that we have been warned in a couple of ways and in prophecy too. But…are we listening? I’m not so sure about that. A little over a decade ago, sixteen years to be exact, our country was warned in the form of an attack by terrorists and yet we decided to build again with “dressed stone” and defy God’s warning. We have had numerous hurricanes since then and we still aren’t getting the message. Two of which are very recent and very destructive but are we going to listen this time?

IamtheWayIt doesn’t seem so.

Why are we being so stubborn about turning back to God? I realize He isn’t politically correct, but God doesn’t have to be! He’s God our Creator after all!

So, what are we supposed to do? Have you ever heard the scripture “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14

We need to turn back to God and repent of our sins so that He will heal our land and the problems which we have today. The problem with this is that we won’t repent. We have become a secular nation bent on following our own thoughts and desires rather than the wisdom found in the Bible.

God did not create us to be this way but we have turned away from Him and His wisdom, particularly in the past fifty years or so. What will happen to our world if we don’t repent? The end of the age of grace is closer than anyone knows, except for God of course. When that time is up, the church will be taken to Heaven and the Tribulation will begin.

For a while, there will be relative peace and things won’t look too bad. But when the first 1260 days or 3 1/2 years is done, then the desecration of the Temple (which will be rebuilt) will happen and the last 3 1/2 years will be hell on Earth. Some people don’t believe that the church will be taken first, but according to scripture the church isn’t mentioned after chapter four in Revelation. Which likely means that the church is not going to have to undergo God’s wrath.

If you have ever considered giving your life and heart to Jesus, I am suggesting that you get serious about it today. We are not guaranteed tomorrow and life is so short, particularly since we are living in the last days of the Last Days. Seek Him out while there is time to do it.

We don’t have gods, just One God


Some people think that Christians worship three gods. But..if you look at the passage where Jesus got baptized, He is there (of course), the voice of God says that “this is my Son” and the Holy Spirit comes to Him in bodily form of a dove.

The Holy Trinity in one place at the same time, God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit, not three gods but One God in three forms and all of them just as much God as the other! Our Creator isn’t limited to one form nor is He limited in any way that we can understand.

Yet, we try to put limits on Him and believe that He has emotions and the same sort of limitations which we have. We who are His Creation, attempt to make the Creator in our image and in our limited abilities, so that we can understand Him and believe in Him. Do you understand that God is bigger than we can imagine! He created this universe, not just the little ball of mud that we live on.

There are no “gods” in religions on the Earth, those entities who caused men to dream of things and see a form which looked like an angel, they are devils and demons and their leader is Satan! He is the one who brought man to the tree which God told him not to eat of, even so God knew that this would happen as well. Jesus is the “seed of the woman” spoken of in Genesis, the One Who is the Living Word and the Son of God!

The time is coming and will come soon, when many will see the end of the age and the church will be taken from this world. At this time, a man will come into power who is very persuasive in his speech and he will be given more power than any man on Earth has ever held. This is spoken of in Revelation in the Bible and it is not my prediction, but prophecy from God.

PromisesfromGodsWordMake sure of your salvation, seek out Jesus the Christ and salvation through Him, don’t put it off thinking that you have plenty of time. Many who thought this in the storms which have come to America recently thought they had time as well. We have some storms which are coming still and they are worse in magnitude than anything that nature can create from wind and sea.

Our lives, with all of the stuff which we put so much of our life and our energy into, are pitifully short on this Earth, particularly in reference to eternity which awaits us. Seek out God and His Son for your salvation because you do not know when your last day may be. We are not given a set number of years to live. No one knows that they will be alive, even in the morning after tonight’s sleep. Please make sure before the time of testing comes on this Earth because it will affect the whole of the population not just a few million but everyone who is alive at the time!

Living on borrowed time


Life is given to each of us to live in a way that seems right in our own lives, at least that is what we think anyway. God places each of us here so that we can fulfill part of His plan for our lives. The problem being that we have to find out which part and how to do it. Sometimes we don’t come to know Him early enough in our lives, but I imagine that is part of His plan too. Then there are times when we push Him away or we don’t agree with Him on our part and how it is to be done.

We seem to act as if we are the ones being inconvenienced by God’s plan when it is His plan which is being placed on a back burner so to speak. Although, God can work around our stubbornness too, it just may take a bit longer but His purpose will be done by and by. Why did I pick this topic or subject to write about today? Because a wonderful songwriter died today. Don Williams.

I am not going to get off topic and spout how wonderful his songs were or what a melodious voice he had, because if you have ever heard him sing you already know it. It’s just that our world is near the end of the age and many of those who influenced my life are already gone on before me. I makes me kinda nostalgic a bit for the days of youth when we all thought we had as much time as we would ever need.

The problem with that thinking is that each of us soon finds out that our time is getting shorter almost on a daily basis. The older we get, instead of slowing down so we can enjoy it, time seems to speed up and get faster as we age. It also seems to be happening to our world too. Most of the prophecies concerning the time prior to the Tribulation have already come to pass. All of the “little details” like the weather going crazy and other nonsense which is supposed to be happening around us, you see and hear that on the news every day.

I don’t mean that we should jump up and down in the street shouting “The end is near!!”, “Repent while you can!”, but honestly the world will soon find out that every word and every punctuation mark in God’s Word will be fulfilled whether you or many millions of others believe in it or in Him! The problem today is that the world and those in it don’t want to hear how God’s Word is coming true before their eyes if they would just recognize it, but even when Jesus was standing in front of them the religious leaders didn’t recognize their Messiah.

If you feel that you need Jesus, please seek Him out soon and learn as much as you can about Him. Give your life to Him so you won’t be left to endure the horror which is coming.john317

Superficial belief


In today’s world it seems to be hard to actually have a belief in Jesus that is deeper than “skin deep”. Why is that? Mainly, it is because of fear I think. Because laws have been passed which condemn the mention of His name in some circles. Because it is not politically correct to be an openly Christian person in any public area or arena.

Today, it seems that our Christian beliefs are not correct enough to be proclaimed in any public arena outside of our churches. We are supposed to keep them to ourselves, according to the law but according the command of our Lord we are NOT supposed to keep this good news to ourselves.

The truth of the CrossWe have not been saved through Jesus’ sacrifice to keep that salvation to ourselves! While it is true that our view on salvation, sin, and eternity are views which aren’t held by much of the world today, God loves them regardless and He wants them to come to know Jesus for their salvation. It is true that, in the view of the world, we are narrow-minded and hypocritical in our lives it must be realized that only one Person was ever able to live a perfect, sinless life!

Yes, we falter and fail in many ways on a daily basis but so does everyone else in this world full of religions! There is no person on Earth which can keep all of the laws and demands of their religion perfectly every hour of every day! Christians included!

In order to be a practicing and faithful Christian our faith and our knowledge of Jesus is not supposed to be superficial! It is supposed to be the core of our being and at the heart of everything that we do in life whether it is in business or our daily living. I know that there are questions about this, so I will try to address them to the best of my ability.

How can I take Jesus with me in my business or professional life?

This one isn’t as hard as it seems. When you get up in the morning, thank God for your life and the ability to live it one more day. Ask Him to walk with you during the day and live your day in the knowledge that He is there. Be in a thankful mood for all of the things which happen during your day, good or bad. Don’t push Him away or attend a meeting or a hearing or whatever you do without Him. I don’t mean to bring Scripture into every meeting or encounter, but keep your mind as focused on God throughout the day as you can. With a bit of practice, it can be done.

What should I do when I say or do something that I know is sinful in His eyes?

Just ask forgiveness and move on with your day. Don’t beat yourself over the head about it. If your heart belongs to Him already, then your sins are forgiven, so act like it. But…don’t act as if you can walk on water because you can’t! Realize that your life is your witness for Jesus whether you say anything about Him to anyone or not.

Is it possible to lead someone to Jesus without preaching to them?

Of course. Let them see you praying over your food at lunchtime. If they ask about your faith, tell them what Jesus did for you and how He strengthens you each day. Show them in a Bible, if one is available, where He says that “all are welcome”. Here is a quote from the Bible to remember:

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28

Living a life with Jesus present in it is not a hard thing, but like most disciplines in life it has to be practiced, daily. It is not a once-a-week refill of His Spirit but a daily practice of knowing that He is with you and thanking Him for His grace and His forgiveness too. At first living like He is walking with you every step of the way isn’t easy, but with practice it gets easier. Seek Him in the morning, walk through your day in a prayerful and thankful mind and then thank Him for sustaining you throughout the day. This is planting Him deep within your soul and not living a superficial and unfulfilling Christian life!

Live your walk on purpose for Him!

 

Do you believe?


There are many reasons today for belief in Jesus and yet there are many who do not believe in Him. How is this possible? Because, so many wish to choose their own truth, their own version of “Jesus”, their own version of “God” even. Do people do this? Absolutely!

You hear it in the news and on other websites where people express their beliefs like, “Truth is relative”, “My truth is different from yours”, etc.

Truth is NOT relative! The Truth of God’s Word is absolute which is what frightens people, because they don’t know what to do with it or how to live by it! In the book by A.W. Tozer The Crucified Life, Mr. Tozer tells us that “The Christian should not have a secular mind at all. If you are a Christian, you should “seek the things which are above”–there should beWomanbytheWell no worldly mind in you at all.”

Some people might ask, “Then how am I to pursue a career or do my housework or run my business?” Do all of these earthly things as sacrificial offerings to God, just as you give your life to Him and you give in tithes. Like the widow who gave two mites into the Temple offering, our daily work and our lives should be given to God as a sacrifice to Him daily.

A.W. Tozer died in 1963 yet much of the writings by him and others who knew him still apply to our churches today. Many of his books which were written nearly a decade before his death sound as if they are speaking directly to our generation. Just as the Bible speaks to us through prophecy in Daniel and the book of Revelation, his book speaks of the church leaving its first love.

Is belief so hard to accomplish in our time? I mean, it is or seems to be politically incorrect to be a Christian these days since all of our views are based upon the Bible. If you haven’t noticed this then you haven’t been watching much news today, although I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t. There isn’t much good news on TV or the Internet these days.

That is why we must hold onto our beliefs as Christians. Study God’s Word and pray that you will not be deceived in the coming trials or hopefully you will be taken up when Jesus comes for the church one day. Remember, there are very few prophecies which need to happen before His call to the church to “come up here”. Make sure that you know where your heart is and whether you have given it to Jesus. If there is any doubt, be in prayer and ask Him to come into your life and change you from the inside out!

He came so that the debt for all would be paid, all that we have to do to receive eternal life is to believe in Jesus and ask for forgiveness, repenting of our old ways and turning toward Him, to follow His lead in our lives! A time of testing and tribulation is coming upon the world and if you haven’t given your life to Jesus, you will be tested through it. You can be saved during this time, but it will be harder to make that decision and stick to it through the persecution and hunger. Seek Him out while there is time to do so, please.

 

Are the -ism’s the real problem?


genetic-variationWe have so many of these today. Consider this, we have communism, Islamism, racism, nationalism and many other -ism’s which are part of the names of religions besides Islam. The minority’s which are on television and all of the media outlets today are the loudest and the most virulent and violent which is why they have everyone’s attention.

I am not speaking of a “racial minority”, just the few percent who are loudly proclaiming their rights and that their voice be heard. Their voice is on all of the social media “channels” so to speak which makes their demands and their voice louder than it would’ve been if they were only on news programs.

But…truly, are these the real problem or is this just a symptom of a larger problem which has been building over the decades?

Racism has been swept under the collective rug of our consciousness and if not forgotten then they haven’t been out in the air for a while. At least not until the past decade or so.

I suppose it has been simmering a bit here and there because there have been flare-ups of violence from time to time, but these days those flare-ups are threatening to go widespread. We, as a nation of Christians, need to do something even if it is “only prayer”!! God knows what is happening and it was foretold in scripture that near the time of tribulation this would be happening. The real problem is that it is going to get worse before it gets better. Much worse.

We need desperately to draw near to our Lord…NOW! Stop posting about it and talking about it and DO IT! Because if we don’t and if we don’t tell others that it is needed, our towns and cities will become powder kegs which will explode and become wild fires! God loves each of us and even if we can’t come together to worship Him without looking at the name of the church or the color of our skin, then we desperately need to examine our faith in the One Who died for us.

Make sure of your salvation in Jesus before He comes back. Before the times truly do get bad in the world, because when He comes and those who are taken up are gone, the violence of today will look tame in comparison to what will come afterward. If you truly believe the Bible is the Word of God…then believe that He cannot lie.