Tag: Messiah

You are never alone


Our lives are very busy today and many people get down and depressed, especially during the winter months. What can help them? Fortunately, it is not a “what” but a Who that can be a help for you and a Comforter too. Jesus is always near and is always ready to help in whatever way is needed.

Although many people discount Him because the help that is provided is not monetary in nature. He doesn’t provide the means to buy whatever you want, but He does provide comfort where it is needed, salvation when it is asked for, security regarding your eternal destination, a shoulder to lean on and the strength to get you through any situation that you might find yourself in.

He is the Creator, the Mighty Counselor, our Everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace. What more could you want or need from anyone or anything here on Earth? Nobody on Earth could supply your need the way that God can, since He owns it all anyway. Do you depend on Him? Do you think that you can supply or in some way get everything that you want or need?

If you already have the money and a great job, maybe you can do it all on your own without anyone’s help but what can you do if you have a job that pays by the hour, or your house is about to be repossessed, or your car may be if you can’t pay a payment, then what will you do? I am not knocking hourly workers, there are more of them than there are salaried workers, but the point is that much of our livelihood is needed just to live. Buying food and paying bills are the main things that our money is being used for, but God never leaves you alone.

Granted, He doesn’t drop money from Heaven to pay your bills but He is always near to comfort you and bless you in ways that nobody else can! You are blessed to be alive and you have your family and if you have a job, then it is a blessing too. God provides for us far more than we can provide for ourselves, yet many people take all of His provisions for granted. Many people even think that they have the things that they do because of something that they did. You wouldn’t be doing your job or earning your salary or wages if God had not given you the ability and the education to do whatever you do!

God can provide all that you need, He will not provide your wants if they don’t line up with His wants and will for your life. Giving your tithe to the church will not automatically put seven or ten times that amount in your bank account! Giving money to some preacher on television won’t bring back a lost loved one or cure cancer unless it is in God’s plan and will for it to happen in the first place!

God will use your talents and your ability to glorify Himself and to bring others to Himself through your testimony and your life and He will bless you with whatever He deems necessary to accomplish that.

Realizing exactly where your blessings come from and Who provides them is something that we all should be doing. Acknowledge God’s provision and His grace to each of us that we benefit from each day, because if it weren’t for His blessings each day we would be in more dire need than we are now.

Salvation, what is it?


“Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” 1 John 5:1

What is salvation? I will tell you that it is not a creed. You might say, “Well, I believe in the plan of salvation.” You can believe the plan of salvation and go straight to hell. You’re not saved by the plan of salvation, you’re saved by the man of salvation, the person Who purchased your salvation with His blood.

Salvation is not a creed. It’s not a code. You say, “Well, I believe if you live right you’ll go to heaven.” If you could be saved by living right, then Calvary was a blunder and a colossal mistake! It’s not a cause or your church. You say, “I’m a member of a good, fundamental, Bible believing church.” It’s not any of these things. It’s Christ Jesus, the Holy One of God, our Savior and Redeemer, our Creator and Shepherd, our Protector and our Lord and King! Belief in Him, and giving your heart and life, including your money, your family, your job and your home to Him is the only way to Heaven.

I don’t mean , like the rich young ruler, that you have to sell everything to be saved, but you do have to at least acknowledge that your blessings came from Him and that you thank Him for them. Jesus did not mean that he would be saved because he sold all that he had, but that he had to turn his heart toward the Savior and turn his back on the things of this world. But, he couldn’t let go of his “stuff”, so he walked away sadly because the things of this world had such a hold on him that even when the Messiah asked him to give them up, he couldn’t.

Salvation is not believing in something, it is receiving Someone. The true gospel is one that centers in Jesus Christ. If you won’t put Christ at the center of your life and put everything and everyone in your life and family under Him, then what good are you to Jesus? We have been bought with the precious blood of Christ, our salvation was purchased by Him through suffering on the cross and giving His life as a ransom for all!

What have you given up for Jesus today? Did you decide not to eat that candy bar or maybe put down those cigarettes because your body, is the Temple of the Holy Spirit if you have accepted Jesus, and should be treated as a Holy Temple. It shouldn’t smell like the joint down the road, nor should it have garbage in it because that is what you want to eat! Change your ways, your eating habits so that it will be good for your body, your health so that you can be more useful to Jesus!
God loves us, and He created us to be the Temple not made with hands for the

Spirit to dwell in. What right do you have to mess up the living area of the Spirit of God? Would you smoke and leave garbage inside your church along with magazines and other things which you wouldn’t want anyone to know about, especially Jesus? He already knows what you are doing anyway, so why not admit it and allow Him to change you! Then, treat your body the same way. If Jesus is the Lord of your life and you worship Him with your body, mind, soul and your strength then show it…act like it!

The love of God is expressed through Jesus and the Holy Spirit and it is the true manifestation of God and we, as Christians, need to learn to notice it and accept it. Allow God to come into your heart and your life in a way that you have never experienced before. Many Christians have not even allowed Him to come deeply into their lives, every part of their lives, and that is what He wants of us. Because if He isn’t part of your life at home, at school, at work and at church then you may believe in Jesus but you may not have asked Him to come to live in your heart!

There are many people who can do a great job of acting like a Christian all the way to the pulpit even, but acting like one and being one is totally different. We can go through the motions and say all of the right things, but when it comes down to what or rather Who is in your heart, it is still you and not Jesus. Many people have died in this condition thinking that they were saved, when they had just been playing the role of “looking like a Christian”! Examine your own heart, ask God to examine it and convict you of anything that you may not be doing or of the fact that you have left Him out. Because, when your life is over there are no second chances to make it right.

Think about it.

Patience and time


What do we need to do each day that requires all of our time? Very little actually. Nothing in your life should take up that much time during your day. So, what should we do about our time and cultivating patience?

practicethepause Prayer does wonders for your life, your doubt, your anger and hurt feelings, and your life. Prayer relieves stress and anxiety and the time that you take to pause during the day can yield time to think in a world that is so full of information.

Can you do this during your day? Of course you can, taking a few minutes to speak with God about what you need is no more intrusive than Tweeting or posting on Facebook and the results of your prayers are much more rewarding. Pausing occasionally can yield an awful lot of time, even when those pauses are only for a minute or two at a time. A pause during your day, during your drive to work or back home is more than enough for you to speak to God. The time that you have is given to you by God, the job that you have was given to you by God, your family that you love is a gift from God so when you do pray, thank Him for everything that you have.

The timing of God is perfect because He knows when you were born, who you would marry and He knew when and how many children that He would give you, and He also knows when  your last breath will be drawn. Your life is in His hand and where you will spend eternity is decided so all that you have to do is to make up your mind to follow Him and believe that He did come and die for you and your sins just as He died for my and your sins.

The only thing that you have to do is to believe that the work that Jesus did was enough. There is nothing that you can add to His death and resurrection that will help get you a better spot in eternity. The only thing that we have to do to receive our salvation is to believe Jesus’ sacrifice was enough and that He did it because He loves you. Believing “in” Jesus or God is not what is required because Satan believes “in” them because he knows Who they are, but he doesn’t have the ability to humble himself to them in submission to serve them. We can and should because it is necessary if you want to have a joyful eternity.

Your life doesn’t stop when you stop breathing as some people suppose. Your next breath will be taken in Heaven but before that you will stand for your life to be judged by God. If you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, then your life and your judgement is covered by the blood of Jesus and His righteousness. If you did not accept Him, then your eternity will not be enjoyable. The choice is yours now, so choose how you want to spend it.

Time, do you have enough?


It seems that when we wake up in the morning, the day just seems to be on meth (or so I’m told). When your feet hit the floor, the minutes just seem to fly by you without stopping. There never seems to be enough time to finish all of the tasks and errands for one day before another starts! I have also noticed that once the number of your birthdays gets past that all-important “21” marker, it seems that someone puts grease on the “line” and time and dates just slip by faster and faster from that point on.

Is it possible for us to take a step back and look at things without getting run over in the process? Actually, no you can’t. When you are born, your life has a certain number of days and years allotted to it by God and just like a pot when it is tipped to a certain point, that time just spills over and pours out faster and faster. As the numbers get larger, your time seems to go faster, at times, than at others.

When you were small, waiting for your birthday to come around took a whole year, but it seemed to take two or three. The same thing happened at Christmas, the time between did not change but it seemed to get longer and longer, until you got older and realized that Santa wasn’t real, he was just the “spirit” of Christmas.

So, do we have enough time? As Christians, yes we have eternity awaiting so we have time. We may not have enough time to tell all of our friends about Jesus though. Many friends don’t want to hear or they have already heard and really don’t want to hear it again. Some think that a decision that they made many years ago, even though it didn’t make a real change in their lives, is enough. The only person that knows for sure is God. But, I still want to tell them and I don’t know if I have enough time!

God will make the time, in His time. He will bring them about to Him, in His time and in His way. The only thing that I can do is present the good news of Jesus here and then hand it over to God and let Him take it from there.

God loves each one of us enough that He sent Jesus to die on the cross as a substitute for us, all of us. That sacrifice of His Son’s blood opened the way for each of us to come to the Father through the covering of His righteousness and ask forgiveness for our sins and our decisions, good or bad. Once we have come to the place where we know that we need Jesus, the rest is simple…ask Him to come into our heart and forgive us for waiting so long so that we can be made whole through Him. That’s it! We can’t add one drop to it at all and what we do add to it, can only be done through Jesus and by Him and His glory.

Give Jesus a chance in your everyday life from your rising up in the morning to going to sleep at night. Your day won’t slow down any, but you will be able to get more done and it will be done for Him and through Him as well which will make it much more worthwhile too.

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!

 

True lies, really?


How can we believe the things that are being taught today? Unproven theories are accepted as truth, lies are taught as if they are from God. What are we supposed to believe anymore? Can we believe anything or anyone today or from the past? I don’t know about believing just anyone, but the One that you can count on and believe in is Jesus the Christ!

Many people seem to think that He lied about Who He was and nearly everything that He said, but He did not. All of the miracles were seen by more than one person, sometimes more than fifty or one hundred so they were verified according to Jewish law. His disciples saw Him taken up into the clouds and angels told them that He would return in like manner, so that proved His claim as being the Son of God and the Messiah. I know that many of these take faith in God and in His Word to truly believe, but many of the things in the Torah are also historical fact and our Old Testament contains much of the Torah if not all of it. Jesus quoted many things from it during His ministry.

The theories being taught today as facts are still just theories because they can’t be duplicated or verified by transition forms from say a fish to a reptile or an actual fossil of a “missing link” between man and ape. Most of the fossils that have been found were small pieces of a jaw or a leg or part of a vertebrae, the genetic makeup of the animal that it belonged to can’t be identified, so it is not proven to be one or the other. Genetic markers don’t survive fossilization just as cell structures and blood don’t. Yes, there are rumors of blood vessels being found in the leg of a dinosaur, with blood in it no less, but it was never widely reported. Many even disregarded it as a quirk or an accident, nothing more.

But, what if the account of creation is true like the rest of the Word of God? If there really was a world-wide flood and the world is only about ten thousand or so years old then blood could survive in a leg bone. Dinosaurs and man existed at the same time on this earth. Would believing in the Word of the Creator be such a bad thing? I think I would rather believe in Him and His Word than in much of the history and science that is taught in our schools today as fact! I would rather stand before Him and say that I did believe in Him and His Son rather than having the audacity to say that He doesn’t exist! I really don’t think even the most devout atheist will be able to stand before God and tell Him that they don’t believe in Him!

Consider that before you jump to a conclusion about Him that’s based purely on your own thoughts and beliefs or lack of belief. Just as saying that gravity is not real doesn’t take it away, not believing in God doesn’t remove Him from His throne either.

Have you walked away?


I have worked with and talked to many people who have told me that they walked away from a church because of something. Many people won’t tell what the “something” was that cause the problem, but I doubt that it was God Himself. After my divorce years ago, I heard a sermon that was essentially attacking people who were in my place and it hurt. I thought that in church and by those who attend church, we were supposed to be supported and prayed for when we  experienced pain like that which comes in a divorce. I was proven wrong, so I did not go back for a long time.

This is how churches and congregations as well as individuals become broken and torn or pulled apart. There are hurt feelings and anger and later frustration, then the anger becomes deep and turns into something which won’t go away easily and it hinders our relationship with God.

Many people think that they will be able to worship Him just fine from home or at work or wherever they may be on Sunday morning and it is true that you can do this but what usually happens? We get started cooking breakfast and watching the morning show on Sunday morning, then the phone rings and we go to the mall. What happened?  Life, family, television, shopping, fishing, hunting, kids can all get in the way of learning about your Savior.

There are many excuses that get used when people don’t want to come to church or maybe get back into church. If there ever was a part of your life that was involved in church then you have heard the message of Christ‘s sacrifice for your salvation. Have you accepted it into your life and your heart?

If you did accept Him as your Savior and then something or someone at your home church caused you to leave then there needs to be some forgiveness. It is something that we, as humans have a hard time doing but with Jesus in your life it is possible. Following His example we are supposed to be forgiving to those who have wronged us, no matter what the slight is or was.

We can’t do it with our own strength, but through Him we can. Just as Jesus told Peter, we are supposed to forgive seven times seventy or four hundred and ninety times. It is what our Lord commanded us to do, and yet we are not able to do it on our own.

We have to decide to revive our relationship with Jesus, regardless of the hurt we received from a church-member or a pastor in time past. Even if the one who may have hurt your feelings is a family member, your relationship with Jesus is more important than this. If you have left the church or your relationship with Jesus by not attending church you are only hurting yourself.

When we are in a right relationship with Jesus and following Him daily, we should celebrate and worship with other saints at a church. Regardless of the denomination, worship is the key because of the sacrifice of our Lord and because He is worthy of our praise!

The Living Word, our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ and the Messiah came to be the way that we have to get into heaven, all that we need to do is to ask Him into our hearts or re-establish the relationship that has been on hold. If you have put Jesus on hold, He is still waiting. He never hung up, He has never nor will He leave you.

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!

Did you know this about Jesus?


1. He is the first-born son of God; 2. He fulfilled over 300 prophecies about the Messiah during His lifetime on earth; 3.Pagan wise men (astronomers/astrologers) recognized Him when His own people did not; 4. He is alive today at the right hand of God; 5. He will judge the nations when He returns to rule on the throne of David.

These are just a few of the facts about Jesus and there are many more. The big question is this: Do you know Him? I am not asking if you are a “fan” of Jesus because churches are full of fans. I am asking do you KNOW Him? In many ways our culture has changed to the point that it would be disgraceful to someone from the generation of WWII. I know a few people from that generation and they can’t believe that our nation has gone so far down the path that we are on. The reason behind our decline in the world and in other areas of life is because we have replaced Jesus and God with something which doesn’t resemble them at all!

God created man to have a daily walk with Him, to fellowship with Him the way that we do today with our friends and family. Although the family is increasingly under fire today because of our “culture”, it is the most important institution that God endorsed from the beginning besides marriage between a man and a woman.

Knowing God is far different than being a fan of Him. I know about or have met many people but I only know superficial knowledge, just the surface. Intimate knowledge is reserved for my family and for Jesus. To have that kind of knowledge of Him, you have to have a daily relationship with Him. I don’t mean to say that I am in constant contact with Him, but I try to speak and allow Him to speak back to me at least once per day. Our lives can be far more than just living, we can be doing His work for Him on a daily basis. This is actually what we were created to do, though many of us never find this out until it is too late.

Some, find out about it and embrace it as their calling in life. Some are called to be ministers and evangelists and they fulfill this calling very well. As long as they keep God in the place that He is supposed to be in, things will work out just fine. On the other hand, if they try to be the one who is being served, they will find that their reward will not be what they expected.

We only get to experience the joy of knowing God when we are doing His work for Him and not for ourselves. Why does it have to be that way? Because that is the way He ordained it to be, just as the farmer reaps his harvest after planting the seed and nurturing it to maturity so our life is to be. If we are to be useful to Him and His kingdom, we must do His will every day.

The Way, the Truth and the Life


The only person that fits that description or has ever fit that description is Jesus the Christ, our Savior and Lord. King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Mighty Counselor, the Prince of Peace, the Living Word of God….all of these names and more have been written about Him and He is all of them but He is also a carpenter, our Creator, the Messiah and the Son of God.

Wow! Can you imagine! He is waiting for you to come to Him and ask Him into your life as Savior and Lord. How awesome is that! He knows you better than you do and has known you since before you or I were born. There is no other who can do what Christ and His Father can do, no matter what has been told or by whom. He is the only One who can save you into an eternity of love and peace.

Our God is truly awesome and He is in control even if the people in our government don’t believe it. I am praying for them and for our country and for Israel. The beginning of the prophecies leading up to the Tribulation has already started to come to pass and it is going to get worse. Read and study the Bible. Pray about what you read and ask God to open your eyes to the Truth. He will answer your prayer.

“But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,…” 1 Timothy 4:1

Listen to God’s Word and what it says about this time in history. Other times have been bad, but nothing like what is going on right now and it will get worse. I am not trying to scare anyone and I am sorry if this frightens you but this time referred to in prophecy is not a time that will be enjoyable. Please come to Christ, He is patiently waiting for you.