You can’t do it yourself!

God made this pretty clear during the exodus from Egypt. He saved the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt and it was His power that got them through the Red Sea. Even when He gave the Ten Commandments to Moses, no person can keep those on their own. We have to have the strength of the Holy Spirit and follow His leading every day in order to be the best that we can be with His help!

The Truth of God came to Earth one day a long time ago. He was born in a livestock pen because there was no other place for them during the census which was going on. We just finished with the season during which much of the world celebrates His birth, but there are many who do not. Actually, Jesus was born during the Feast of Tabernacles so that would’ve been around October. Anyway, He came to pay for ALL of our sins, past, present and future and He did just that!

He gave you the breath and the strength to get up this morning and see the day and the blessings contained in it. It has always been His mercy and grace which has held you in the good times and the not-so-good times which come in each of our lives. Yet many people don’t want to hear that because they don’t believe it. I would like to stop believing in gravity so I could fly, but that won’t happen. Just because I don’t want to believe in it won’t stop it from killing me. Remember, its not the fall that kills you…its the sudden stop when you hit the ground!

No matter what you believe in this life, when it is over you will meet God. It may be a good meeting or it may not be but that is your choice. Your eternal soul hangs in the balance until that day and your destination also hangs in the balance. Make sure of your decision while you have the chance to make one because a car wreck or an airplane crash or even a clot could end your life before you finish reading. If you ignore God’s call on your soul and His touch in your life and your life ends before you make that decision, it is your fault for your destination. God doesn’t send people to hell but He will allow you to go when you won’t accept Jesus as your Savior.

We do not decide to get saved, it is God’s Spirit which touches our heart and our soul. He gives us the faith to believe in Him and His Salvation for us IF we will accept it. Just because you have the faith to believe doesn’t mean that you have to believe, it is still your choice. Don’t put it off. If you have never believed in Him or given your life to Jesus for your salvation, I pray that you will do so because one day soon He will call the church home. When that happens there will be chaos in the world because there will be no bodies to bury only empty cars and homes with clothes and watches and rings on the floor where a Christian was when it happened.

Make sure for your sake that you know where you are going before that happens.

I just want the real thing…

If someone asks you to not tell them about religion or the church, they just want the real thing… what do you say? First, tell them about Jesus and why He came in the first place. How should you tell them? Just tell them about your Savior and His message about forgiveness and love which He came to bring to all of us! This is the story of His purpose and the Good News of salvation!

That is the message that counts. Salvation through belief in Jesus and His atonement for your sins and mine on the cross. It doesn’t have to have doctrine or religion attached to it and it doesn’t have to be all flowery and noble. Like the thief on the cross, believe in Jesus as the Son of God, your Savior, and mine. That is all that is needed. It doesn’t require hours of service in His Name or certain amounts of money or other “works” like teaching or preaching. All of that may happen after you have accepted Him as your Savior but they will be done because you love Him and you know He loves you and died for you.

That is the true nature of knowing and loving your Savior. Just know that He loves you and He came to give you hope of eternity through Him. A child can understand it but many of us as “adults” try to dress it up or add things to our belief which are not needed. We try to make a simple belief in our Savior into a life-long project which we have to help Him bring us to salvation and none of that helps at all!

In fact, it hurts our own belief by adding things which we do or think we need to do in order to have salvation. When all that is necessary is our heartfelt need of Him and our belief in Him for our forgiveness and salvation. Because until we come to that place where we know deep down that we need Jesus…we will not seek Him out as our Savior and Lord.

God provided Him as The Atonement for our sins, but the Holy Spirit has to bring us to the point of knowing that we need Him before we will ever seek Him out. Those who are sinning and have never sought their Savior or heard that they need Him will never go looking for Him. It’s kind of like a man who walks by fountains of clear, cool water every day. Until that man is thirsty enough to notice them and seek one of those fountains for a drink, he will never know how refreshing their water is.

God knew that we needed a Lamb which could take the sins of the world away, but until each of us realizes this and that we need Jesus for our salvation, each of us will walk right by without ever seeking Him to be our Savior. God has placed a Fountain of Living Water for us to drink from and it’s within our grasp, all we have to do is realize that we need Him and ask Him to come in and quench our thirst for salvation and forgiveness.

The Book of Life

What is the Book of Life? I am writing about the Lamb’s Book of Life, written from before the foundation of the world. God has placed each person’s name there who will accept Jesus as their Savior. Because He knows who will and who will not accept Him. The offer of salvation is given to all, but God knows who will accept it and who will not.

God has always known the names of those who will accept Jesus as their Savior. Now, I know that some of those who read this may not believe in something called “predestination”, I don’t either but God still knows which of us will accept Jesus. The big words and doctrines of our denominational associations actually are not written in Heaven. Those are man-made ideas and “laws” of which few are found in Scripture.

IamtheWay Why am I writing this today? Because it is needed! You and I and anyone else who reads this blog need to know that God has always known which person will accept His way of life and who will follow Jesus. None of your ideas or doctrines which are written in the bylaws of your church are written in God’s handwriting! Many of them are based on what we think we have learned from reading His Word, but you don’t find all of them in the Bible.

While it is true that the word “predestined” is in the writings of Paul, the meaning of that is what God said years before Paul ever put it down. In the book of Jeremiah God told him that He knew him before he was born and before he was formed in the womb. He also said that He (God) had ordained him to be a prophet at that time. God determines who will be His prophets or His disciples and He knew us before the Garden was created!

It is the same with the Lamb’s Book of Life! He has known for many thousands of years whose name would be in it and those who would not be in it. Even though Jesus came and paid the penalty for ALL of us to receive salvation and have access to eternity, God and by extension, Jesus already knew which person would accept Him as Savior. Our Creator is in control and He knows your heart and mine before we even realize Who He is.

God wants all of humanity to know Him as God, but many outside of the organized church just don’t want to know Him. They have their own idea of who their god is and it doesn’t fit with the God of the Old or New Testament. I am not speaking of any specific denomination in reference to an “organized church”, but those who do not attend church it seems they refuse to listen or attend a service. You will never know Who God is until you read His Word and feel the conviction of His Spirit in your life to know that you are a sinner according to His holiness.

One lie, one thought, just one is all that it takes to separate us from God but the absolute sin which will keep you from Heaven is not accepting Jesus as your Savior. All of the sins of the world are sins as far as God is concerned, whether you consider them to be significant or not. The ONE sin which condemns you to an eternity in hell is not accepting Jesus as your Savior and repenting from your old ways and follow Him in your life from that point on!