Tag: Salvation

What has been your “test”?


Have you been blessed with a “test” in your life? Many people don’t think of these as tests but as trials. In reality, it is a learning time or a teachable moment, even if the so-called moment lasts longer than you wish or want it to. Think of Job, in the Bible, his teachable “moment” took away everything that he had including his health. So much so that his wife advised him: “His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!“. ( Job 2:9)  What kind of nonsense it that!?

Giving up on life or cursing God…neither option is a good one and could actually make things much worse! God loves each of us far more than we can understand and He is always near us, especially if you are a Christian. Although many who are going through times that are hard, especially now, may not be Christians. So, what can they do? If things seem to be too hard to bear, cry out to God! He is the Great Physician and is able to do above and beyond what we can know or think to ask for!

Jesus died for us so that we can come to the Father at any time and if your heart feels that there is no hope, there really is! Through Jesus’ sacrifice for us, He gave us the access to God directly. We no longer have to go to a priest or a rabbi to know that our prayers are being heard. There is nothing that we can do that will aid our prayers about whatever it might be that is tasking us and trying our faith. God hears what you need, especially when we are seeking Him for His ever-present help and understanding!

We are not to test God with irrational things like jumping from a building or handling snakes or drinking poison. Our faith may save us in some of those situations, but God will allow gravity to have its way. The other so-called “tests” are just against common sense, period!

The point that I am trying to make is that God loves us and will save our souls if we come to Him, seeking Him for our salvation. When we add suicide into the mix of “issues”, God will allow your soul to be saved if you have given your heart to Him prior to this, even though some might argue this point. My actual point is that if you have given your heart to Jesus and truly asked Him into your life, I don’t believe that He will allow you to get so far down that you take your life. During my month of feeling this way, I have thought of suicide but that is as far as it went…just thoughts and nothing more.

I love my wife and son too much to leave them like that and even though I love Jesus more, I don’t believe that He wants me to do something that stupid with my life. If for no other reason than it doesn’t honour Him at all if I kill myself! Writing this out seems to be helping in many ways because it is almost like talking to a therapist without the bill. Besides, they have no interest in you anyway. All that they want is their fee. I may be wrong about that, but consider that they don’t really know you at all, you are just a patient to them.

Anyway, God created you and knows you far more intimately than anyone. He knew that this was coming and why. He also knows when it will end and will enable you to get through it, and you will by depending upon Him, trusting Him and having faith in His provisions for you.

 

Blue, down or depressed..which is it?


When you feel down, you don’t want to do anything. When you feel blue, you just don’t feel right. Depression makes you feel this way too, but in a more concrete way, by that I mean in a way that is not easily gotten over. Which of course is another thing that many people will tell you with all of the insensitivity that this contains, “Get over it!”.

When you feel like you are blue or you are just having a bad day, nothing seems to go right.
Depression and feeling depressed gives you a bad day which lasts much longer, sometimes, than you would care for it to.

Feeling blue or down in the dumps can be fixed by a lively song or a cheerful child or even a happy book or movie. The “blues” go away and you are yourself again. Depression is something which cannot be fixed by a happy song or any of the things which help a “blue” day. As a matter of fact, some of these so-called fixes can make the depression worse…can make it even deeper than it was.

Feeling sorry for yourself is another form of the “blues”, but it is nothing in comparison to depression at all. It’s like comparing a fire-cracker to an atomic bomb, they both go “BOOM”, but with far greater intensity and destruction in the atomic bomb’s case.

It is the same with depression, feeling blue is easily fixed…while depression is like an ongoing “bad day”. Drugs can help, but chemicals only go as far as they can go. Therapy can help, but confession to others only gives you a support group to spread the pain around with.

Time, prayer, and faith in God’s healing power is the only real cure for depression. Although, Satan will try to derail that with more intense feelings of despair and depression. The answer….I don’t have it. It is found in God’s Word, in faith and in fellowship with God’s people. Fellowship and the caring love demonstrated by them toward you, as a child of God, is the only REAL cure but it still takes time. It is not a quick fix, like we expect in our society today.

It is not easy and coming to the church is hard to do especially when you are depressed, because there will always be someone who thinks that you are just feeling sorry for yourself, when that is far from the truth. Whether they voice their opinion or not doesn’t matter, the look that you may get are just as cutting…just as hurtful.

You can fake “getting better”, but inside depression doesn’t go away like “feeling blue or down”. It is more similar to an alcoholic. Some think that it is a personal demon to be conquered, but it is one that truly doesn’t go away entirely. An alcoholic may be sober for years, but one drink can send them back and depression is like that. You might be OK for a while, but one trigger, one bad day can send you right back into the well of depression again.

Prayer and fellowship is the only real helpful fix for your state of mind. Intercessory prayer from friends is more helpful than anyone can know, so I am asking for this from all of you, and I Thank you in advance for your prayers.

It really doesn’t matter


In our world…in our culture today, your faith in something, your belief in something or some One really doesn’t matter much. Most people who you meet don’t care what you think and especially what you believe in.

It is a cynical way of looking at life in general and especially regarding your personal salvation, but it is true! Some don’t believe that we have an existence beyond this life at all. Some people think that we do and that it matters what you believe and Who you believe in. So what is it that separates us on religious issues as well as cultural issues?

Mainly our beliefs. Our God or our unbelief in one is what truly separates us from each other as well as our cultures. We all have different cultures that we have grown up in with their own beliefs and customs and traditions. Those have separated us for many years and in many ways, because of that we have a hard time understanding each other’s culture or the belief systems that each of us follows. But, that doesn’t mean that we can’t understand each other…if we will suspend our cultural prejudices and attempt to find common ground.

Many times, the beliefs that we have built up over time are truly what separates us. Sometimes we blame it on our skin color or the texture of our hair, but in reality it is our cultures which divide us. The divisions fall along lines which have built up over centuries and then get blamed on small details, which don’t really separate us at all. The norms which we grow up with, whether they are religious or not, are the lines which come between many countries today.

We tend to look at skin color more often than we should, but in reality it actually boils down to culture, which is something that can’t be changed because if you did then you would be in a different culture altogether one which is different. Those differences are what defines each of us in the world that we live in, whether it is in Israel or Argentina or Turkey or even Siberia. The culture that is there in each of those places, along with the languages, separates us into respective people, even though we are still part of the human race.

Does it matter whether you came from Argentina or Siberia? No, if you were taken as an orphan and raised in South Chicago or even Brooklyn, then your racial features would be there but you would develop the mannerisms of the area where you grow up. We take on the mantle of the culture in which we are brought up, no matter where we may come from originally. The point that I am trying to make is that our differences are not genetic nor are our appetites. We are the product of nurturing in the culture where we develop as children, and we carry that with us through our lives.

Just as God commanded the Israelites not to mingle with the cultures in the land where He was leading them to, we must stay separate too. This is what causes separation and racism….separateness in culture, religion, art, music! The point of this post is not to emphasize our differences but our similarities! Yes, we are different in all of these areas, but we are, at the most basic cellular level, the same. Beliefs, religions, and culture all conspire to change us, to mold us into the individuals that we are…that we can be.

Do you believe in God? So do the demons and Satan, and they tremble at His presence. God is not a punisher of those who don’t do His will, He is the Creator and nurturing Spirit behind all that is good in this world. All that we should do is to seek Him, to acknowledge Him as Who He is, to get to know Him and to love Him. Regardless of the culture that you were brought up in or your own beliefs, seek out the knowledge of Jesus and God. Learn from them and learn why you are loved by them. Then the culture and racial differences will not be so apparent and glaring, but they will be lower than your love for God and when you put Him first in your life, everything else falls into place as it should.

Reasoning out God’s existence


Is it possible to “reason” out God’s existence? Can we prove beyond a shadow of doubt that He exists so that those who aren’t believers will come to believe? Using the scientific method can we prove that God exists?

The answer to all of the above questions is NO! There is no particle that is God. There are no cells that can be found in the fossil record that belong to Him. You cannot command God to show Himself and prove that He is or that He exists! It is utter foolishness and pride that prompt people to even attempt this, but it is an argument that has been used for hundreds of years. Some people have had experiences where God did “prove Himself”, but they can’t be repeated and to a scientific mind it wasn’t proof of anything.

There have been cases of people arrogantly challenging God to “strike me dead” if such and such is not done or “strike the one who is causing the problem dead”. In such instances, the one challenging God did indeed die soon after such a statement, but it wasn’t with a bolt of lightning but some unusual natural cause that caused their demise. Just as in the time of the early church, when the couple that sold some land decided to keep some of the profit for themselves but told Peter that they were giving everything that they received for their land. Both the husband and the wife were in agreement in the deception and both died because of it, immediately.

You cannot reason out God’s existence any more than you can prove the existence of love or darkness. Neither one of those can be bottled and shown to anyone, yet we know that they exist. Although, darkness is not real in the sense of it being a state of matter, it is just the absence of light. The point is that God cannot be proved as a person as we are, because He is a Spirit. Yet, He is and always has been. Minds blinded by the world’s thinking and reasoning cannot comprehend subjects which exist outside of time and can only be experienced by faith.

Light can be seen and measured in a number of ways, but darkness is something which cannot be measured except as the absence of light. The more complete that the absence is, the more complete the darkness is, but you cannot touch it or feel it and there is no measurement for it except for a lumen measurement of the lack of light. God’s presence can only be felt by those who believe that He exists and is the Creator, because without faith in Him and the knowledge of His love you cannot comprehend His existence.

Satan is also a being which cannot be proven to exist as are the angels and demons, but they are all mentioned in the Bible as real. Not believing in them or their existence doesn’t remove them from the universe, it just continues the blindness that we have toward them until we either are changed in our hearts or until we have died to this existence and wake up to life on another plane. Standing before God’s throne to be judged for not believing in Jesus’ atonement for your sinful life will bring total clarity but by then it will be forever too late.

“Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and all of these things will be added unto you.” Matthew 6:33  Seek the Lord while He can be found because after this life is over, there are no second chances.

Are you the prodigal son or the one serving at home?


The parable of the prodigal son is a moving one which teaches us about God’s love and His willingness to forgive us no matter what we have done. The word “prodigal” is a word not used much in God’s Word. It’s basic meaning is wasteful, wanton, especially regarding money. It indicates the type of person who wastes their money on things that aren’t worth much, just plain reckless spending.

In Luke chapter fifteen, Jesus is teaching and there were tax collectors and sinners listening. There were also scribes and teachers of the Law in the crowd too. They were judging Jesus by the company that He was keeping: “This man eats with sinners and tax collectors!” It was for them that He told this parable.

Luke 15: 11-32:

11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to[a] one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’[b] 22 But the father said to his servants,[c] ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

25 “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’”

In these passages and in this parable we see the son who essentially has declared his father dead. He wanted what was to come to him even before his father had died. Kind of sounds like our society today, “I want it NOW!” Not many days pass before he takes off into the world (the far country) where he spent his inheritance on women and drink and parties. While doing this, he had many “friends”.  Running away from God’s authority to do whatever we wish to do, like many of us have done or maybe are doing now?

But when the money ran out and it was gone, those “friends” disappeared and a famine came to the land where he was. He had no money left and couldn’t afford to eat and began to feel in want, so he hired himself to a citizen there in order to be able to survive. He was sent into the field to feed pigs, which to a Jew is at the very bottom of the barrel. Pigs are not even given a name in the Hebrew language, they are just called “the other thing or animal”.

At this point he was so hungry, that even the pods that he was feeding the pigs with were looking very appetizing  because no one gave him anything to eat. When he came to his senses, he decided that he would go home and ask his father if he could just be a servant, because even his father’s servants had enough to eat. His father was looking, hoping that his son would come home and when he saw him, he ran to greet him.

In the Middle East, this was a very undignified way for a father to act because a man over thirty years of age doesn’t “run” anywhere. This one did. He listened to his son’s repentance and the question of being a slave or a servant and said “Nonsense, bring a robe and put shoes on his feet and a ring on his finger”. His father did not take him back as a servant, he was fully restored to his previous place. Of course the older brother was offended and the sibling rivalry came roaring back, as you can read in the story.

The point of the story is this, God will forgive you regardless of the insult or the sin, no matter how bad you may think that you have been. God’s grace covers every sin, no matter the size. He loves us with a love that we can’t comprehend, all that we have to do is repent and ask Him to forgive us. Turn away from what you were doing, and follow Jesus from that point on. Even if you only have a few days or hours to live, God will take you just as you are.

God has not forgotten you!


The question is truly yours, not God’s. Are you interested in Him? He cares because you are alive, but do you care about what He wants in your life?GodisInterestedinYou Have you ever been close to God in your life and then walked away? Many people have done this and then wonder what happened to their relationship with God. Facebook and Twitter are some wonderful social networking sites to keep in touch with family and friends who may be scattered all over the country and I am thankful for my friends there. Have you ever considered that going to church on Sunday morning is a way to re-connect with God if you don’t feel particularly close to Him right now? It doesn’t matter if some of the people at the church don’t like you or if you think that they are hypocrites, God never stopped loving you and He will meet you wherever you wish.

But, He would like for you to come to His house, where the church meets. The church is not a building or a tabernacle or a shrine, it is the people who gather together to worship God in the same spirit that the early church did. You can have a personal meeting with God and Jesus regardless of who may be there or what they think about you. Who cares what they think, it is Jesus that you came to worship and it is Him and the Father that you need in your life!

The trouble with all of the divisions in our church congregations is that we tend to split over things which shouldn’t be issues at all. At least to believers, IMO. We have been placed in the places where we are for a purpose and until we accomplish that purpose, there will always be a part of our lives which feels uneasy and empty. You might ask, “How can I find the purpose for my life?”. I know that the answer to this question is going to upset some, but your purpose in life can be found in the Bible.

God’s Kingdom is going to manifest itself in this world soon. Everyone will see it and it will split the world in ways that nobody ever considered. The prophecies in the book of Revelation will come to pass whether we like it or not. It will not be a good time to be a believer but it won’t be a time when those who follow the side that has food and a place to stay will enjoy either. Oh, they will for a short time, but those who refuse to give their lives to Jesus and face persecution because of it will be the victors in the end.

How can you or I know this? Because it is in God’s Word! God cannot lie and the prophecies contained in it have all come true up to the point of the eventual “ruler” of the world being revealed and the other seals being broken. Is God interested in you? Yes, He knows the number of hairs on your head and what you are doing during every minute of the day. He knows this about every person on Earth, not just Christians. Because He could be calling you to be His child, His disciple so that you can have a purpose in His Kingdom now and in the future.

Don’t you realize that God is always near you, whether you feel that closeness or not. He is there. He shows His love to us, all of us, because of the life that you have. We have this planet to live on, we have air to breathe and a place to call home. Many of us have families and jobs, those are blessings from God. We are loved by the Creator of everything, isn’t that awesome!! He created the entire universe, worlds and galaxies that we can’t see with our natural eyes and that are far bigger and so vast that the limits of it we can’t comprehend, yet He pays attention to every bird that falls to the ground on Earth. If He cares that much about them, don’t you think that He cares much more about each of us that are created in His Image?

If you are loved that much by the Creator and you are, then don’t you think that you should return His love by giving your life to Him? Think about it.

Independence or dependence, it’s your choice


We celebrate Independence Day tomorrow in America and for us it is usually a big day, but I wonder what is happening elsewhere? I know, watch the news to find out or get on the ‘net and look it up. But, what else is going on besides that which I can find out from those sources? Have we finally achieved peace all over the world? No. Is it possible that I can go to sleep and not lock my doors? No, not yet. When will lasting peace and living without fear be achieved on our world and in the places where we live? Can we, as our flawed human selves, achieve this by mutual cooperation?

Only in television shows and in Utopian novels about a future like that envisioned by Gene Roddenberry does this come about. Humanity can’t agree on which team to bet on or even which type of coffee that we like or if we could get along with those people who live in another country with a different culture than our own! We live in compartmentalized worlds, some of which are so separate we can’t even trust the people on the next street, let alone those living in a different country!

On top of this, we have forgotten the One Who brought all of this about in the first place. We have pushed Him and the morality that past generations relied upon completely out of our schools, our government and in many cases even our families. We have declared our independence from God!

Consider this….what if He was to take His hand off of our lives and our world entirely? Let nature and all of the processes of weather and earthquakes and other natural phenomena happen without His control and protection! I know that many people would think that He doesn’t care about us anyway so what would be the difference? When it happens, you will know.

That sounds as if I am saying that God will take His hand and His influence off of our world doesn’t it? Not exactly. During the time that is prophesied in the book of Revelation, God will allow Satan free rein to vent his wrath for a time, then the wrath of God will fall on those who still refuse to acknowledge Him. It is during this period that many people will think that God has truly abandoned them, but He has not and will not completely abandon anyone. God’s love still is expressed today toward each of us, whether we exercise our independence from Him or not. If you have decided that your life is better spent while in service to Him as a teacher or preacher or in some other way, then you are dependent upon Him for the words that you have or those that you speak as well as your life and livelihood.

If you have declared in some way that you can live your life without God’s influence and that you will do exactly what you want regardless of His influence, felt in your heart or not, then you are working in the way of the world and Satan’s rebellion as well. You may not worship Satan, you might not claim to be religious at all, but when you are at enmity with God then you are in the same camp as Satan is and in rebellion against everything that God represents.

Life itself is a miracle brought about by God. Whether you believe it or not doesn’t make it any less true. The world around us is special in that it is just as perfect as it could be to support all of the forms of life which exist here. Nowhere else, that we know of, has all of the combinations of gases to make the correct atmosphere or the water which abounds on our Earth. The minerals and salts which are present in all living things here in the correct proportion so that pH and viscosity and all other requirements for life are met and are present here because God made it that way. None of this was a cosmic accident!

Consider this small excerpt from a document at the Institute for Creation Research: “Elementary statistical theory shows that the probability of 200 successive mutations being successful is then (1⁄2) 200 , or one chance out of 10 60 . The number 10 60 , if written out, would be “one” followed by sixty “zeros.” In other words, the chance that a 200-component organism could be formed by mutation and natural selection is less than one chance out of a trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion! Lest anyone think that a 200-part system is unreasonably complex, it should be noted that even a one-celled plant or animal may have millions of molecular “parts.” “

The very idea that a molecule of an amino acid might organize itself, on its own, into a single-celled organism and then proceed to grow ever more complex into all manner of plant and animal life until you have all of the life on planet Earth is patently absurd! Without God, this is impossible and every reasonable scientist knows it they are just too full of pride in their “theory” to admit it to themselves or to anyone else. Life is not and cannot be completely independent from God. Think about it.

Fear….how can we overcome it?


Many people today have fears of all kinds. Some are afraid of flying, some are afraid of enclosed spaces, some are afraid of bugs or snakes or anything which crawls on the ground. These are natural fears, the kind that we learn while growing up and some are just fears which are genetic. Now, that is not to say that there is anything wrong with fear. A little fear can keep you from getting killed in certain situations, fear can give you a bit more speed at times when you really need it (Feet, don’t fail me now!!) 🙂

The point that I came here to make is that fear of things that we, as humans, can’t do anything about is not healthy. Fear of dying for example. Death and dying come to every person on this planet and there are none who can escape it…it is a fact and inevitable so get over it. The manner in which you die is what many people actually fear, such as drowning or having an automobile accident. Nobody wants to experience either of those because we fear the  pain which will likely come as a result.

In the book of Judges, Gideon is getting ready to fight with thirty thousand men and God tells him that he has too many men, let those who are fearful go home, and he lost twenty-two thousand men right off the bat! There was a lot of fear in that group don’ t you think? God’s reason for thinning out the number was not to get rid of those who were afraid, but to show His glory and His ability to fight for Israel. Gideon did not need that many men to fight the Amalekites, and even after the first bunch left he still had over ten thousand and God told him that there were still too many.

God knew that with such a large force, Israel would think that it was their power that had defeated their enemies and He wanted to show them that He would fight for them if they would let Him. To continue the story, God tells Gideon to watch them as they drink from the stream. Those who lapped the water like a dog would be the ones that he would use as his army, so Gideon was left with only three hundred out of ten thousand.

Why am I telling you this story from the Bible? Simply to point out that God can overcome any obstacle, no matter how big it seems to us but only if we let Him do it. He won’t take over your life, you still have a choice to make every day. If you ask Him to come into your day and help you with your everyday problems, He will, but He won’t fix them for you. You have to learn to listen to Him and then use what He has told you to fix them yourself. It is the obedience that we have always had a problem with. Adam couldn’t do it and many others in the course of time had problems with obeying the words and the prophecies given by God and we do too.

You can call it “being stubborn or hard-headed” if you wish, but the point is that humanity is that way and Satan uses it against us. We think that we are doing it, that it is our idea or our solution when the solution has come from Satan if it goes against God’s will for your life. “But, how can I know what God’s will is for my life?” you may ask. The answer to this is easy and hard too. You have to sit down and read a book….the Bible, God’s Word and wisdom for us. Pray about His will for you while you read it and you will find it, He will reveal it to you, but you have to put some effort into it. Reading a few verses here and some over there won’t help and in fact will confuse you even more. Begin at the beginning and read through, then pray about it and read it again. The fear of God will leave and the love of God will show up in your life and in your heart. Learn about Him because He already knows everything about you!

Gloom, despair and depression…why do we have them?


“Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.” Psalm 42:11

The words above were written for us today. Because they speak to the depression and the solitude which Satan uses to take over our life and make it one which is filled with despair and gloom and darkness. Why does he do this? Because he doesn’t want you to tell anyone about Jesus and he knows that if you are “down in the dumps”, you won’t feel like spreading the Good News of Jesus to anyone! If he can stop you from telling one person, he has done his duty. Because, that one that you miss because of your depression just might be the next great evangelist and he doesn’t want that.

If it was your business to do the things that make people miserable, like Satan’s purpose is today, you wouldn’t want some on-fire evangelist out there spreading the Gospel to everyone that he meets! It doesn’t matter to Satan how he accomplishes his goal, if he has to kill thousands to do away with the one that could bring a message of hope and love to even a few people, he will do it! But…God’s plans will always win out. Satan may think he has won, but God knows the outcome and He knows where the next follower of Christ is and what they can do.

Satan hates us as human beings because God loved us more than He loved the angels, of which Satan was a principle cherub, the guardians of God. Not only does he hate humanity because of God’s love for us but because of the special position that God gave to us, the relationship that we can have with God through His Son. So, you see it isn’t personal, he just hates us with such a deep and abiding hatred that no human could ever understand it. Satan will make people think that he will reward them with power and wealth and he might for a time, but the day will come when your “contract” will be up. No amount of money or power will save you from the eternal punishment that will fall on you because you chose to align yourself with the consummate liar and deceiver that is Satan.

Some religions teach that there is no eternal punishment for us because Jesus paid that price and we are all saved through Him. Well, technically that is true but if you have not repented of your sins and asked Jesus into your heart and your life, you don’t have Him as Lord and Savior to keep you from being thrown into the lake of fire with Satan and his followers. Just as if I told you that I have one hundred dollars that I will give you, if you don’t come to my home and claim it then you still don’t have it. The offer of salvation is there, the price has been paid and once you take hold of it then your salvation cannot be un-done, but if you don’t grasp it and repent of your sinful ways and follow Jesus when you ask Him into your heart, then they were just words and nothing more. You can even get baptised in front of a church or in a stream, but without repentance and a commitment to follow Jesus, you just got wet in front of an audience and nothing more.

The Church which was started on the day of Pentecost was not a specific denomination. It wasn’t called the Church of God or the Church of Christ or the Pentecostal church. At the time, the Jews in Israel called them believers of the Way, a sect that they wanted to crush and destroy. Which is why they sent Saul to imprison and beat the believers in this “Way”. The persecution of believers began then and it has not stopped since. It may be subtle here in America, in other countries it is more pronounced and vigorous. Elsewhere, Christians are imprisoned, beaten, and sometimes killed because of their belief in Jesus.

Satan has used this jealousy and animosity against the Church to destroy and persecute it for centuries simply because he wants to undo the plans of God as much as he can. That is why there is so much suffering in the world and so much pain and death. God allows this because He gives each of us a choice, whether to follow Him or not. Without a choice, there is no real love. Think about this, if someone tried to force you to follow them or love them….would you? I wouldn’t.

Time….


Time is measured by us in seconds and minutes and hours, then days, weeks, months and years. If you wish to measure longer periods of time then it can stretch into much more than that. What is my point for writing this today? Well, as you may have noticed, time is slipping away at an ever increasing speed. Some of the younger folks may not see it that way, but the older that you get it seems to speed up monthly. Why is that? If you have children it is easy to see it happen because you see your children grow up and they do it so fast it seems. The older they get, the faster the years seem to go by, at least for you. They don’t see it that way, at least not yet.

Time ticks by us without us really feeling it go. It just floats away like a cloud of smoke and you can’t get it back. The time that it takes for me to write this is time that I will never have again. It has been about six hours or so since I woke up this morning, but that time is gone. I can’t re-live it and I can’t go back and reclaim it.

God can see it as though as it began just a moment ago. He can see yesterday as it was and He can see tomorrow before we ever get to it. He can even go all the way back to the beginning of Creation and go through all of that again if He wishes to. Why? Because He is God!! He lives outside of time, so He can see the end and the beginning any time that He wishes to.

Why am I pointing all of this out? You might think that you wish to do what God does and go back and change things in your past so that things will be different in your future. Sounds great doesn’t it? The problem with that is that depending upon the size of the change, your life will be so dramatically different that you might not recognize it. One other problem with it is that you might not like the “future” that you end up with. Then what do you do? Small changes have big consequences, big changes have BIG consequences, so you might change the person that you marry or the subjects that you study in school and the grades that you got.

These are the temporal consequences that we could not and should not be able to change. God gives us our life as it is because He knows the end result and He knows that it will work out for you and for Him and His kingdom. It is a subject that is fun to imagine about. The money that you could’ve made if you had done things this way or the difference that marrying the “right” person might have made in your life. These are things that we can imagine but that God knows would be best left alone and thankfully we don’t have the capability to do this. We see it portrayed in science fiction films and shows many times, but it would be so easy to really cause real problems if it were possible, so thankfully it is not.

Your life and your purpose are in God’s hands and the effect that your life has is dependent upon who is in charge of your life. Is it God in your heart and in the driver’s seat or is it you? Considering that you don’t know everything and I don’t either, I would rather have God in the driver’s seat because everything will work out according to His plan, which is always the plan that counts. The only thing that is necessary for each of us to do is to believe in Jesus’ atonement for you and me and the sins that we have committed, no matter how bad they might’ve been.

When we accept Jesus as our Savior, then we need to decide to put Him in control of our lives and the leave the outcome in His hands. When we do that, His Kingdom will be glorified and we will have eternal life with Him. It is a winning combination!

Think about it, pray about it and seek Him because when you do, the best will come to you in eternity.