Tag: Word

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!

Life is..?


Life is…? What? Hard? Easy? Difficult? Mostly, life is all of these. Occasionally, all of them at the same time!

The wind blows, the trees sway.

The river and streams run and tumble and play,

But the rocks are still, yet they are shaped,

By wind and water too.

Life is like that as well. The things that we experience shape our lives and how we perceive life. Can we do anything about the life that we live? Sometimes, but most of the time we just live it. Is it hard to “just live it”? Not really unless you live in poverty or in an area that has been under a drought for a long time or in a war torn area of the world. Life is not easy, regardless of where you live or what you believe in.

The society and cultures that we live in, regardless of the country, shape our opinions and our lives as well as our characters. Is there any way that we can be good enough to be human and be kind to one another? Yes, we all have the capability and the moral compass within us. Whether we choose to be that person or not is our choice. We are free to choose, for good or evil, how our actions affect those around us.

Most of us would like to be liked by our colleagues, so we choose to be likeable and friendly. Others in society choose to be selfish, caring only about what is good for them as individuals and nothing for anyone else. Thankfully, those who are selfish make up a smaller portion of society, but they do get most of the media attention so we hear about them most often. I think that is why we are so fascinated by reality shows. When cameras are around, at some point the selfish person will show up when they are least expected and usually it is the person who wasn’t selfish to begin with.

We are a group of contrasts, always changing as we get older. Sometimes for better, sometimes not so much. Age doesn’t always bring wisdom, it should but life has a way of teaching you lessons that you really don’t enjoy and whether you get wisdom from these lessons or not is still up to you. We are ruled by our choices in life and in eternity. I know, many people don’t really believe that there is an eternity but it is mentioned in the Bible so I believe it exists, and it is a very long, long time!

How can we make a difference in our life and in other people’s lives now and into eternity? By living the life that we have like it is going to end tomorrow! Telling and showing others the One who came to give them life after this one! It is not a hard job, but it is one that is not very popular right now. Some of the lessons contained in God‘s Word are considered “hate speech“, bigoted, elitist views of salvation, the list goes on and on.

The point of all of this is that we only have a limited amount of time to let others know about Jesus. Our lifetime is only a small part of eternity and compared to eternity it is but a puff of smoke or mist. The message that we have is one that is very important to those who need it and will listen. If you don’t think that you need it..well, prayer is an option, searching for the answer in God’s Word is another option, but religion is not. Religion, regardless of which one it is, can get you and anyone else a place in hell quicker than anything because it is not religion that saves your soul, it is belief in Jesus‘ sacrifice for you that saves you!

Open the Word, seek the wisdom contained in it, ask God to reveal Himself to you. Then let His light shine through you to others so that they can see Him and want to know Him too. Truly God is in control, otherwise our world would’ve ended long ago. Get to know Him while you can.

 

 

Feed your faith!!


Background: Romans 10:17

Learn to feed your faith and starve your doubts. The doubts that you have can truly affect your life so eliminate them by getting into your Bible and in a Bible teaching church!

If you don’t come to church, read your Bible, and pray, then you have no shield of faith for protection from Satan. Sometimes college students go off and let some ungodly, unbelieving man make fun of their faith. And they fall apart like a house of cards. That’s because they don’t have a strong faith in God. Feed your faith. “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God,” and it will be like a shield to you to protect you from all the fiery darts of the wicked world that we live in. It gives the believer certainty, certainty about what they believe and Who you believe in.

Again, you must actively, consciously clothe yourself in the armor of God. How much are you dedicating yourself to being in His Word, learning how to wield your Sword? If you are doing this only on a weekly basis, the destroyer can get to you!

If you don’t open God’s Word and read it at least once a day, you don’t have the shield with the faith to wield it against everyday things which rob you of your faith in the One who can and does save you. Yes, this is about you and God, because He wants to know you and He wants you to know Him! Only by hearing the Word preached and getting into the Word can you know Him. Only by reading the Word can you recognize God’s voice and His way of speaking to you. He does love us all, each of us individually so there is a reason for what He does and how He does it. Our Savior asks us to come in and eat with Him and He waits for us to invite Him in as well.

Jesus does stand at the door and knock, patiently waiting for you to let Him in and He does this every day. Believers and non-believers are in this situation because many of them seek Jesus once per week and then leave Him at the church when the sermon is over. You have to take Him with you everywhere, every day, not just when things aren’t going your way or when you think you are “good enough” to do so.

Clothing yourself in the armor of God means that you get into the Bible so that the Spirit can use it to teach you what He says and what you are to do. The armor of God only protects you if you have it on; going to church on Sunday for thirty minutes or an hour doesn’t take care of the rest of the week! It reminds you of what you are to do and who you are to be with daily, but the cares of the world and your daily routine gets in the way or at least Satan lets you believe that.

Once you decide to trust and believe in Christ for salvation, wholehearted surrender and Christ-likeness becomes a goal to achieve with the help of the Holy Spirit and the fellowship of believers. The only way to have the fellowship of believers is to be in fellowship with them, regardless of whether they are family and friends or not. The Bible says, “And we should not be forsaking our meetings, as is the custom for each person, but plead with one another all the more, as long as you see that day drawing near.” Hebrews 10:25

The “sword of God” is His Word and if you don’t learn it and how to use it to counter the things that you hear and read every day, then Satan can get into your mind and change things just as he did to Eve in the garden.

Then, there are many who will say that the thief on the cross didn’t do these things so why do I have to do them? The thieves on the cross were divided in their view of Christ. One of them extended the condition, “…if you are the Christ, save yourself and us” (Luke 23:39). The other placed his faith in Christ, asking, “Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (vs. 42). Christ’s response was the best news a dying man can hear. “Surely I say unto you, today you’ll be with me in paradise” (vs. 43).

There was no way this dying thief could have told others of his salvation. He was saved by recognizing Christ as who He said He was—the only One who could save him from his sin. He also showed Christ that he believed in Him as who He was, so it was the belief…the faith of the thief that saved him. Their death was imminent so they had no way of getting baptized or of learning the scriptures, but that is not required, yet belief in Jesus is!

It is true that they didn’t have the opportunity to do the things that we can do, but we are not to use the thief’s inability to do these things as an excuse for us not to do them! As long as we can do what Jesus wants us to do then we should, the Lord is coming back and He will require of each of us an explanation of the words and thoughts that we have had as well as why we heard the Gospel and did not act on it. Don’t be part of the crowd which is cast away because they didn’t act  or believe in what they heard before He came!!

Our God loves each of us as shown by Jesus’ sacrifice for us, even before most of the world was even born! No one can claim immortality without belief in and surrender to Jesus! Your life here is meaningless without Him in it, guiding you daily to do those things which He would do if He were in your shoes. We can be the feet and hands of Christ in a world that is going dark, but we must carry His words in our hearts and our minds to do so. We must tell others what Jesus has done for us and for them, so that they will know.

Many people have died during the course of writing this sermon and the time that it takes to give this sermon many more will die. Will any of them be on your mind or conscience? Were they your responsibility to give account of the joy that is in your hearts? Did they see the joy and peace in your life that Jesus brought into your life, and if they did, what evidence did you give them of Who was responsible for that joy?

These are questions that we all must answer, whether we will have to answer for them in front of Jesus or in front of the people that we see every day, I don’t know. Jesus gave each of us a job to do. How well we perform that job is our daily responsibility. It is not an easy task, because each of us has our own gifts and strengths and weaknesses too. But, with the power of the Holy Spirit living in each of us, we can do the job that we were given. Whether we choose to do that job or not is our choice, but in the end we will have to account for that choice. Which choice will you make?

Your life’s purpose


Did you know that just twenty-one days elapse from conception to the first heartbeat when you are still in your mother’s womb? From that point on your life is begun and your parent’s lives will never be the same. The things that you desire in life that give you a purpose or worth, make you feel significant or accepted, give you security or cause you to feel loved or allow you to experience the beauty of God’s creation. These are the things which you will follow after and crave  most of your life. Can they be found in one place or person?

The answer is yes, they can be found in one person and His name is Jesus. The creation, of which we are a part of, is His doing. We are special to Him and to God, so why don’t we feel special? Did we do something wrong? Can we fix it if we did?

Some of us do feel special because our parents and grand-parents reinforced that feeling. But are we special? To God we are special because He created each of us for a purpose and we are made for that purpose especially by Him.

The second question: Did we do something wrong? No, not exactly. We all do or say things that we regret later, it is just our human nature. That is the problem but we can’t blame everything that we say or do on that. We cannot abrogate or refuse to acknowledge our responsibility in life because of “human nature”. It is that nature that we have been handed down from antiquity that we must take control of but we cannot do it on our own strength. We have to allow Jesus into our life and our heart so that we can become someone better than we can become ourselves.

We can’t do it on our own. Regardless of the science-fiction stories of a utopian future where we all get along and disease and poverty don’t exist. That world is not possible without the rule of Christ in our lives and even then it would not work unless He was the ruler of the world as He will be.

But, the most important decision that you will make is whether to accept Him as Lord and Savior in your life and your heart. When you give your life to Him and give up your way of doing things in favor of His way, your life and the influence that it has on others will be changed dramatically. God loves you far more than you or I can possibly imagine and He wants the best for you. That does not mean that you will have millions of dollars or houses or anything that the world recognizes as “success”, but you will be successful in other ways, eternal ways.

The life that we have does not end when our physical body dies because God created us with an eternal spirit which will live on. Eternity makes this life seem like a puff of smoke so the influence that you have here needs to be based on following and loving Jesus, not on following what the world wants you to do.
Think about it. Pray about it and seek the wisdom that only God can provide through His Word, the Bible. Don’t just read it like a book, because it is the Creator‘s conversation with us and His people. Pray and ask Him to show you the wisdom that is intended for you and your situation. He will open your eyes and your heart so that you can see and understand that which you need.

Is the Bible up to date and relevant?


The Word of God is beyond time. It was, is, and always will be true. There is no time, no season, nor a single day during which the words in the Bible are not binding. I know that this will upset some people but it is true. Every word and punctuation mark in the Bible and the Torah is valid and always will be. The Spirit of God permeates the Bible and makes it relevant to our time because it is timeless and the wisdom contained within it is too.

Do we have any reason to ignore the Bible? For our own spiritual well being we really don’t and shouldn’t but many people do. They look at it as an old outdated book that has been around for thousands of years and many scholars have pointed out that the wisdom in it is contained in writings from other cultures as well. I have heard the argument that the Bible is copied from other religious texts and may not be original.

Nothing could be further from the truth. God’s Word is true and was given to the prophets and poets of the Old Testament as a guide to Him. It also points to the Christ long before He came into the world. No other religion has this prophetic quality and accuracy in their writings. God’s word told specifically how long the Babylonian empire would last, how long it would be before the Messiah came into the world and when the crucifixion would take place. All of these prophecies were given through the prophets at least 500 to 1000 years before they occurred.

No other document from any other religion can claim this and the reason is because God gave the words to the people who wrote them down. He is the only One who is outside time and therefore can see the beginning and the end and everything in between.

The Bible illustrates why the world sees its wisdom differently:  (1 Corinthians 2:14) “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”  (KJV)

The world and those who are not part of God’s family, cannot discern the wisdom contained in the Bible, regardless of the translation, because it is the spirit living within which gives the interpretation. The wisdom of God‘s Word is foolish to those who don’t know Him.

When we are saved by accepting Jesus into our hearts, the Spirit resides within us from that point on. It is His job to teach us, instructing us as we read and study to be better equipped as Christians. Because, following Jesus and being a Christian is not a “walk in the park”.

Being a follower of Christ and not just a fan requires more than just accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior like many believe. It takes discipline to become a disciple and you have to realize why you are doing this too. It is not just because you don’t want to go to hell, but because of your thankfulness toward God who loved us even before the world was created.

Hell is for those angels who rebelled against God and were thrown out of Heaven. It was not meant for us and yet when we refuse to accept God’s grace through Jesus, we are as guilty as they are in our rebellion toward Him. Some people may say that they have not rebelled against God, but when you don’t accept a gift given to you freely isn’t that a form of rebellion?

When you refuse a gift from someone, aren’t they offended? If someone refused a gift from you, wouldn’t you be offended? God does not take offense the way we do, but it still counts as rebelling against Him when we refuse the gift of His grace through Jesus. We are, in effect, telling God that we want to get to Heaven our way.

Except, there is no other way to get there. Nothing that we can do is good enough, regardless of the amount of money or time or effort involved, to be equal to the sacrifice which Jesus provided on the cross to pay for all of humanity’s sins.

They have all been paid for, all we have to do is claim the grace that is there for us and eternal life is ours! The only “catch” is that we have to do it while we are alive, here and now. Once we have accepted it, the work in our life begins again because we are born anew as “new creatures in Christ”. The old life that we had is done away with and a new life begins. It will not be easy, but the reward will never end.

There will be time with family that are Christians that you will never have to worry about losing because you will have eternity. As someone once said, “billions and billions of years” will be your reward for accepting Jesus! Time will have no real meaning at all because we will have far more than a lifetime to get to know someone or get to know many people!

This existence or life that we have now is but a “puff of smoke” compared to eternity. Make the best decision that you can make, accept Jesus as your Lord, give Him your life so that He can give you His!

I have been away too long for God to want me


I know many people who have said this and feel this way, but why? There are times in our lives that we move away from God and it is us who move because He doesn’t. He is always by our side in every situation no matter how desperate it seems and regardless of the circumstances.

Jesus said that not one sparrow falls from the sky without the Father’s notice, so how can we think that He doesn’t notice our troubles and trials? He is always there, we just have to acknowledge Him and turn to Him for guidance and direction. If you have never asked God for anything in your life, He still knows you as His creation, and His child because He created each of us and knew us before we were born. He knows exactly what purpose and plan that He has in store for you and will bring it about without your help if He has to.

God loves us, all of us, whether we know it or not. His patience with us is longer and more enduring than we can possibly imagine. I know that many people try to put “human” qualities and traits on Jesus and God and Jesus did live as a man until His resurrection, yet He was fully God too! As it says in the first chapter of John, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God” (John 1:1)

His humanity was what He had to take up like we do when we put on a suit and yet He did it for us, because of His love for us. We cannot deny this and one day it will be for all the world to see. In order for us to come back to Him, if we ever knew Him, takes only a repentant spirit and a prayer for forgiveness because of our actions. If you have never known Jesus, it still only takes a prayer of repentance, one that is truly sorry for the life that you have lived. Acknowledge that you want to live for Him and allow Him to live through you and in your heart. That’s it!

I know that is too simple and straightforward for some to believe but it is true! He made it that simple so that a child could understand how to do it, it is us religious “grown-ups” who make it hard by putting religion and its dogma into the equation. That is why Jesus was so upset with the Pharisees of His day. They knew the scriptures, the prophecies that foretold Him and His coming and yet they did not “see and hear with their spiritual eyes and ears”.

Pride and selfishness get in the way just as it did then. They were proud of being descendants of Abraham and Moses. They were looking at what they would lose if common people could come to God without a priest and a sacrifice. Their position of importance among the people meant more to them that the people that they were supposed to be shepherding toward God.

This same pride is at work in the church today. Many preachers and evangelists, especially those with television ministries, allow their pride and the money which comes into their offering boxes to sway them and their message. I am not accusing all of them, but the ones which get into the news the most and draw the most attention, cause the world to look on all who claim Christ as being the same.

Pride is Satan‘s most useful tool to discredit the Church and the followers of Christ. Mainly because it causes the most hurt and makes the mistakes which are made so visible.

Give your life to Christ so that you can undo some of the damage that has been done in your life. You will be able to do this through Jesus’ power, not your own and He will give you the words and the strength to accomplish it. Don’t rely on your own strength because in the end it will fail, but His will not!

What do you mean, “die to self”?


It is a question which has been asked many times since Jesus was here. It is a question which is easy and hard to answer but I will try to shed some light on it here.

Our selfish nature or it could be called our childish nature, is what gets us into so much trouble and we don’t realize it until it is almost too late. Anyone who is a parent has heard a child say “I can do it myself” and it is that “self” that we have to get away from! If we don’t, it will get us into more trouble than we could possibly imagine!

I know that many people feel that this is just some preacher rambling about something that doesn’t mean anything. Well, I am a preacher but I have also been called to get these bits of wisdom that I glean from God‘s Word out to a dying world and in this instance our “self” is usually the bad guy. Satan will help our nature or our “self” to be a real problem, against our better judgement and our Christian nature, but it is us who cause much of our own problems!

As the old cartoon said, “I has met the enemy and he is us!” We are our own worst enemy in many ways, least of all to ourselves and the life that we live. It is our nature, the sin nature that was born in the garden of Eden, that has caused and is still causing heartache and pain and suffering today.

Can we do anything about it?  No, not on our own we can’t! With God in our life and in our hearts we can overcome our self, the old self that is at war with our new creation after Christ comes into your heart. It is a battle that we cannot afford to lose which is why we are admonished to put on the armor of God by studying His Word and taking its wisdom into our life on a daily basis. When we do that, we are able to do exceedingly more for Him and through Him than we could ever do on our own!

Give your heart to Jesus, the only One who loves you regardless of what you have done or will do! He will never leave you nor let you down so give your heart to Him and your life will never be the same, it will be BETTER!

The most needed book in the world….the Bible


The Bible is the Word of God given to men by the inspiration of God’s Holy Spirit and Jesus is the manifestation in the flesh of that Word. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. How can we just ignore Him or tolerate His presence when the glory of His majesty is shown to the whole world every day and every night?

The world has been pushing God and His Word away for a long time although lately, it seems that no one is paying attention at all. I am sure that Satan enjoys seeing this because it is what he has been counting on all along. Eventually humanity will turn away from God, but God has never turned away from us.

God’s Word, the Bible, is the most inspired book in existence. It is also the only one that gives us hope and purpose and direction for our lives, but the wisdom contained within it must be followed and learned by the reader. If we won’t do that, then it is just another book on a shelf.

For the Bible to be of any real value to the one who reads it, it must actually function the way it was intended and shape how we think, feel and act as well as shaping our beliefs, our values and the truths that we teach others. If we don’t allow the wisdom of God‘s Word to penetrate our mind and our heart and to shape our character, its value is diminished to nothing. The Bible has many things to say to many people today.

It is not old, even though most of it was written over two thousand years ago.
The messages contained within it are fresh because the Word is alive and the wisdom is from God. Each person that reads the Bible gets a different message, especially if you pray for God to reveal His wisdom to you through His Word! There are many people who need what the Bible has to offer and yet some refuse to take advantage of it.

If you read the words of the Bible and notice the wisdom contained within it, much of it parallels the so-called “self-help” books which are on the best seller lists. They may use different words for modern language and reference things which a modern audience can relate to but the wisdom hasn’t changed. That wisdom came from God no matter who is getting the credit for it.

We are into being politically correct these days and the Bible was not, which is why it is attacked as much as it is. That is also the reason that Christians are ridiculed and hated as much as we are. Our faith and our religion is not an all-inclusive religion or one which allows anything but what our Lord expects in His Word. God said, “Be Holy because I am Holy”, which we can only do through the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us which we receive when we become Christians and ask Him into our lives.

That doesn’t mean that we are perfect, sinless people after becoming a Christian, far from it! We are still human and not God, nor will we become gods as some religions profess. We will rule with Christ one day, but not today, and then only if we have been faithful to Him and the calling that was placed on our lives. Give the Word of God a chance. Read it, ask questions about it, pray about it while you read it…these are the only ways that it will finally make sense and give you a sense of peace about your life and what God says in it and about you.

Pondering Scripture


2 Chronicles 7:14 says: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

In the scripture above, the Lord gives a number of conditions for our healing. We must humble ourselves, pray, seek His face, and repent from our ways in order to be forgiven and receive our blessing, is that right? It was in the day that God said this to the Israelites and to some extent, it is today as well. We still have to humble ourselves and seek Him and pray and repent of our sinful ways, but the forgiveness has been paid for by Jesus on the cross.

What else can we do? Do we have to do anything to be forgiven? Mainly, we have to seek Him and ask for our forgiveness, but the seeking needs to be done daily, not weekly or only when we think we need Him!

Romans 12:1 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”

Do we offer ourselves up as a living sacrifice to Him daily? That is how we are supposed to start the day, giving it and ourselves to God’s service. It is only right that we do this because of the sacrifice made on our behalf. Even though, we aren’t required to do anything, we should because we belong to Him! We were bought at the price of the Savior’s life and we owe Him our lives and more but our life is all that we have to give if it is given willingly and with a humble spirit.

Are we His? Do you know His purpose for you?

These are questions which many people in history have asked and many are still asking today. Yet, few are finding the answers that they seek. Why is that do you think? Is it because the answer can’t be found? Of course not! It is there, in front of us every day and yet many people do not find it because they are looking for something else.

When we read the Bible, we are supposed to be praying about what we are reading so that God can reveal His wisdom from the Word to us. I admit that I don’t do this all the time, but that is how we are to know the mind of God, at least as much as we can know Him as we are now.

In Jeremiah 29:12-13: “Then you will call on Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” When we seek Him with all of our heart, He hears us and responds to our prayers. If our heart isn’t in it, He knows.

Our life in Him can be awakened by our attitude toward our service to Him. With God, attitude is everything because it shows what is in your heart and soul. It proves what kind of change has been wrought in your innermost being or even if there has been a change!

That is why Jesus said in John 14:14-16: “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of Truth.”

There are those in ministry today that are saying that this is the way to prosperity. God only gives you what you ask if it is in His will for you. He is not a rich grandfather who hands out goodies when we ask for them! Many people would like for that to happen, but that is now how our relationship with Him works.

We are to be reflections of Jesus’ character and show the world what He has done for us and what He has in store for them, if they will only come to Him and lay their lives down for Him. For many people the thought of giving your life to Jesus is just too much, although I am not sure why. The fact that Jesus gave His life for all of us before we were ever born speaks volumes toward the character and the foreknowledge He had pertaining to us. Why can’t we, at the very least, give our lives to Him and His service so that His sacrifice was not in vain?

When we spend time with God and His Word, we are in contact with our Creator and our Redeemer. What more could we need? Our walk with Him will be sweeter and any temptation that comes our way can be pushed aside with scriptures that we have taken into our mind and our heart. The Spirit Himself can bring them to mind whenever you see or hear something which might cause you to stumble if it weren’t for the Word and its wisdom.

Our world and each of us in it needs that wisdom to carry us through the struggles that we face, but God gives us hope and strength through His Word to be able to handle whatever life puts in our path.

Can we be the children that God wants us to be? Not on our own or by our own strength, but with His strength and His wisdom by reading and studying His Word, we can be true ambassadors to the world for Christ. Our world, our country needs Him today—now, as we are getting closer to the time of reckoning for this world and its ruler. I pray that each of you will search your hearts and decide for yourself if you will follow Him daily from now on.

If we don’t, our way of life and our eternal life hangs in the balance by a very thin thread. Can you look around you and consider facing eternity without those that you love and hold dear? I can’t.

 

Are you a fan or a follower of Jesus?


Many of the disciples were followers of Jesus and the Word confirms that there were at one time or another about seventy of them. Were they fans or followers or true disciples?

Those who fall into one category or the other out of those three show three different levels of commitment. The fans of Jesus and his teachings were the ones who were with Him daily and tried to understand His teachings. The followers were the crowds which went with Him hoping for a miracle or some food or both!

His true disciples were the ones who went out and preached the Word and the good News of redemption through belief in Jesus and the Father Who sent Him. In the book of Jeremiah, there are a few verses which illustrate what following means, it is in chapter 6 and verse 16: “Thus says the LORD, “Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, Where the good way is, and walk in it; And you will find rest for your souls.” Even though it says that, at the time, the Israelites said to him that they would not walk in it.

There are many who find the right path but for one reason or another, they decide not to walk in that path. Some reasons that I have heard are “it is too hard”; “I don’t want to right now, I am having too much fun”; “Following Jesus requires too much time and effort”. If that were the real reason, no one would ever follow Him.

How can we follow Him and be a disciple of His instead of a fan or a follower for our own reasons? In today’s language being a follower could mean that you know about Jesus and everything that He did. You have been to church, you have listened to sermons and even read some scripture about Him, but do you follow Him?

Are you classified as a fan of Jesus? Fans know their teams and the stats well. They know about all the things that their favorite team does and each team member and their statistics. Some might be able to tell you how many children some of the team members have who are married. In reference to football fans, they can tell you everything that each player did in college and in their rookie season. But what happens when your favorite team starts to lose or has a losing season. If they have a losing season or two, their fans tend to trickle away and lose some enthusiasm for them.

What happens when life gets a little tough, do you fall away or do you cling to Jesus? What do you do if the road that your life with Christ is following gets a bit bumpy or hard like a mountain trail? Do you feel the need to get off? Our trail that we are following is not easy because Jesus said that He did not come to make things easy but that He would ease your burden by taking the weight of sin off of your shoulders. He did not say that you wouldn’t sin but that you would not be tempted beyond what you are able to bear.

How many fans get to play in the Super Bowl? (Answer: none) What about true followers, do they get to play in games like that? No, because they are not players or professional football/baseball players, they religiously follow the game and its players but they can’t play.

What about Christians? Do we get to play? Let’s look at what it takes to be in the game as a true follower of Jesus: 1. I have given my heart to Jesus; 2. I read my Bible daily and study it, praying over the passages so that I can understand; 3. I pray about little things in my life as well as BIG things so that God knows my heart in these matters; 4. I ask God to help me to understand and know what He wants me to do with my life after He has changed it and decide to live my life for Him from that point on.

The problem is that there are many people who are in church and have been in church for many years and yet are still “fans” and not followers. Even though they do many of the things which followers do, their hearts are still “far from me” as Jesus said. How can we get back from that far country to the place where we belong?

The only way to get back from that far country is to humble ourselves and admit that we need to get back in the first place! Once we do that, we can become followers of Jesus and our new life will keep us in that place close to Him. Then our lives will be even more useful and productive, not only for God’s kingdom but for our own walk with Him daily as well.

In many ways, our lives are mirror images of the world in which we live. Some of us live in the world and have very little to do with church and its doctrine which is preached there. Even if we come to church, there are things which are said there that we don’t agree with so we tune them out entirely.

When we look forward toward the years that we each have left or think that we have, what do we see? Do we see a life full of promise like we did when we were young? Or do we see the end of our lives approaching and decide to wind down like a toy and “take it easy for a while”?

We were not made to “wind down”; our lives are to be useful to Him regardless of our age or our point in life. He decides when our time comes to “wind down” from this life, but that still doesn’t mean that our life will end. You have an appointment with eternity and where that appointment takes you is your choice.

The narrow road following Christ will lead to eternal life and service to Him that will never be boring, the broad road leads to destruction. On which road will you be when it is time to meet Jesus?