Will You Get In

I thought I would talk a little about heaven today and being ready.  From what I understand heaven will be a beautiful place with streets of gold and gates of pearls, there will be no sickness or disease or death or anything of that nature; it will be a place of perfect peace, contentment, joy and radiance with beautiful music, singing, rejoicing and praising.  There will be no fear, no thieves, no stress, no worry, nothing scary just a place of rest.  It will be a place to experience real love, the unconditional type that we all long for whether we admit it or not.  Just think, there will be no bickering, fighting or arguing, no bitterness or un-forgiveness, no gossip, slander or revenge, or anything that will hurt in any way; it will be a perfect place and everyone there will be free of any kind of sin because in heaven there will be no sin or sin nature and it will be far greater and more beautiful than anything we can even imagine or think!!  But, the thing that will make heaven the greatest is the fact that God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit will be there and there will be no need of sun or moon because God’s Shekinah Glory will light up heaven, praise the Three in One!!  

Just typing this out can excite me, what about you when you read or hear about heaven?  After living on earth for the time I have, there is no way to fully describe heaven, but you can read about it in God’s Word in Revelations chapters 4, 5 and 6 and you can also read chapters 20-22.

Let me ask you, who wouldn’t want to go to a place that is as gorgeous and beautiful as this place is?  This is not a fictional place, this is real place and what is so strange is that so many choose not to go.  The invitation is in the Word of God, He has made it very clear!!  How much more could He love us, think of this, God sent His only begotten Son into this world to give His life, a ransom for our sins, because we all needed a Savior!!  Jesus died, was buried and rose again, suffering the cruel act of crucifixion and He did it out of obedience and His unconditional love for us.  The Bible says that all have sinned and fell short of the glory of God, so no matter how good you think you are, or that someone else might be, we are all guilty of sin and because of it we are separated from God.  One of the problems is that many people want to set the standards for morality using man’s standard of morality and not God’s standards for morality.  If you have lied or stolen anything, no matter how small, or taken the Lord’s name in vain, you are guilty of sin and there are other things I could mention.  But, God loves us so much that He made a way for anyone to be right with Him.

Read John 3:16-17, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

This is good news, now read verses 18-21, “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

We all have a choice, we can reject God’s offer or we can accept it, but remember whatever choice we make we will reap the consequences of our choice.  I want to make this very clear, the only way to get to heaven is to get there through Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son, there is no other way!!  If you are reading this and feel the desire to get things right with the Lord then repent of your sins and ask the Lord to forgive you for your sins against Him and to come in and be your Lord and Savior.  Take your time and let Him fill you with His peace, love and joy, then go forth rejoicing and share what the Lord has done for you.  Find a church that preaches the Word of God and start growing in your faith.  Have a super day!  May the good Lord bless you and yours!!  PS don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord!!        

Praise 3

How is your praise life doing?  Are you praising the Lord daily or have you become intimidated by others and turned off or have you become bitter, angry and unforgiving towards others?  I see many believers, or who I think are believers, sit through testimony times in church and hardly give out a peep.  But the saddest part of this is that I notice I am a lot quieter than I used to be also.  It seems like it is easy to be intimidated and lose your joy and enthusiasm because of others or maybe just get discouraged by circumstances or situations.  

If you have been to a baseball or football game or some other sport where there are many people, you hear people shouting their praises at the top of their lungs for the particular team that they love when they score.  They don’t worry about those that are for the other team; they totally express their joy and adoration without shame or guilt whatsoever.  The fact is they are so devoted to their team, that they may even get into a fight and some have even been killed for their enthusiasm and devotion to their team, so what does that say about us.  If we are truly believers, truly born-again, we have so much more to shout about and praise the Lord for.  Our enthusiasm, excitement and appreciation should boil over into shouts of thanks and praise without reservation.

Have you ever got excited in church and expressed it with an, “amen” or some other jester, only to have someone turn and give you what I might call a disgusted look?  If you have, how did it make you feel?  I have been there so I know what it feels like, but regardless of what happened we need to keep thanking and praising the Lord and make it a part of our lives.  

Remember when King Jehoshaphat went to battle with Moab and Ammon in 2 Chronicles 20:20-24?  Read what he did first, “So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.” And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying: “Praise the Lord, for His mercy endures forever.” Now when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated. For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another. So when Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude; and there were their dead bodies, fallen on the earth. No one had escaped.”

I believe spiritual and other battles, are won when we first thank and praise the Lord then ask for His help.  The Word says that God inhabits the praise of His people so let’s praise Him wherever we may be.  If you are in a reserved church that doesn’t get too excited about the Lord, get excited anyway, maybe it will catch on.  

Remember the ten lepers that came to Jesus in Luke 17:11-19, “Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

So when He saw them, He said to them, ‘Go, show yourselves to the priests.’ And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.

And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.

So Jesus answered and said, ‘Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?’ And He said to him, ‘Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.’”

Can we receive God’s blessings and healings with an ungrateful attitude?  Nine of the lepers did!!  Another thing that should stand out here is that the one that came back was a Samaritan. The Samaritans were despised by the Jews because of their idol worship and being half breeds, but Jesus showed them all mercy and grace since on their way to the priest, they were all healed.  I think Jesus was very disappointed at the response of the other nine lepers who were Jews.

Is He disappointed at your response to what He has done for you?  I hope your attitude is not the same as the nine lepers?  Something to think about!  I hope you have a super day and may the good Lord bless you and yours, and don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord!!

Forgiveness

I was reading Psalms 24 this morning and I thought I would do a Tidbit on it.  There are two questions in this Psalm that may be just as interesting to you as they were to me.  They are in verse 3, they say this, “Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place?”  When I think of God’s holiness and His righteousness and how pure He is, if I didn’t know what I know today, I would say no one could stand in His holy place.  The reason I would say that is because I know that all men and women are sinful, born in sin and full of iniquity, and because of it we are all separated from this holy God, who is so pure that He cannot even look at sin.  

Think about Jesus’ words when He became the sacrificial Lamb who was slain for our sins.  Jesus said this in Matthew 27:46, “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’”  At that time Jesus took the sins of the world on His shoulders, and God turned His back on the sins that Jesus was willing to die for, because He cannot look at sin because of His holiness.  I can’t prove that, but that is what I believe.

David goes on to say this in Psalms24:4-6,

“He who has clean hands and a pure heart,

Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol,

Nor sworn deceitfully.

He shall receive blessing from the Lord,

And righteousness from the God of his salvation.

This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him,

Who seek Your face. Selah”

Question: how can anyone have clean hands and a pure heart when all of us have sinned, excluding no one but the Godhead, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit plus the angels that are with God in heaven?  David said this in his repentant prayer in Psalm 51:5 about himself, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.”  David knew the truth and he admitted it so he repented and found forgiveness and right standing with the Lord and you can too, this is the good news.  God loved us so much that He provided a way for us to stand before Him blameless, without sin.  Read these exciting verses found in the book of John 3:16-17, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

This is great news, even though we were separated from God because of our sins and had no possible way to be right with Him in ourselves; God knew this and made a way.  God sent His only begotten Son and Jesus was willing to suffer many things and much pain so that we could be made right with God!! 

All we have to do is believe this super great message from God’s Word, believing that Christ came as a baby and walked the earth, was crucified, died and was buried and then rose from the dead and through His shed blood He paid for our sins and brought about the redemption and the means for the forgiveness of our sins.  If you are serious, repent, which means to turn and go in the other direction, and ask the Lord to forgive you of your sins and come into your heart and live and be your Lord and Savior and I believe He will forgive you and make you His child!!  But, let me encourage you to take your time and don’t hurry through this process, let the Lord fill you with His peace, love and joy then go and rejoice in the Lord and share with others what the Lord has done in your life.  Start growing in your new found faith and find a church that believes the Word and teaches it.  Don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord!!  May God bless you and yours and may you have a super day!!

Running

I wonder how many believers are running towards God and how many are running away from God.  I also wonder how many are just staying stagnate, not advancing, or retreating, just kind of stuck where they are.  These are questions I think we should be asking ourselves at times.  I also wonder how many are conforming to the world or how many are being transformed.  It seems that many believers start out their Christian journey running towards God, happy and content, enjoying God’s blessings and growing in grace, but as time goes on something takes place, which could be a number of things, and then a change starts to take place in many of their lives.  

Sometimes people may get judgmental and start judging themselves by other’s standards, then they start looking down on others with a ‘better than thou’ attitude, which is sin and it hinders their growth.  Others get offended by someone, or more than one person, and get angry and hold onto that anger, and that hinders their growth.  I don’t know how many people think about this but some are angry with their wives and that hinders their prayers and slows down their growth.  Read this in 1 Peter 3:7, “Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.”

Then there are those who get angry at God for some reason or other and they become bitter and instead of growing closer to God they are falling farther and farther away.  There are also those that tell stories and gossip about people, which is also a sin and, they many times may not realize it but, they separate themselves from God.  Think of this, all of these things are sin and sin separates us from God.  Read Isaiah 59:2, “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.”  I know this was directed to the Jews, but the way I see it, God does not change, He is the same and He hates sin and sin separates us from Him!!

Many seem to forget at times, including me, that God’s Word says this in Galatians 6:7, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.”

It also goes on to say this in verses 8-10, “For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.”

There are just so many reasons why people either run from God, or grow stagnate, or are struck where they are in one or more of these situations which there are many more than what I have mentioned here, but I know who is behind them all and that is the enemy of our souls.  He is a liar and the father of all lies, and the one who only comes to steal, kill and destroy, so we need to resist him and tell him to flee.  We then need to confess and repent of the sin, or sins, we are guilty of and start growing and running towards God because He loves us and that is His will for us, praise His Holy Name!!

Remember Jonah who was one of God’s prophets?  He was a man who lived for God and was obedient, but even though one day he started running from God, God got his attention and Jonah wound up in a fish’s belly.  I wonder if that fish thought he tasted good when it swallowed him, just a thought.  Let’s go on, there are always consequences for sin.  Think about this, do you think God corrected Jonah out of anger?  I think God did it because He loved Jonah and wanted him to do the right thing because He loved him.  Sometimes God may correct us in ways that seem kind of harsh, but remember He always does it from a loving standpoint, even if He is angry.  When Jonah repented, and it was all said and done, even though it doesn’t say it, I think that Jonah learned from his experience and was a better man for it in the end.  

If you are running from God you are wasting your time, God is everywhere and you cannot hide from Him!  So if you find yourself running, or in one of the other circumstances I mentioned or in something that I didn’t mention, that is sin, so repent and confess it, ask God to forgive you and start running towards Him and keep the evil one on the run.  Forgive God and forgive others and stop gossiping and stop judging others by your standards, God’s standards are what we need to try to achieve.  Get into God’s Word and let it transform your life as you put it into practice.  We all need to do this so that we can run towards God and grow daily in our faith.  Something to think about!  May you have a super day and may God bless you and yours!!

Think

Sometimes our way of thinking can really hinder us, to the point of paralyzing us, if we are not careful.  Think about it, we can be happy, and even excited, then something is brought to our attention or something just comes to our mind and all of a sudden we are knocked of our feet, so to speak, and it may not even be reality.  How many times have you been stressed, worried or even scared about a thought that just popped into your mind or something someone said to you?  

The way we think can either set us free or take us captive and enslave us, resulting in bondage.  I have a book called, “The Battle Is In The Mind.”  We hear that satan was defeated, and that is true, Jesus defeated him at the cross.  But, in our Christian walk we will have to battle him every day because he wants us back on his side, not because he loves us, no, he hates us and wants to destroy us and our relationship with Jesus because he is a deceiver and a liar.  Today many are living defeated lives because they neglect Bible study, prayer, spending time with the Lord or allowing sin to fester in their lives and have unforgiveness in their heart.  

Many are still conforming to the world and its standards, which brings me back to our way of thinking.  Unless we are transforming our minds by reading, studying and hearing God’s Word, then putting the truths we hear and learn into practice, how will we ever resist temptation?  We won’t!  Without faith it is impossible to please God and without it how will we be victorious over the enemy of our souls?  We can’t!  How do we get faith?  Read Romans 10:17, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”  We have to be studying and hearing so that we can use the Word to overcome the evil one.

How did Jesus resist temptation, or testing, in the wilderness?  By speaking the Word of God, the truth!!  Read what He said to the devil in Matthew 4:1-11, “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, ‘If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.’

But He answered and said, ‘It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’

Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, ‘If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written:

‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’

Jesus said to him, ‘It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’

Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, ‘All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.’

Then Jesus said to him, ‘Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’

Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.”

Jesus defeated our enemy in every way and we can overcome also if we use Jesus as our example.  He not only knew the Word but He was the Word and lived the Word.  Jesus said this in John 8:31-32, “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’”

I don’t want anyone to be deceived; the enemy is very much alive and is out to destroy all of God’s children.  Remember what Jesus said, “I have overcome the world.”  He also defeated the evil one and all his satanic practices and temptations, and praise the Lord, we can also overcome through Jesus our Savior and Lord!!  But, this is not automatic; we have to do our part also.  We can either have a mind that is centered on Jesus and His kingdom, or a mind that is conformed to the world and its practices, the choice is ours.  I hope you are making the right choice.  May the good Lord bless you and yours and may you have a super day!!  PS don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord!!!