Wrestled

Have you ever wrestled with God in prayer?  Have you ever found yourself in such a desperate situation that you fell before the Lord in such desperation that you cried and wept before the Lord knowing that no one else could help you?  Have you ever come to a place in your life where you knew you were at a crossroad and the rest of your life would depend on the decision you made that day?

Sometimes it seems that we agonize over things that we can’t change and it seems to take so long before we give it over to the only One that can change it.  We struggle with so many things, even as believers, in fact I think even more so as believers.  The reason I think this happens is that we have this idea that we shouldn’t have any problems because we are God’s children, wrong, we may be God’s children but we are still in the world, but hopefully not of the world.  As long as we are here we will have problems.

Try to remember what Jesus said when speaking to His disciples in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”  Jesus wanted His disciples to take courage in their struggles and never give up and to always remember that He would be with them, that He would never leave them or forsake them.  Jesus will also be with us in our struggles and we will never be left alone as long as we don’t give up.

Do you remember the struggles that Jesus faced from the beginning to the end of His life here on earth?  When all was said and done He was victorious, because He never gave up, had a pity party or felt sorry for himself.  Knowing the victory that Jesus won, and all that He had accomplished, should help us to take heart.  

I think one of the problems is, many believers are taught if they just had enough faith they wouldn’t have the problems they have, so they don’t feel right about sharing them with others and asking for prayer.  They may even think that if the Lord cared, He wouldn’t allow them to be in the situation in the first place, it is like we blame every problem on God.  We live in a world where people like to blame everyone or everthing for what we face in life.  If we hold to that altitude, which I am also guilty of, we will not trust anybody to help, not even God.  Maybe that is why so many believers don’t spend much time in prayer, because they don’t really think that God cares.  We live in a corrupted environment and, because of it, bad things happen to good people and that is reality, so it is time to take responsibility and if we need help we need to ask God for it because He cares for us.  Just because God allows us to suffer at times doesn’t mean He doesn’t love us, He does.

When Jesus faced the greatest challenge of His earthy life, while in the Garden of Gethsemane, He didn’t blame God the Father for the tremendous difficulty He was about to face, no, He prayed to His Father in such agony and distress asking if He could to take this cup of suffering from Him, but not His will, but the Father’s be done.  What if He just complained, saying Father this is your fault so why should I waste my time praying, you don’t even care and stormed off having a pity party, things would have turned out much different than they did.  This was so hard on Jesus that some of the capillaries broke in His head and blood dropped to the ground like sweat; I don’t think I ever heard of anyone else that desperate for an answer to prayer.

Jesus never forsook His heavenly Father, even when He said, “Father why has thou forsaken me?”  At that time Jesus could have called the angels to minister to Him, but He trusted His life to His heavenly Father and so should we.  We need to let Jesus be our example and start seeking our heavenly Father in prayer.  

Do you remember Jacob?  He wrestled with the angel of the Lord all night long and wouldn’t let him go until he blessed him.  It is found in Genesis 12:24-32.  We need the persistence that Jacob had and not quit praying until we receive the answer, or the blessing, that we are seeking.  Food for thought, God bless and have a great day!!

Love

Do you love only those that love you or do you love those that despise you also?  It is easier to love the one that loves you than to love your enemies; Jesus said this in Matthew 5:43-48, “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.”   

In the natural realm we would not love our enemies, we would hate and despise them, but as believers we are commanded to love our enemies and even to pray for them.  I think I remember reading a book about Corrie ten Boom and her family called, “The Hiding Place,” and I also saw the movie.  The way the soldiers treated her, her family and the other prisoners was horrible and Corrie hated them.  I remember in the movie that Corrie’s sister, Betsy, kept telling Corrie to love and not hate, but Corrie had a real struggle with doing that.  In the end, all her family died and she was the only one who was set free from prison which was done through a mistake on the jailer’s part.  But I think that God was there to see that happen so that Corrie could tell her, and her family’s story, around the world, which she was faithful to do.  

At one of Corrie’s talks, she was talking about forgiving your enemies.  When she had finished she went into the audience and talked to some of the people.  While she was talking and greeting the people, shaking hands and all, she spotted a man walking towards her and she froze.  If I remember right, he was one of the prison guards that she hated.  She was in a tough spot, she had just given a message on forgiveness, and the one person that she hated the most was standing in front of her and all the hatred and bitterness rose up inside of her once again.  If I remember right, I think she said a quick prayer asking God to help her to love and take the hate from her, something that at that time was extremely hard, but God did just that and from that time on Corrie was set free of hatred and bitterness, praise the Lord!!

Stories like Corrie’s and other people’s testimonies should bless and encourage every believer because God is not a respecter of men; what He has done for anyone else He can, and may, do for you.  There are so many things people can get angry over, but whatever they are we need to choose to forgive and to pray for the one that offended us.  

If you are having a real struggle in this area maybe this will help; remember the days when you were lost in your sins with no possible hope of redemption and you were an enemy of God?  Your trespasses and sins were innumerable and you were bound for a terrible place called hell where you deserved to go, along we everyone else, do you remember that?  Now remember this, with all your transgressions and sins, God, through Jesus Christ, forgave you when you repented and received Jesus as your Lord and Savior.  So don’t you think the Lord is saying to you to go and do like-wise?  The Lord is our example and we should be obedient to His Word.  Something to think about; God bless and have a super day!!  

PS:  don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord. 

Not Peace But a Sword

Jesus said this in Matthew 10:34-37:

“Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came not to bring peace, but a sword.

‘I have come to set a man against his father,

    a daughter against her mother,

and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

    Your enemies will be right in your own household!’

“If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine.”

Is this a contradiction?  No, it is realty.  I have experienced this many times over the years.  I married a girl from a Catholic background, and being a Protestant, there was a lot of conflict from the Catholic’s as well as non-believers in our families.  I wasn’t raised in a Christian home and although I did have a couple experiences with the Lord over the years, I never seemed to get grounded; thank God He never gave up on me.  

This subject came to my mind last night and again this morning so I thought I would do a ‘Tidbit’ on it.  Jesus knew there would be all kinds of conflicts over religion in families, because He knew not all would be believers; even if they went to a church of some type.  I want to remind everyone who reads this that attending a church doesn’t make you a true believer; only being born-again makes you a true believer.  

Jesus made this real clear in the third chapter of the book of John. He made this statement to a Jewish ruler named Nicodemus in chapter 3 verse 3, “Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”  The man Jesus was talking to was a Pharisee and Jesus and John the Baptist often criticized the Pharisees for being hypocrites.  Here was a learned teacher that came to Jesus because he needed to be taught.  Most Pharisees would have nothing to do with Jesus, being very jealous of Him and His popularity, and most would not believe that He was sent by God.  This man was different; he knew that Jesus was sent from God and that He had the answers he was looking for.

This is my opinion; today there are people who go to church and listen to the person who preaches and takes their word to be truth, no matter what they say, and never study the Word for themselves to see if what was said is true or not.  Then when someone tries to explain the real truth they are so close-minded they will not listen and that is where most of the friction comes from.  Then, just like the Pharisees, some become jealous of what you know, but if you can reach just one with the Lord’s help it is worth all the friction you have to go through.  

I am typing this to encourage you not to give up on your family.  Keep praying and speaking the truth and leave the rest in the Lord’s hands, there is only so much you can do, so do your part and let the Lord do the rest.  And remember the Lord has to always be number one in your life, He needs to come before your family or anyone or anything else that you possess.  

When a person becomes born-again, Jesus will become their Lord and Savior and without this relationship it won’t matter which church you go to or how many times you go, you will never see, or enter, the kingdom of heaven.  Religion is not enough, you need to have a personal relationship and that will only happen when you put your trust in Him and ask Him to be your Lord and Savior.  I know some teach there is more than one way to get to God and to get to heaven but that is a lie.  It seems that many people want to pacify people by telling them half-truths when they need to hear the truth.  

Jesus said in John 14:6, “Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.’”  This is one of the most basic, most important truths in the Word.  Jesus is the only way because He was both God and man.  Thank God He provided a way that we could get to Him and that is only through Jesus, and Jesus is the only way that we can find forgiveness for our sins and be saved.  The Word says this in Acts 4:10-12:

“For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says,

‘The stone that you builders rejected

    has now become the cornerstone.’

There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”

  

Now you know the truth and you are responsible for it.  Something to think about and may God bless you and yours and have a great day!!

Have You Wandered

How can you get the angels in heaven to rejoice?  It is easy, just go out and win the lost, then there will be rejoicing in heaven.  Lost people are so important to the Lord that He wrote some parables about this topic in His Word.

One of these parables was about the lost sheep in Luke 15:1-7, “Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!

So Jesus told them this story: ‘If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!’”

Here Jesus related sheep to people and we know that Jesus was the Good Shepherd, and also the Lamb of God.  To Jesus lost people are bound, or enslaved, by many things and Jesus wants to set them free; in fact, He is very happy when one sinner repents and wants to follow Him.

The Pharisees and scribes were not happy at all when Jesus sat with sinners and ate with them, they were much too pious for that kind of behavior, walking around in their self-righteousness.  Many of the people in Jesus’ day agreed with the religious rulers and they had a problem with Jesus also, saying in Matthew 11:18-19, “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

Jesus condemned the attitude the people had in His generation.  It seemed that Jesus could say or do nothing that would satisfy them because Jesus challenged their comfortable, self-centered lives.  In every generation this can be a problem, so we need to guard ourselves against this same kind of attitude.  Too often we justify our inconsistencies because if we listen to the Word of the Lord we may have to change the way we live; there are those that seem to have a struggle with that prospect.

Getting back to Luke 15, Jesus told another parable about a lost coin saying this in verses 8-10, “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.”  Again Jesus relates the coin to a person, and just like the lady rejoiced when she found the lost coin asking others to rejoice with her, Jesus said, “In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.”

I wrote a song about this subject a long time ago and I still sing it once in a while, this ‘Tidbit’ reminds me of that song.

My question to you is, are you one of the 99 or are you the one who is lost?   If you are one of the 99, that is good, but if you are the one that is lost I have great news for you.  Jesus loves you and is willing to leave all the others and focus on you because He is not willing that anyone be lost but that each one would come to repentance and be saved.  

If you are reading this and you feel the Holy Spirit’s prompting you and convicting you of sin, respond by repenting of your sins; which means to turn in the opposite direction and tell the Lord you are sorry for your sins asking Him to forgive you and to come into your heart and be the Lord of your life.  If you really mean it, I believe that He will and you will become a child of God, praise the Lord!  Then find a church where the pastor preaches the Word of God, get a Bible and start growing.  God bless you and have a super day!!

Where Do You Stand

Every now and again this subject will come up and it is a very important topic because we will all stand before the Lord someday and give an account of our lives and, if we knew Jesus or not, the books will be opened and the names will be read and only if your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life will you remain with the Lord.  If your name isn’t there you will be ushered from God’s presence into a horrible place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, which is called the second death.  

There are going to be some people shocked at that time, being asked to depart.  There are some people that think they are going to remain with Jesus, but will not be invited, because Jesus will say this, as found in Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.  On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’  But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’”

It is not enough to ‘know’ about Jesus you need to have a personal relationship with Him which means to be born-again.  There are many people you know about but you don‘t know them personally, they may be acquaintances but not close personal friends.  Jesus wants to be your close personal friend and your personal Savior.  Jesus will expose the people that are just full of religion, going to church and keeping man’s traditions and man-made laws, full of self-righteousness, pride and arrogance, teaching purposely what shouldn’t be taught.

These are the kind of people who build their house on the sand spoken of in Matthew 7:26-27, “But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”

When you have a personal relationship with Jesus, you will listen to His words and try hard to do them, then you will be like the man in verses 24-25 in this same chapter, this is what it says about him, “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock.”

To build your house upon a rock means not only to hear the Word but also to put it into practice in your life and to practice obedience to what the Word says.  When you practice this and the storms come, you will be still standing when it is all said and done, your house with not crumble like the house built on sand will.

So, on the final Day of Judgment, where will you be standing, by Jesus’ right hand or on His left hand hearing these words found in Luke 13:27, “But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from.  Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’” and then be ushered away with the rest of the un-believers?

Jesus talked to His disciples also about repentance in Luke 13:1-5, “About this time Jesus was informed that Pilate had murdered some people from Galilee as they were offering sacrifices at the Temple.  ‘Do you think those Galileans were worse sinners than all the other people from Galilee?’  Jesus asked.  ‘Is that why they suffered?  Not at all!  And you will perish, too, unless you repent of your sins and turn to God.  And what about the eighteen people who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them?  Were they the worst sinners in Jerusalem?  No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will perish, too.’”

Someday everyone will die, maybe a prolonged death or a swift one, but there is life after death, for the believer if you have faith and believe.  When the Holy Spirit convicts, it is important to repent and turn from your sins. 

God’s Word says in Romans 3:23, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”  And in Romans 3:10, “As the Scriptures say, ‘No one is righteous—not even one.”  It also says in Isaiah 64:6, “We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.”

So we are all in the same dilemma, and we all need a savior and that is Jesus.  Jesus was here on our behalf, to give His life a ransom for whosoever would believe in Him and receive Him as their Lord and Savior, repent and turn from their wicked ways.  So where do you stand today, forgiven of your sins or still lost in your sins?  This is very important and something you need to think hard about and I hope you will, if you are not sure.  

Jesus said this in Revelations 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”  This is talking about the door of your heart.  So the choice is yours, I hope you make the right one and repent and ask Jesus to come into your heart.  Like I said before, this is something very important to think about, may God bless you and yours and may you have a super day!!