Judging Others

Is it always wrong to judge others?  No, unless it is in a condemning way.  We must be very careful when it comes to judging others especially believers.  We may see some that claim to be believers doing things that we wouldn’t do and right away we start to condemn them, thinking or saying whatever we think out right, as we judge them and condemn them, this should not happen.  Who are we to judge another man’s servant?  Let’s face it, how many of us have not fallen into this judgement cycle more times than we want to remember?  We do not walk in other people’s shoes.  There are things that others have experienced that we have not, and never will experience, and vise-versa.  There are also what we may call babes in Christ, who need to mature in their walk with the Lord, and we have no idea what it will take or how long it will take for that to happen.  

Read what the Lord says about judging others in Matthew 7:1-5, “Stop judging, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the beam in your own eye? Or how will you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and look, the beam is in your own eye? Hypocrite, first take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

Also, please read verses 15-20 in that same chapter, “Watch out for false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruit. Grapes aren’t gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles, are they? Even so, every good tree produces good fruit, but the rotten tree produces bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will recognize them by their fruit.” 

There seems to be a dissension between these two groups of people.  One being our brothers and sisters in the Lord, the others being wolves in sheep’s clothing; false prophets that were not believers at all, just pretenders.  How many times have we taken these verses out of context, using them to cover all true believers saying you will know them by their fruits?  How many times have we condemned true believers for something they may have done that we don’t approve of!!

Please read Romans 8:1-4, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Messiah Yeshua. For the law of the Spirit of life in Messiah Yeshua has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what was impossible for the Torah—since it was weakened on account of the flesh—God has done. Sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as a sin offering, He condemned sin in the flesh— so that the requirement of the Torah might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Ruach.”  

If the Lord shows his servants compassion, love, mercy and grace who are we not to set the same example!!  I am as guilty of this as anyone, Lord help me and every other believer to learn a lesson from Jonah who had more compassion over a plant that dried up and took his shade from him than for 120,000 people who didn’t know their right hand from their left!!

Lord help us to show love, mercy and grace to all people just like you do, and to love you with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and love our neighbor as ourselves and to love our brothers and sisters in the Lord!! Please forgive us when we haven’t showed love, mercy and grace, instead of condemnation, as for me I am truly sorry!!

I hope this has been helpful and a blessing for each person who has read it or heard it!!  Here is hoping you and yours have a super, super day!!

 

Compassion on All

 The act of compassion is very important in life, it is relating to people where they are at, in other words, feeling their pain then being willing to alleviate it in some way!!  It is not just saying, “I feel your pain,” but it is a willingness to act on their behalf.  You may relate this to a health care worker who is willing to get their hands dirty, one that actually cares, and are truly making a difference in people’s lives.  Take the nurses and doctors, for instance, who are taking care of COVID patients that have literally put their lives on the line because the word compassion truly means something to them.  

You can show compassion in many ways, being willing to do things for people to help them or building them up with kind and encouraging words. It just takes a person that is willing to use the gifts that God has given them.  You might be surprised at what you can do to show compassion towards someone.  Something as small as holding a door for someone or just giving someone a great big smile or just being friendly.  Maybe helping with their snow in the winter or mowing their lawn in the summer or other odd jobs.  Like I said you can show compassion in many ways!!

This can also be called loving your neighbor as yourself.  Loving someone and having compassion on them are sort of intertwined and both are very important and are like a double blessing that crisscross one another!!  Jesus talked about this while talking to a man when he walked the earth  many years ago in Luke 10: 27 please read,  “And he replied, ‘You shall love Adonai your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.’”   

So, if we will all take all this to heart and do these things, we will be like a walking Bible.

Please reads Ephesians 4:32, “Instead, be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving each other just as God in Messiah also forgave you.”           

2 Corinthians 1:3-4, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, the Father of compassion and God of all encouragement. He encourages us in every trouble, so that we may be able to encourage those who are in any trouble, through the very encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged by God.”

1 Peter 3:8-9, “Finally, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, tenderhearted, humble-minded. Do not repay evil for evil or insult for insult, but give a blessing instead—it is for this reason you were called, so that you might inherit a blessing.”

My prayer is that all who hear this or read it will be blessed, encouraged and helped and that you and yours will have a blessed day.

Separation

 There are so many ways to be separated from something or someone!!  It happens quite often; wives and husbands get separated, boyfriends and girlfriends get separated.  Your cat or dog may be separated from the family for one reason or another. People are separated by anger or by misunderstandings that take place.  Christians and non-christians are separated by theological differences. There are so many things that separate people from one another, being prejudice is another example which should never take place; we are all made in God’s image and likeness so that should never be used for an excuse to separate one from another.  The first commandment is ‘you shall love Adonai your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  And the second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  This is talking about the whole world, regardless of their skin color or their ethnicity, as being our neighbor, not just the people that live next door to you.  Read the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37.

I think the worst separation of all is between God and people.  God never intended for these things or anything else to separate people from one another or from Him.  In other words, it would be like saying God created what he hated!!  Oh no, never let it be said of Him, please read John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”      

There is only one reason why people are separated from God and that was the fault of man and woman, namely Adam and Eve and their rebellion against God, which effected all the human race from that day forward.  Let me remind you of this, Adam and Eve, were perfect people, without sin or a sin nature.  From that day until now, God’s Word says we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory because we inherited a sin nature as a result of their rebelliousness.  Eve was deceived and Adam chose to sin.  So, we are all separated from God from birth.

Now let me tell you this, it was not God’s intention ever that we would be separated from Him, but God, being a just God, had to punish them for their rebelliousness, which is called sin. Think of this, God would leave His throne in heaven to come down to walk with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day just to fellowship with them.  Sometimes I think we don’t understand the intimacy that they had together and the love and compassion He felt for them.  Now think of this, God put them in a beautiful garden and provided them with everything they needed; they were over the animals and everything was at their disposal, except the tree in the middle of the garden, which was the tree of life that He commanded them not to eat from.  It’s hard to imagine being in a place as beautiful as this garden must have been and having all your needs met and be able to fellowship with God face to face and never fear because you knew His compassion and love and mercy and grace firsthand. 

Now think of this, being in this situation and throwing it all away, by choosing to rebel against God and the heartbreak that God must have experienced, knowing that they rejected Him after He showed that kind of compassion and love and the devastation it caused, especially the separation between them and God.  Many times, we don’t think about the cost, when we rebel against the Lord because of the separation that our rebelliousness causes us.  If you think about it, that will probably be the worst punishment for everybody that ends up in Sheol and is separated from the Lord!! 

I think everybody in our situation with this COVID 19 catastrophe knows firsthand what it feels like being separated from your family and loved ones for a period of time.  It definitely is not fun, think about being separated from them forever.  This is probably one of the reasons why there is so much suicide taking place in our world today, we weren’t created to be alone without any fellowship with anyone else.  We are created to be social beings, needing one another’s fellowship.   

So, the next time you have a problem with your wife, a good friend, or a family member, remember this, losing any one of these relationships may cost you more than you realize.  You may never be able to mend that relationship, you may be separated forever.            

I think the message is clear, let’s love one another with an everlasting love.  I hope this has been a blessing and encouragement and help to all who read it.  God bless you and yours with His perfect peace, love and joy, health and happiness.  And don’t forget, if you haven’t yet today, thank and praise the Lord for He is worthy!!

 

True Love

What is true love, what you say, it’s the remedy for most of the ills today.  Why do we need it every day, because it will chase the blues away.  When the blues sneak around in those trying times, trying to find a person where it might hide, love is the thing to stem the tide, to tell the blues to take a ride!!  When love comes around and touches your life, in the form of a lovely beautiful wife, when it stirs you up in the prime of your life, it will help you with sorrow, pain and strife.  It will give you joy and that is true when true love reaches inside of you!!  If you’d like a love that can set you free like the birds in the air and the bumble bees, look no further than the cross you see, the cross on the hill of Calvary.  Jesus is the answer for you and me, the love that He has, has set many free.  And to tell you the truth, when He sets you free, you will be free indeed, you can take that from me!!  

Let me tell you a story about a prodigal son who took his inheritance and started to run.  Thinking he’d have the time of his life; the problem was he should have thought twice.  In the end it didn’t turn out to be the way this young man thought it would be. Then he decided that he would go home instead of trying to face this all alone.  His dad saw him afar and ran out to meet him cause he wanted to greet him, he hugged him and kissed him, may have told him he missed him, what a wonderful reunion it was.  His Dad fell on his neck and kissed him.  

Please read Luke 15:18-24, “I’ll get up and go to my father, and I’ll say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your presence. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired workers.’ And he got up and went to his own father. But while he was still far away, his father saw him and felt compassion. He ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your presence. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him! Put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it! Let’s celebrate with a feast! For this son of mine was dead and has come back to life—he was lost and is found!’ Then they began to celebrate.”

This demonstrates the love God the Father has for us.  This is an unconditional love.  I will be honest, like I normally am, I have a hard time understanding this kind of love; just think about Father God loving those who hated Him.  He also loved the ones that killed his Son, torturing Him before they put Him on the cross to kill Him.  That kind of love has to be supernatural.  This story truly demonstrates God the Father’s love for a prodigal.

Now think about the 100 sheep, another parable that Jesus spoke about.  If one of the sheep goes astray, the shepherd leaves the others and looks for the one who went astray until he finds it.  He will put it on his shoulders, rejoicing and when he gets home, he calls together his friends and neighbors and says rejoice with me for I have found my sheep that was lost.

Now please read Luke 15:7, “I tell you, in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one repentant sinner than over the ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.”  This shows how much God loves a repentant sinner!!  I tell you the truth, it bothers me when I hear a sermon where repentance is not spoken of and then the altar call is given and no mention of repentance or any explanation of what repentance even means.  One of the first things that Jesus spoke of when he started his ministry was repentance and John the Immerser’s baptism was for repentance also, please read Matthew 4:17, “From then on, Yeshua began to proclaim, ‘Turn away from your sins, for the kingdom of heaven is near.’”

Now please read Matthew 3:4-12, “Now John wore clothing from camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea and all the region around the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were being immersed by him in the Jordan River. But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his immersion, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance; and do not think that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father’! For I tell you that from these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. Already the axe is laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire!’ As for me, I immerse you in water for repentance. But the One coming after me is mightier than I am; I am not worthy to carry His sandals. He will immerse you in the Ruach ha-Kodesh and fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He shall clear His threshing floor and gather His wheat into the barn; but the chaff He shall burn up with inextinguishable fire.”

Today we are not baptized for the forgiveness of sins, or saved that way, but it should demonstrate an outward appearance of an inward change that the Lord has made in our lives.  “It is by grace you have been saved through faith and not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not based on deeds so that no one may boast!!”  Ephesians 2:8-9.

We owe it all to Jesus, God’s beloved Son, for willingly laying His life down and allowing Himself to be crucified.  The Lion of Judah became the sacrificial Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  A man who had no sin became sin for us.  Only through trusting in Him and being covered and washed in His precious blood can we be saved!!  Just like Ephesians 2:8-9 says!!

So, if you’re willing to turn from your sins and truly repent, having a change of heart and mind, turning to the Lord confessing your sins and forsaking your sins, you can be washed and cleansed of your sins and experience the new birth, what is called being born-again!!  I hope if you read this and have not repented, that you will make that choice today, you will not be sorry!!  May the good Lord bless you and may this be a help and encouragement and a blessing to you!!

Positivity in all Situations

 Negativity has no place in Christianity; so, if you are in that camp, pray and ask the Lord to make you much more positive and not negative.  Negative people tend to cause other people to be just like them.  Negative people don’t seem to accomplish much.  I think many of us fall into that camp at times, but we need to be careful we don’t camp there long.

One example of this is David, who could have been very negative but didn’t   fall into that trap!!  Now think of this, negativity breeds fear, anxiousness and uncertainty.  Think of the time when David was just a boy and his dad sent him to check on his brothers, who were in King Saul’s army, to see how things were going.  Remember David was just a boy, probably in his teen years.  Maybe David didn’t know what negativity, anxiousness, uncertainty or fear was.  True faith disperses fear, anxiousness and uncertainty.  All of Saul’s soldiers shook with fear every time Goliath, the giant, came out and challenged them.  David was full of faith, in fact, when a bear or a lion came after him while he tended his father’s sheep, he would grab them by their hair and kill them with his hands.  And, he was going to kill Goliath with God’s help and he had no doubt in his mind about that because Goliath had defied the armies of the living God and he knew that God would deliver Goliath into his hands.  

So, while everyone else was shaking in their boots, David had the faith to believe that he would overcome this giant that defied the armies of God.  It was incredible the faith that David had, he didn’t waiver even with all the other negative people and their negative comments going on around him. Please read the 17^th chapter of 1 Samuel.  The worst thing anyone can experience is to have somebody around them that is so negative, because after a while that negativity will wear a person down, it is almost like a cancer that eats away at your mind and body until all of a sudden you are just like they are, and instead of one of you having to be delivered, you both need to be delivered.

What about Joshua and Caleb and the other spies that were sent out to spy out the land of Canaan?  All the other spies came back with a very negative report because of doubt and fear.  Why do you think Joshua and Caleb came back with a different report?  Maybe because they were full of faith and not doubt and fear, please read, Numbers chapters 13 and 14 to help you to get a real picture of what took place.

If you have the kind of people or friends who are so negative around you, pray for them and ask the good Lord to change their way of thinking, and while you are at it, ask the good Lord to keep you from falling into the negative camp; you may even have to confront them with love, and if they still won’t listen then you may need to find new friends. I hope this has been a blessing and an encouragement to all who read it or hear it and may all of you have a super day!!

Hell

 Hell was never meant for man or for woman or child.  We were all meant to live forever, but the man, Adam by name, chose years and years ago rebellion over obedience.  Think of Adam, he wasn’t deceived, Eve was, Adam chose to sin, choosing to rebel against God, costing us physical death and, in many cases, spiritual death also.  Hell was never God’s choice for humans, He created human beings for fellowship.  Did God know that Adam and Eve would sin, of course He did, because He knows all things.  Did He cause them to sin, of course not, He gave them a free will to choose to sin or not to sin.  He gave them a stern warning that if they ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they most assuredly would die. Were they created with a sin nature as we are born with a sin nature, no they were not no more than Lucifer was, all of them chose to rebel against God!! They sinned by choice and many of us are angry because they did, but how do we know that we wouldn’t have made the same choice, if we were put in their situation?

Please read it in Genesis 2:17, “But of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil you must not eat. For when you eat from it, you most assuredly will die!”  

They chose to disobey, and they sinned against God and they died spiritually at that point and they also died physically, in the end.  Because of their rebelliousness, we are born in sin and spiritually dead also, with no way for us, on our own, to get right with God.  In other words, by our own efforts or strength or power or works or knowledge or riches or prestige, can we get ourselves right with God!!  The word of God says that our righteousness is of filthy rags.  It also says there is none righteous, no not one.  Another thing it says, there is no amount of good works we can do, no matter what they are, to be right with God.  The good news is that God had a plan, because He knew people would try to use these excuses, thinking that by them they could be right with Him!!  Think of this, (It’s by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is a gift of God not of ‘works’ lest any man should boast.)

Now if this is true, and it is, we all deserve hell, but because of God’s grace and love He has provided a way of escape, you might say.  God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to bear the sins of the world, a man who had no sin, became sin for us.  He provided the only way that we could come to God and be right with God, and that’s through true repentance which means having a change of heart and mind, turning from sin to God and going to God through the precious blood of his Son Jesus who became  the sacrificial Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  Without the shedding of blood there is no remittance, or forgiveness, of sins!!

Please read what Jesus said in John 14:6, “Yeshua said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life! No one comes to the Father except through Me.’”       

Jesus didn’t come to condemn us, but only through Him can we receive eternal life, please read John 3:17, “God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.”

Hell will be a dark, scary, lonely place with only pain and suffering.  Where everyone there will be only preoccupied with their own pain and suffering.  All who are there will be dwelling on the fact that they have separated themselves from God who truly loved them and was not willing that any be lost but all would come to repentance!!  I believe everyone gets that opportunity, but many reject it, I pray that you won’t be one of them.  I pray that this has been a help and encouragement, may God bless you all and have a super day!!

The Demoniac

Jesus meets a demon possessed man, sitting among the Tombs.  This man had many demons and was too strong for anyone to handle without tremendous faith and Jesus was the man for the task.  As soon as the demoniac saw Jesus, from a distance, he knew who he was, and he ran and bowed down before him.  This is amazing, this man was so full of demons he couldn’t even be chained any more, he had been bound with shackles and chains before, but he broke the shackles and ripped apart the chains.  When I think about this man of great strength, who was infested with demons I know it could have been a very different outcome.

Think about the sons of Sceva, please read Acts 19:13-17, “But some traveling Jewish exorcists also tried to invoke the name of the Lord Yeshua, saying, ‘I charge you by the Yeshua whom Paul preaches.’ Seven sons of a Jewish ruling kohen named Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, ‘I know Yeshua and I know about Paul, but who are you?’ Then the man with the evil spirit sprang at them, subduing and overpowering all of them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. This became known to all who lived in Ephesus, both Jewish and Greek people. Fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Yeshua was being magnified.”

Like I said it could have been a very different outcome.  It would have been very scary for the ordinary person, but not for Jesus.  For Jesus this was like child’s play, he was the Son of God and this man knew it and so did all the demons, Jesus had amazed his followers quite often with the miracles He had performed.  

Remember the healings He performed and the times when He fed many people with very few fish and bread?  What about the time He raised Lazarus from the dead and so many other things, like walking on water and the time when he was sleeping in the boat, and his disciples were very scared then he rebuked the winds and said to the sea, “quiet, be still,” and they obeyed him?  Now please read what the men said about that in Mark 4:41, “They were struck with awe and said to one another, ‘Who is this? Even the wind and the sea obey Him!’”  

Plus, he did many, many other miracles, some we may not even know about, they may not have been recorded.  What an amazing event, this was the man who was set free and was sitting there in his right mind with his clothes on but there is a very sad part of this event also.  To me it was one of the saddest things I have read in God’s word.  

Please read Mark 5:14-17, “The herdsmen ran away and told the town and countryside, and they came to see what had happened. Now they came to Yeshua and saw the madman who had had the legion. He was sitting there, dressed in clothes and in his right mind. The people were scared. Those who had seen it described in detail what had happened to the man plagued by a demon, and they also told about the pigs. And they began to beg Yeshua to leave their country.”

The sad part of the story was that they were all familiar with what went on in this man’s life and they saw the man there in his right mind, there was no doubt a miracle had taken place, but instead of rejoicing and being ecstatic over what had taken place in this man life they began to beg Jesus to leave their country.

Please read what happened to the man who was set free.  It is in Mark 5:18-20, “As He was getting into the boat, the man who had been infested with demons kept begging to remain with Him. Yeshua did not let him, but He told him, ‘Go home to your friends and tell them how much Adonai has done for you, how He showed you mercy.’ So he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Yeshua had done for him. And all were amazed.”

I think we all would have been amazed if this were to happen today!! Praise the good Lord for this deliverance and for the super testimony this man had, who had the demons in him and for all the people who were amazed by it and also this man’s willingness to share his testimony with others!!

Please don’t miss out on what the Lord is doing in our day.  Too many times we lean on our own understanding and in the process, we miss out on what the Lord is doing and what He is accomplishing in our lives and in the world around us.  I hope this has been a help and an encouragement to all who read it. God bless you and yours and may all of you have a super day!!

Be Not Conformed To This World!!

 Think of a copycat, as we would probably say today, what are they known for?  For doing whatever someone else does, but if we are believers, we are not to do that.  We need to be very careful to do the right thing and not just fall in line with the rest of the crowd.  We need to be careful also of what we believe when we hear things and not just agree with others just because what they write, or say, sounds good.  No, we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. 

God’s word tells us to study to show ourselves approved, a workman who is not ashamed, who is able to divide the word of truth!!  That is how we will renew our minds, we need to read and study and meditate and pray that the precious (Ruach ha – Kodesh) Holy Spirit will lead us and teach us all the truth that we need to know and bring all these truths back when we need them.  We also need to seek and ask the Lord for His wisdom and knowledge and understanding and discernment.  

So many seem to play follow the leader today because the people they follow seem like nice people or because they have a title or have money or are famous or very popular.  Or maybe they have impressive degrees behind their names.  We need to be careful about deception by being hoodwinked by great imposters that live one way in public and another behind closed doors.  There are many that seem nice at first because they have an agenda and that is to gain something for themselves that in the end will only bring hurt and pain to you.  This can happen to anyone, rich or poor, famous or very intellectual, regardless of their status or position in life and it is happening every day.

That is why we all need a close relationship with the One who knows each of us the best.  The One who knows our coming in and going out, our rising up and our sitting down, the One who knows our every thought and every action we will take after the thought comes to our minds, but still loves us in spite of ourselves.  And who could that be; the One and only precious true God, the creator of heaven and earth and all that came forth when He spoke the world into existence, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, He is totally, totally awesome, and I think He is the only one that word should be used for, along with His precious only begotten Son Jesus and his precious Holy Spirit period for they are truly assume!!

Do you think maybe that is one of the reasons why the word of God says in Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in Adonai with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”  When we lean on our understanding it is easy to fall off the straight and narrow path that leads to God’s kingdom and go into all kinds of worldly circumstances and problems that we should avoid at all cost.  

Many of these things that we should avoid may contribute to us conforming to the world, so we must be careful!!  We need to be praying and seeking the good Lord for wisdom and discernment.  I hope your day will be very fruitful and that you and yours will be very blessed.  Don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord for He is awesome and worthy!!

Suffering for The Lord

Why does God allow believers to suffer?  Let me start out with saying this, I don’t think there is a believer alive that wants to suffer.  But I know that there are many that have and are willing to suffer, and many that are going through terrible suffering every day.  Some are being persecuted and have also suffered in other ways, like diseases and other forms of sickness.  I also think that many believers, think that God is angry with them and they feel rejected, thinking the Lord doesn’t care about them.  I have been there, and I know that I am not alone. 

Just possibly you don’t know what true love is, because of situations and circumstances that have happened to you through your lifetime.  Maybe you had a bad experience when you were young, and you never really felt loved or accepted.  Maybe you were bullied and made fun of as a kid and all through school and you bought into the lies you were told; there are many reasons, when suffering, why people respond the way that they do when it comes to the thought of love.  

Let me try to encourage you and help and bless you.  When you run into persecution, pain, trials of every kind, don’t blame God, He warned us of all these things in his Word.  Think of this, when you want to blame God for something you are going through; He said, in this world you will have tribulation but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world!!  If we trust in Him, He will help us with the trials and the things that we experience so we can overcome also and be victorious in what we are facing, praise the good Lord!!

Then there is this that we should consider, Paul said if you live a godly life you will be persecuted.  Persecution isn’t any fun, but it definitely is likely to take place as we ruffle feathers, so to speak.  Then consider this, what it says in Hebrews 12:5 “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of Adonai or lose heart when you are corrected by Him,”  and then read prayerfully all the way through the end of the chapter.  God doesn’t chastise us for nothing, but there is always a good reason, and if we turn away from the sin or plain rebelliousness, or pride or anything that isn’t pleasing to God and ask Him to forgive, sincerely repenting, outside of the unpardonable sin, I believe He will forgive.  God is in the pruning business, to help us bear more fruit, and while He is pruning it may hurt but the hurt will turn to joy when you see the fruit produced by it.  If you are proud God cares so much that He won’t leave you that way, He knows how to humble us, and you can take my word on that.  God always resists the proud and draws close to the humble, so humble yourself before the Lord and He may lift you up at the appropriate time.

Please read 1 Peter 4:17-19, “For the time has come for judgment to begin with the house of God. If judgment begins with us first, what will be the end for those who disobey the Good News of God? Now, ‘if it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what shall become of the ungodly and the sinner?’ So then, those who suffer according to God’s will—let them trust their souls to a faithful Creator while continuing to do good.”  

Now please read 1 Peter 5:7-11, “Cast all your worries on Him, for He cares for you. Stay alert! Watch out! Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, searching for someone to devour. Stand up against him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being laid upon your brothers and sisters throughout the world. After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace—who has called you into His eternal glory in Messiah—will Himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. All power to Him forever! Amen.”

God loves all His people and His purpose is to prosper us and not to harm us but to give us a hope and a future.  Just like the Israelites, we can also lift up our eyes to the heavens from where our hope comes from, for our help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.  Our God neither slumbers nor sleeps and He will watch over us, His chosen people from this day forward.  So, if you are allowed to suffer, think of it as a time of learning and a time of growing and a time of maturing and a time for thanking and praising the Lord for what He is doing in your life!!  So, don’t give up and throw in the towel, continue to trust Him and hang in there and keep on keeping on.

There is more that I could say on this subject, maybe another time, may the good Lord bless you and keep you from falling and may he bless you and yours with His perfect peace, love and joy and health and happiness!! Have a super day!!