We do need some encouragement to know that we are on the right track spiritually.
God wants us to KNOW that we are saved. He is all for assurance.
So, the best question is NOT: When did I pray a prayer and give my heart to Jesus? That is so in the past and though you may have committed to Him in the past, what are you doing with Him NOW?
The best question IS: What is my present posture or position with Christ now?
Yes it is true we believe "once saved always saved" yet the more accurate statement is:
"Once saved, forever following".
Belief and Repentance...
That is truly all it takes. It is really quite simple.
And it's not about you or me, it's about the finished work that Christ has done on your behalf, on my behalf.
All we have to do is repent - admit our sin, turn 180 degrees and follow Jesus to the end.
God has offered it to us all and we have the opportunity at any time to believe and repent.
Obey this command and God will save you.
Mark 1:14-15 - "And after John was put into prison, Jesus went into Galilee proclaiming the good news of God. 'The time has come,' He said. 'The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news'."
What is your present posture or position with Christ?
Are you walking with Him? Are you seeking Him? Do you desire your life to be in His will? Have you committed to Him your all? Are you persevering?
Hebrews 3:14-15 - "We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. As has been said, 'Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion'."
Matthew 24:12-13 - "Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved."
There are warnings, which we've discussed in the last few blogs. The warnings are to make us take heed, to wake us up and take a look at our walk with Christ.
There are also assurances so that we will be able to stand firm in and on our faith.
1 John is full of confirmation 'tests' that show the Spirit at work in our hearts. This is one of the ways we can 'work out our salvation with fear and trembling'.
1 John 2:3-6 - Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, "I know Him" and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him out himself also to walk just as He walked.
(We aren't going to be sinless or perfect, but our hearts will desire to please Him and walk with Him more than not.)
1 John 2:9 - He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now.
(To hate is to reject God's creation.)
1 John 2:15 - If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
(Loving the world and trying to be in Christ is an impossibility. With Christ there is no fence straddling.)
I challenge you to read 1 John. We all need to take a refresher course every now and then.
Saving faith, perseveres to the end, but it also makes inexorable changes in our hearts. The presence of these new attitudes in our life assure us of God's grace at work in our lives - because we sure can't do that in our own flesh.
If we try to live for God in our own strength then we can only be 'good' for a short while. If it's not the Spirit doing His work in our lives then it's not going to last and we will fall away and our salvation wasn't real to begin with.
A love for God and a love for others...the two categories of heart changes.
And isn't this what has been said since the beginning -
to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your strength, all your mind and all your soul; and to love your neighbor as yourself.
What if we still love to sin? What if we still struggle with certain sins?
Believers can and do struggle with just about any kind of sinful lusts. That's the war raging within us.
Before one becomes a Christ follower we don't 'struggle' with sin. We run to it; we embrace it eagerly. Our only conscience that struggles with the sins is usually according to how we were raised, what we hold as morals.
After becoming a Christ follower our struggle with sin is much deeper. We feel the tension of the struggle every day. It grieves us that we are committing offenses against God. We struggle with the wickedness of the sin. The Spirit within us doesn't leave us alone, the Spirit and the flesh war with one another.
Only the Holy Spirit within you will show you your sin. The struggle with sin can be a good indicator that you are saved. :)
Our hope rests on God's promises, on Christ's finished work on the cross.
Philippians 1:6 - "Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."
Amplified Bible Philippians 1:6 - "And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that good work] and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you."
And though Paul is the one who penned this prayer, it is my prayer for my children and for everyone who reads this blog -
"And this is my prayer,
that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,
so that you may discern what is best
and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,
filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ -
to the glory and praise of God." Phil. 1:9-11
Until He comes...
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Friday, August 22, 2014
Faith that Fades...
Today is a new day and I want to give a more encouraging message yet the time is fleeting and there is an urgency in the air.
Just like God and Jesus, I want everyone to be saved. Everyone that I can reach with the urgency of the time I want to make sure that people KNOW they are saved.
There is no judgment but there is sadness that I know people who by all appearances, aka their fruit, think themselves to be saved. They have turned their backs on God. They are not living their lives in any form the way a true Christ-follower would live. Yet they prayed "the sinners prayer" and have their fire insurance salvation but I am afraid for these who will end up being told by Jesus "depart from me because I never knew you".
That fear and the desire to have God say to me "Well done, my good and faithful servant" motivates me to persevere through trials and hurts and devastations and questionings and doubts.
I want to continue to follow Jesus.
Saving faith always endures to the end.
In looking at the Scriptures from yesterday to you realize that the writers were all talking to the church. Every letter was written to a church somewhere.
God gives us warnings if we would just heed them. He wants us to nail down our faith with fear and trembling. He wants us to not take His grace for granted.
So what about those who really get caught up in the spiritual high moment? What about those that were so "on fire" in the beginning? Yet years later or maybe just even a short time later they are nowhere to be found inside the church. These people are just like the seeds we talked about yesterday.
Faith that fades, no matter how fruitful in the beginning, is not saving faith.
See, our intensity or emotions in the beginning have nothing to do with our saving faith. Saving faith and superficial faith are different because of their endurance over time. Praying a prayer isn't the end all to assurance you are saved. The assurance comes from continuing in that faith until the end of your life, diligent in pursuing Christ from Alpha to Omega, the beginning and the end.
Hebrews 6:11 "We desire that each of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end."
Philippians 2:12-13 "So then my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not just in my presence but even much more now in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure."
We aren't talking about a works based salvation here; we are talking about a saving faith where a true believer never stops following Jesus.
As my pastor said not too many weeks ago, working out our salvation with fear and trembling is taking a look at where we are right now with Christ. It's not basing our saving faith on what has happened in the past; it's basing our saving faith on what Christ is doing in our heart right now, in this moment, in this situation.
Is my heart for Christ or against Christ? Is my life one of obedience and a desire for obedience or am I living my own way without a care as to what Christ desires for me? Is He Lord of my life or not?
When you look at these questions we can see there is no middle ground, there is no way to straddle a fence with Jesus. He either IS or He ISN'T.
Are you trying to straddle a fence in your walk with Christ? It's not very comfortable and it doesn't work.
Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Make sure your faith isn't fading.
I sure am.
Until he comes...
Just like God and Jesus, I want everyone to be saved. Everyone that I can reach with the urgency of the time I want to make sure that people KNOW they are saved.
There is no judgment but there is sadness that I know people who by all appearances, aka their fruit, think themselves to be saved. They have turned their backs on God. They are not living their lives in any form the way a true Christ-follower would live. Yet they prayed "the sinners prayer" and have their fire insurance salvation but I am afraid for these who will end up being told by Jesus "depart from me because I never knew you".
That fear and the desire to have God say to me "Well done, my good and faithful servant" motivates me to persevere through trials and hurts and devastations and questionings and doubts.
I want to continue to follow Jesus.
Saving faith always endures to the end.
In looking at the Scriptures from yesterday to you realize that the writers were all talking to the church. Every letter was written to a church somewhere.
God gives us warnings if we would just heed them. He wants us to nail down our faith with fear and trembling. He wants us to not take His grace for granted.
So what about those who really get caught up in the spiritual high moment? What about those that were so "on fire" in the beginning? Yet years later or maybe just even a short time later they are nowhere to be found inside the church. These people are just like the seeds we talked about yesterday.
Faith that fades, no matter how fruitful in the beginning, is not saving faith.
See, our intensity or emotions in the beginning have nothing to do with our saving faith. Saving faith and superficial faith are different because of their endurance over time. Praying a prayer isn't the end all to assurance you are saved. The assurance comes from continuing in that faith until the end of your life, diligent in pursuing Christ from Alpha to Omega, the beginning and the end.
Hebrews 6:11 "We desire that each of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end."
Philippians 2:12-13 "So then my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not just in my presence but even much more now in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure."
We aren't talking about a works based salvation here; we are talking about a saving faith where a true believer never stops following Jesus.
As my pastor said not too many weeks ago, working out our salvation with fear and trembling is taking a look at where we are right now with Christ. It's not basing our saving faith on what has happened in the past; it's basing our saving faith on what Christ is doing in our heart right now, in this moment, in this situation.
Is my heart for Christ or against Christ? Is my life one of obedience and a desire for obedience or am I living my own way without a care as to what Christ desires for me? Is He Lord of my life or not?When you look at these questions we can see there is no middle ground, there is no way to straddle a fence with Jesus. He either IS or He ISN'T.
Are you trying to straddle a fence in your walk with Christ? It's not very comfortable and it doesn't work.
Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Make sure your faith isn't fading.
I sure am.
Until he comes...
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Once Saved Always Saved BUT...
I did the blog on "fire insurance" and how the Bible gives no evidence of fire insurance salvation.
The Bible does however tell us that salvation is two-sided. Belief and Repentance go hand in hand. Not one without the other.
And the Bible does teach the belief of "once saved always saved".
John 6:37,39 Jesus says, "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will never cast out...And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I should lose nothing of all He has given me."
John 10:27-28 Jesus again says, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch the out of My hand."
All that the Father gives to Jesus come to Him. He turns away none and loses none. He raises all of whom the Father gave to Him.
Jesus gives His sheep eternal life, they never perish, and not even the enemy as hard as he may try can remove Jesus' children from His hand.
All pretty straightforward statements.
So, since the teaching of once saved always saved is true then why is there no such thing as fire insurance salvation?
Why can't a person just pray and ask Jesus to come into their heart and go on about their merry way, living their life as they desire?
Because of all the other verses throughout the New Testament. Lots and lots of them. They don't talk about losing your salvation but they do talk about
how our lives will be different and
our want-to will be different and
how we will persevere and not turn our backs on God and
how we will continue in our walk with God from the beginning to the end and
so much more.
The Parable of the Sower and the Seed
The first set of Scriptures that come to my mind is the parable of the sower and the seed in Matthew 13:3-9, 18-23. I won't tell you what I had been taught about this parable (don't want any confusion) but I will tell you what I now know about this parable. If you have been taught differently then please study for yourself and see.
The sower sowed seed and it ended up in 4 places.
Some landed beside the road and immediately it was eaten by the birds. This is the Word that is heard by people but the enemy snatches it away from them. They are not saved.
Some seed landed in rocky places where there wasn't enough soil, enough for it to sprout but not grow. This is the Word that is heard by people and they receive it gladly and even seem to live in it for a bit, but it's only temporary. When hard times come, when trials and tribulation comes then they fall away because they had no firm root to hold it. According to the Scriptures above, they too are not saved.
Some seed landed among the thorns and as it tried to grow the thorns and weeds choked it out. This is the Word that is heard by people but the worries of this world and the wealth of this world aka the things of this world call harder to him than the things of God so the Word is choked and that person bears no fruit. According to the Scriptures above, these people too are not saved.
And some seed landed in the good soil and it grew and it was nourished and it produced and reproduced a harvest many times over. This is the Word that is heard by people, that is understood by them and it bears fruit in their lives many times over. This is the one who is truly saved. This is the one who will inherit eternal life. This is the one that will never be snatched out of the Father's hand. This is the one who the Father will in no way cast out.
The following verses and so many more that I couldn't begin to cover in a blog are verses that I've wondered about during my adult years. If you read these verses and then try to put what I had always been taught on top of them it just didn't add up.
A friend and I had met together for a while years ago, wondering about these very verses and these very issues and as we read we did come to these conclusions but it wasn't 'popular' at the time and so we backed off, still scratching our heads.
NOW I have answers that we were looking for years ago. It's NEVER too late for God to open your eyes and reveal Him and His Word to you.
Paul never said in the New Testament "Now that you have trusted Christ you will go to heaven no matter what"!
Paul was concerned about the new faith of his converts in Thessalonica; he didn't want his work with them to have been in vain. I Thessalonians 3:5 "For this reason when I could no longer endure it, I sent to know your faith, least by some means the tempter had tempted you, and our labor might be in vain."
He lived with fear that the tempter could take back all the ground he had gained with them through his initial preaching. He urged his converts to not waver from their confession of faith, if so their initial response of faith would do them no good.
To the Philippians he said something very similar. Philippians 2:6 "You should hold fast to the word of life, so that i may rejoice in the day of Christ that I did not run in vain or labor in vain." Again, he is telling them to hold on tight to the Word.
Jude warned his young church in Jude 20-21 "But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life".
The writer of Hebrews gave strong warnings. Hebrews 12:15 "See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no 'root of bitterness' springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled." Hebrews 2:1 "Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away." Hebrews 3:12-14 "Beware, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but encourage one another daily, while it is called 'Today', lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers in Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end."
Even Jesus warned: John 15:6 "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire and they are burned."
And again in Matthew 10:22 "He who endures to the end will be saved."
Pretty heavy stuff here!
I do not believe these verses teach us that we can lose our salvation. We already determined that at the beginning of this blog where God's children will not be cast out of His hand.
But I do believe that these verses and so many others tell us something very important about saving faith:
Saving faith always endures to the end.
The warnings need to be taken at face value. It is all part of God's Word that we are to look at as a whole. These verses say if we fall away we will not be saved in the end.
Yet since those who are truly saved cannot lose it, we have to come to the conclusion that to fail to heed the warnings shows we never possessed true saving faith to start with.
That seems to be the only way those verses could be true, right?
I'll be back. This gives you food for thought and prayer and to study up on.
Until He comes...
The Bible does however tell us that salvation is two-sided. Belief and Repentance go hand in hand. Not one without the other.
And the Bible does teach the belief of "once saved always saved".
John 6:37,39 Jesus says, "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will never cast out...And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I should lose nothing of all He has given me."
John 10:27-28 Jesus again says, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch the out of My hand."
All that the Father gives to Jesus come to Him. He turns away none and loses none. He raises all of whom the Father gave to Him.
Jesus gives His sheep eternal life, they never perish, and not even the enemy as hard as he may try can remove Jesus' children from His hand.
All pretty straightforward statements.
So, since the teaching of once saved always saved is true then why is there no such thing as fire insurance salvation?
Why can't a person just pray and ask Jesus to come into their heart and go on about their merry way, living their life as they desire?
Because of all the other verses throughout the New Testament. Lots and lots of them. They don't talk about losing your salvation but they do talk about
how our lives will be different and
our want-to will be different and
how we will persevere and not turn our backs on God and
how we will continue in our walk with God from the beginning to the end and
so much more.
The Parable of the Sower and the Seed
The first set of Scriptures that come to my mind is the parable of the sower and the seed in Matthew 13:3-9, 18-23. I won't tell you what I had been taught about this parable (don't want any confusion) but I will tell you what I now know about this parable. If you have been taught differently then please study for yourself and see.
The sower sowed seed and it ended up in 4 places.
Some landed beside the road and immediately it was eaten by the birds. This is the Word that is heard by people but the enemy snatches it away from them. They are not saved.
Some seed landed in rocky places where there wasn't enough soil, enough for it to sprout but not grow. This is the Word that is heard by people and they receive it gladly and even seem to live in it for a bit, but it's only temporary. When hard times come, when trials and tribulation comes then they fall away because they had no firm root to hold it. According to the Scriptures above, they too are not saved.
Some seed landed among the thorns and as it tried to grow the thorns and weeds choked it out. This is the Word that is heard by people but the worries of this world and the wealth of this world aka the things of this world call harder to him than the things of God so the Word is choked and that person bears no fruit. According to the Scriptures above, these people too are not saved.
And some seed landed in the good soil and it grew and it was nourished and it produced and reproduced a harvest many times over. This is the Word that is heard by people, that is understood by them and it bears fruit in their lives many times over. This is the one who is truly saved. This is the one who will inherit eternal life. This is the one that will never be snatched out of the Father's hand. This is the one who the Father will in no way cast out.
The following verses and so many more that I couldn't begin to cover in a blog are verses that I've wondered about during my adult years. If you read these verses and then try to put what I had always been taught on top of them it just didn't add up.
A friend and I had met together for a while years ago, wondering about these very verses and these very issues and as we read we did come to these conclusions but it wasn't 'popular' at the time and so we backed off, still scratching our heads.
NOW I have answers that we were looking for years ago. It's NEVER too late for God to open your eyes and reveal Him and His Word to you.
Paul never said in the New Testament "Now that you have trusted Christ you will go to heaven no matter what"!
Paul was concerned about the new faith of his converts in Thessalonica; he didn't want his work with them to have been in vain. I Thessalonians 3:5 "For this reason when I could no longer endure it, I sent to know your faith, least by some means the tempter had tempted you, and our labor might be in vain."
He lived with fear that the tempter could take back all the ground he had gained with them through his initial preaching. He urged his converts to not waver from their confession of faith, if so their initial response of faith would do them no good.
To the Philippians he said something very similar. Philippians 2:6 "You should hold fast to the word of life, so that i may rejoice in the day of Christ that I did not run in vain or labor in vain." Again, he is telling them to hold on tight to the Word.
Jude warned his young church in Jude 20-21 "But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life".
The writer of Hebrews gave strong warnings. Hebrews 12:15 "See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no 'root of bitterness' springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled." Hebrews 2:1 "Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away." Hebrews 3:12-14 "Beware, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but encourage one another daily, while it is called 'Today', lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers in Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end."
Even Jesus warned: John 15:6 "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire and they are burned."
And again in Matthew 10:22 "He who endures to the end will be saved."
Pretty heavy stuff here!
I do not believe these verses teach us that we can lose our salvation. We already determined that at the beginning of this blog where God's children will not be cast out of His hand.
But I do believe that these verses and so many others tell us something very important about saving faith:
Saving faith always endures to the end.
The warnings need to be taken at face value. It is all part of God's Word that we are to look at as a whole. These verses say if we fall away we will not be saved in the end.
Yet since those who are truly saved cannot lose it, we have to come to the conclusion that to fail to heed the warnings shows we never possessed true saving faith to start with.
That seems to be the only way those verses could be true, right?
I'll be back. This gives you food for thought and prayer and to study up on.
Until He comes...
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Fire Insurance is Only for Your House, not Your Temple
I had a request.
Seems some info I had included in my previous post "It's just too much!" got a little lost in the midst of everything else I was saying.
Once again I will just jump right in.
Do you know the truth or are you deceived?
Do you know Jesus or are you expecting to get into Heaven with fire insurance?
For a long time we have been led to believe that all we had to do was repeat a prayer the preacher or visiting evangelist or Sunday School teacher said and we would be saved.
That helped to get a lot of people 'saved' and souls brought to Christ.
After all Romans 10:13 says (we can probably all quote this one in King James version): For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
And maybe some people were saved that way, truly saved and went on to develop a true relationship with the Lord.
And then there are those who base their salvation on that prayer they said or repeated when they were younger and their lives have not followed the Lord since.
Now don't get me wrong. I firmly believe in 'once saved always saved'. I believe the Bible demonstrates that principle over and over many times.
But no where in God's Word have I found anything about fire insurance salvation.
That is the very thing that Jesus spoke about in Matthew 7:21 when He told the people standing before Him in heaven to depart because He never knew them. And these people had done all manner of things in Jesus' name. Everyone had probably looked at them as being some of the best 'saints in their church'; after all, these people had cast out demons and performed miracles. Yet they weren't saved.
But, you may argue, they knew Jesus.
James 2:19 - "You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe -
and tremble!"
The demons know God. They know Jesus. They definitely believe He exists. They really know better than all of us the reality of God and Jesus because they've seen Him. They even know what Jesus did in paying the price for salvation. BUT they haven't repented of THEIR sins and evil ways and accepted Jesus as THEIR Savior, THEIR Lord.
There is a belief that still doesn't save.
So how does all this work? What is true salvation? How can we know that we are saved, after all the Bible tells us God wants us to have assurance of our salvation.
Glad you asked! Let's go back to the Romans 10:13 scripture.
"For whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
This verse taken out of context can pretty much mean anything you want it to mean. It sounds like "Ok, just say the Lord's name and I will be saved." Or "I'll just pray that prayer because it has me reaching out to the Lord and I will be saved. Cool." Or it could mean one can wait forever and if on their deathbed they just say "Lord!" then they will be saved.
But this verse taken in context means something a whole lot different.
In Romans Paul is talking to both the Jews and the Gentiles. Romans 10 is talking about salvation and WHO can be saved. At the time it was a completely new idea to the Jews that the Gentiles could be included in their faith. It was a completely new concept that Jesus opened faith and salvation up to not only the Jews, His chosen people, but also opened faith and salvation to the Gentiles as well.
Paul also talks to the people how just because the Jews were circumcised didn't mean the Gentiles had to be circumcised for their salvation to be sealed, to take effect.
So in the midst of all this Paul says, "For WHOSOEVER shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Whosoever included Jews and Gentiles, slaved and freed, any race, any nationality, any person on the face of the earth. And whosoever included you and me since we are included under the 'title' of Gentile.
So we see any of us are able, are allowed, to be saved.
It's vitally important to read for context and not take a verse or group of verses out of context, we must read the whole story to make sure we understand what is being said.
That's also why it is vitally important for us to understand the background of what is going on when the writer was writing the letter and to whom the letter was addressing.
So how are we saved?
In my post a few days back, I mentioned salvation is like a coin. We all know what coin we are looking at whether we see the front of the coin or the back of the coin. Regardless of seeing the back or front we know exactly what we are looking at and we can pay with it whether we hand it over face up or face down. The coin is one coin with two sides and the same value every single time. And the coin wouldn't be the same without both sides. Different pictures on either side and it would be a counterfeit coin.
Salvation is like a coin. It is one salvation but it has two sides.
Belief and Repentance.
(I've been trying to come up with this explanation for years! And suddenly in the last month or so God revealed it to me!)
You can't have true salvation without both sides "of the coin".
Like we said in James 2:19, the demons believe. Even satan believes. Good grief, let's call it what it is - the demons and satan KNOW because they have seen God. But their knowledge and their belief doesn't save them.
Your knowledge and your belief doesn't save you.
It's when repentance comes into the picture that salvation is true.
The demons and satan have never repented of their sins. That's why their knowledge and belief do not save them.
True salvation comes when there is repentance with your belief.
Mark 1:14-15 Jesus Himself went into Galilee preaching the gospel saying, "The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel".
Repentance comes because we absolutely feel Godly sorrow for our sins and we realize that Jesus Himself put on those sins for us on the cross. Jesus died for OUR sins. How can we not repent of those sins and be sorrowful for what we have done?
And if He died for all the sins of all mankind, how can we continue to purposely live in continued sin if we say we want Him to be our Lord, to be our Savior?
Salvation is a one time work with an ongoing living. We are being saved every day.
Yes, I believe 'once saved always saved'.
But I believe just what the Bible says, "If any man be in Christ he IS a new creation. Old things are passed away, behold all things are become new." 2 Corinthians 5:17
Do I think we will never sin? Heavens No!
But I do think our lifestyle will be such that God has more victory than the enemy does in our life.
I do think our 'want-to' will be different.
I do think our desires will be different.
I do think our heart will yearn to be all of what God has for us and not continue to be more wrapped up in the world than wrapped up in Christ.
I do think we will allow God to work in our lives to change us and we will do the HARD WORK He calls us to.
Will there possibly be a season or several seasons in our life where we may walk more in sin than in the Spirit? Absolutely.
BUT the Spirit within us will not let us stay there and we can't live with ourselves by staying there.
NO fire insurance salvation.
It is a commitment of our heart and our life and our forever - forever not only in eternity but our forever here on earth.
After all, we all live for eternity. We just get to choose where our eternity after earth will be.
We all live for eternity. And when we give our lives over the Lord our heavenly eternity started right then. It's not something we strive for, it's something we are working on right now.
I'm saved. My husband is saved. My daughters are saved. I have some great friends who are saved.
All of our lives have been changed. There is more of an upward walk with God than a downward spiral. We have all chosen to persevere to the end.
What about you?
Do you have the salvation 'coin' of belief and repentance in your life, choosing to persevere to the end?
I pray so, if not, now is the time of salvation.
Until He comes...
Seems some info I had included in my previous post "It's just too much!" got a little lost in the midst of everything else I was saying.
Once again I will just jump right in.
Do you know the truth or are you deceived?
Do you know Jesus or are you expecting to get into Heaven with fire insurance?
For a long time we have been led to believe that all we had to do was repeat a prayer the preacher or visiting evangelist or Sunday School teacher said and we would be saved.
That helped to get a lot of people 'saved' and souls brought to Christ.
After all Romans 10:13 says (we can probably all quote this one in King James version): For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
And maybe some people were saved that way, truly saved and went on to develop a true relationship with the Lord.
And then there are those who base their salvation on that prayer they said or repeated when they were younger and their lives have not followed the Lord since.
Now don't get me wrong. I firmly believe in 'once saved always saved'. I believe the Bible demonstrates that principle over and over many times.
But no where in God's Word have I found anything about fire insurance salvation.
That is the very thing that Jesus spoke about in Matthew 7:21 when He told the people standing before Him in heaven to depart because He never knew them. And these people had done all manner of things in Jesus' name. Everyone had probably looked at them as being some of the best 'saints in their church'; after all, these people had cast out demons and performed miracles. Yet they weren't saved.
But, you may argue, they knew Jesus.
James 2:19 - "You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe -
and tremble!"
The demons know God. They know Jesus. They definitely believe He exists. They really know better than all of us the reality of God and Jesus because they've seen Him. They even know what Jesus did in paying the price for salvation. BUT they haven't repented of THEIR sins and evil ways and accepted Jesus as THEIR Savior, THEIR Lord.
There is a belief that still doesn't save.
So how does all this work? What is true salvation? How can we know that we are saved, after all the Bible tells us God wants us to have assurance of our salvation.
Glad you asked! Let's go back to the Romans 10:13 scripture.
"For whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
This verse taken out of context can pretty much mean anything you want it to mean. It sounds like "Ok, just say the Lord's name and I will be saved." Or "I'll just pray that prayer because it has me reaching out to the Lord and I will be saved. Cool." Or it could mean one can wait forever and if on their deathbed they just say "Lord!" then they will be saved.
But this verse taken in context means something a whole lot different.
In Romans Paul is talking to both the Jews and the Gentiles. Romans 10 is talking about salvation and WHO can be saved. At the time it was a completely new idea to the Jews that the Gentiles could be included in their faith. It was a completely new concept that Jesus opened faith and salvation up to not only the Jews, His chosen people, but also opened faith and salvation to the Gentiles as well.
Paul also talks to the people how just because the Jews were circumcised didn't mean the Gentiles had to be circumcised for their salvation to be sealed, to take effect.
So in the midst of all this Paul says, "For WHOSOEVER shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Whosoever included Jews and Gentiles, slaved and freed, any race, any nationality, any person on the face of the earth. And whosoever included you and me since we are included under the 'title' of Gentile.
So we see any of us are able, are allowed, to be saved.
It's vitally important to read for context and not take a verse or group of verses out of context, we must read the whole story to make sure we understand what is being said.
That's also why it is vitally important for us to understand the background of what is going on when the writer was writing the letter and to whom the letter was addressing.
So how are we saved?
In my post a few days back, I mentioned salvation is like a coin. We all know what coin we are looking at whether we see the front of the coin or the back of the coin. Regardless of seeing the back or front we know exactly what we are looking at and we can pay with it whether we hand it over face up or face down. The coin is one coin with two sides and the same value every single time. And the coin wouldn't be the same without both sides. Different pictures on either side and it would be a counterfeit coin.Salvation is like a coin. It is one salvation but it has two sides.
Belief and Repentance.
(I've been trying to come up with this explanation for years! And suddenly in the last month or so God revealed it to me!)
You can't have true salvation without both sides "of the coin".
Like we said in James 2:19, the demons believe. Even satan believes. Good grief, let's call it what it is - the demons and satan KNOW because they have seen God. But their knowledge and their belief doesn't save them.
Your knowledge and your belief doesn't save you.
It's when repentance comes into the picture that salvation is true.
The demons and satan have never repented of their sins. That's why their knowledge and belief do not save them.
True salvation comes when there is repentance with your belief.
Mark 1:14-15 Jesus Himself went into Galilee preaching the gospel saying, "The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel".
Repentance comes because we absolutely feel Godly sorrow for our sins and we realize that Jesus Himself put on those sins for us on the cross. Jesus died for OUR sins. How can we not repent of those sins and be sorrowful for what we have done?
And if He died for all the sins of all mankind, how can we continue to purposely live in continued sin if we say we want Him to be our Lord, to be our Savior?
Salvation is a one time work with an ongoing living. We are being saved every day.
Yes, I believe 'once saved always saved'.
But I believe just what the Bible says, "If any man be in Christ he IS a new creation. Old things are passed away, behold all things are become new." 2 Corinthians 5:17
Do I think we will never sin? Heavens No!
But I do think our lifestyle will be such that God has more victory than the enemy does in our life.
I do think our 'want-to' will be different.
I do think our desires will be different.
I do think our heart will yearn to be all of what God has for us and not continue to be more wrapped up in the world than wrapped up in Christ.
I do think we will allow God to work in our lives to change us and we will do the HARD WORK He calls us to.
Will there possibly be a season or several seasons in our life where we may walk more in sin than in the Spirit? Absolutely.
BUT the Spirit within us will not let us stay there and we can't live with ourselves by staying there.
NO fire insurance salvation.
It is a commitment of our heart and our life and our forever - forever not only in eternity but our forever here on earth.
After all, we all live for eternity. We just get to choose where our eternity after earth will be.
We all live for eternity. And when we give our lives over the Lord our heavenly eternity started right then. It's not something we strive for, it's something we are working on right now.
I'm saved. My husband is saved. My daughters are saved. I have some great friends who are saved.
All of our lives have been changed. There is more of an upward walk with God than a downward spiral. We have all chosen to persevere to the end.
What about you?
Do you have the salvation 'coin' of belief and repentance in your life, choosing to persevere to the end?
I pray so, if not, now is the time of salvation.
Until He comes...
Monday, August 18, 2014
That's Just the Way God Made Me...
Over the years I have heard various and sundry people say something about a sin or flaw or negative character trait in themselves, "that's just the way God made me".
Some things yes, that is just the way He made us, i.e. eye color, hair color, big boned, small boned, height, etc. Non-negotiables except that now we can change our eye color and our hair color whenever we wish, but you get my point. There are certain physical ways that God made us.
Some things yes, that is just the way He made us, i.e. eye color, hair color, big boned, small boned, height, etc. Non-negotiables except that now we can change our eye color and our hair color whenever we wish, but you get my point. There are certain physical ways that God made us.
And there are other ways that God has made us, i.e. some are not ruffled in the least, some are dramatic, some are slow pokes, some are super fast, some are optimistically positive, some are melancholy negative, some have a flair for art, some have a natural love for reading, some have a natural ability at sports or playing an instrument. So, yes there are certain traits within us that God planted.
But there are lots of ways within us that are not necessarily because of the way God made us. The babies that come delivered into this world already addicted to drugs, God didn't make them that way; the actions and choices of the mothers made them that way. God didn't make them with illnesses and mental challenges, their mother made them that way. So there are definitely things that happen that is directly opposite of the excuse "God made me that way".
A long time back in the 70's there was a phrase coined because of a tv show that was "The devil made me do it". That's a whole lot more feasible than "God made me that way".
We are born with a sin nature. I'm not telling you something you don't already know but hang in here with me for a minute, please.
We are born with a sin nature. We don't have to teach our babies and children to do the wrong things. They automatically can pitch fits, be sassy, be disobedient, be mean, etc. And if we are good parents or grandparents we won't let them grow up to continue such behavior. We don't want our kids to become 'those kids' who no one wants to see them coming. We don't want them behaving this same way when they are teenagers or adults. (I know some do but that isn't the goal of good parenting.)
The Bible tells us there are 3 major areas in which sins fall. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.
1 John 2:16 says, "For all that is in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes
and the pride of life - is not from the Father but is of the world.
The lust of the flesh - sins against the body - sexual sins, bodily harm
The lust of the eyes - sins where we desire and covet what others have or what we don't have
The pride of life - pride, ungodly boasting, thinking better of oneself than they really ought to, taking credit for everything and giving God nothing, thinking one is better than others, trying to make oneself look good in the eyes of others
God didn't make us this way. These sins are works that we succumb to because we are human and God has given us the ability to choose our own way since Adam and Eve sinned and left Eden. These sins are crafty lies of the devil since he was given permission to have earth as his roaming place.
God doesn't make us disobedient to our parents or to Him. God doesn't make us desire to be an alcoholic. God doesn't make us to crave pornography. God doesn't make us desire or plan to give in to drug use. God doesn't make us to murder. God doesn't make us to steal. God doesn't make us to covet. God doesn't make us take our anger out in abusive ways to our spouse and children. God doesn't make us molest others. God doesn't make us curse and say all manner of vile and mean and horrible words.
God DOES NOT make us this way.
So that's NOT "just the way God made me".
So when we hear a Christian music artist has decided to tell the world she is gay and her mission is to tell her followers that "it's okay to be who you are"...God DID NOT make her that way. That is not the mission that God had planned for her. She may be using her great voice and her wonderful way of writing music - ways God did make her - and using them counter to the Word of God, counter to what God desires for her.
In the beginning God made everything and in that everything God made it all to reproduce. He Himself made male and female animals, birds, etc. He Himself made a man and a woman. He even went so far as in the holly bushes in my yard there has to be male and female bushes coexisting to produce the berries. God told everything to be fruitful and multiply. That was His plan from the beginning and He made all the parts perfect for each other, they line up to do exactly as He planned.
When we read in history of the temple prostitutes and the orgies people did because of the idols and gods they chose to worship, we don't think "Oh, great, that was just the way God made them during that time. More power to them." NO, we think of that as sinful and against all that God desires for His creation.
When we hear today about the killing of Christians by the horrible extremists, how they behead children, rape and kill women, hang the men, kidnap the little girls to be their own wives, we don't say, "Oh that's just the way God made those people". NO, we are after them to exact justice, we see them as the horrible devil following people they are.
When we hear of people kidnapping young girls from their homes and locking them up until they escape years later, we don't say "Oh that's just the way God made that man and lady". We arrest them and put them in jail and throw away the key because they have succumbed to their own ways, they are disobedient.
When we know within ourselves that we shouldn't lie, that we should take care of our bodies, that we eat too much, that we give in to speaking foul language, that we shouldn't take someone else's husband/wife, that our kids shouldn't have sex before they are married - we don't say "Oh well that's just the way God made me" and do those things anyway. NO we begin to ask God to help us change, we repent of our sin and ask God to help us walk in the other direction.
Homosexuality is completely against God's created order of things.
And since we believe that God never changes and that His word is true from beginning to end then we must realize that God Himself doesn't make anyone this way.
We get to choose how we live. We get to choose whether we live in obedience to God or whether we give in to the lies of the devil.
Anything contrary to God is against God.
Anything that we allow to become more important to us than God Himself and His word then is sin.
Anything that we aren't willing to lay down for God and the cause of Christ to be all that He has called us to be, to give Him glory, to make His name known, to bring others to the saving grace of Christ then is sin.
In Matthew 7 Jesus was talking to the disciples and followers. He was warning them to beware of false prophets, of those who sounded like they spoke a good truth but were actually deceivers and not speaking the truth of God.
Jesus told them the ability to tell whether a person was truly of God or not was by their fruit, their actions. He didn't tell them not to judge. He told them to assess a person's fruit to tell whether they were of His truth or not of His truth.
Then He proceeded to tell them there are those who think they are going to be allowed into Heaven, those who think they are God's children and in
Matthew 7:21 He says,
"Not everyone to says to Me 'Lord Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the
one who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, 'Lord Lord
didn't we prophesy in Your name and drive out demons and perform miracles in Your name?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you! Depart from me, you evil doers!"
It is so easy in today's society to believe a watered down Gospel. It's so easy to say that "All who call on the name of the Lord shall be saved" Romans 10:13 (thinking you are getting fire insurance and a free ride to eternity in heaven) and forget the part about repentance that says, "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death". 2 Corinthians 7:10 {Go back and read my previous blog about the salvation coin if you need that explains repentance and belief go hand in hand and you can't have one without the other.}
So what do we do?
Do we condemn? NO.
Do we accept? The person, NOT the actions.
Do we associate? We can go to that person and tell them the truth of God's word. We can keep open lines of communication so God can use us if He wants to in that person's life. But if that person is going to bring us into confusing God's word, if they are going to cause us to lose sight of God's truth, if they are going to bring us down into their sin, if we are tempted in any way that they are living or believing, then the Bible says to "Flee from the appearance of all evil".
God is able to deliver us from ANYTHING that is in accordance to His Will and His Word.
And as my sweet friend said Sunday in her testimony, "One day at a time". And as the speaker from Highland Church said Saturday, "One more." One more day out of bondage. One more moment not given into temptation.
Just live One more day at a time.
Until He comes...
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
A Little Cinderella in Us All
Today I decided we needed a breath of fresh air. With all the heaviness and turmoil going on around us we needed a pick me up, an encouragement.
I changed my blog background to...Cinderella's Castle.
Anyone who knows me well is not surprised. I LOVE Disney. I ADORE Disney. I am CRAZY about Disney. Mainly Disney World in Orlando. You can have your cruises (I don't like water and I don't like heights-which to me depths are the equivalent and I'm claustrophobic so the thought of not seeing land FREAKS me out). I will take a trip to Disney World any time!
I love the sight of Cinderella's Castle. I love the color blue. I love the gingerbread work. I love the turrets. I love the massive size. I love the huge wooden door. I love the windows. And I love being able to imagine what it looks like inside.
Now Cinderella herself brings many things to my mind.
Once adored by her father, he marries a woman with two daughters and she bids her time until the man is dead. Then she takes over Cinderella's rightful inheritance and lavishes it upon herself and her daughters and renders Cinderella basically their slave. Mistreated, manipulated, made fun of and scorned, Cinderella has a pure heart and she does what she is told and dreams of a day when things will be different. She longs for her knight, her prince to come and take her away. She ends up having a night to remember, a night of romance and intrigue and excitement and beauty and love at first sight. But all that she is that night is an illusion and at midnight she is right back where she started. Yet the prince is looking for her and he is scouring the kingdom trying to find her. He isn't going to rest until he has made her his own. Cinderella is found, the slipper fits and she goes to be with the prince and her happily ever after.
You and I are adored by God the Father but His enemy has his hooks in us. We are slaves to our sin and our selfcenteredness.
Ephesians 2:4-5 "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love for us even
when we were dead in sins, made us alive together with Christ (for by grace you have
been saved)"
You and I have had our rightful inheritance stolen from us by satan. We are slaves to him and the ways of this world until we commit to Jesus.
1 Peter 5:8 "Be sober, be vigilant; because your enemy the devil walks around like a
roaring lion seeking someone he can devour"
Romans 6:19-22 "Just as you used to offer yourselves slaves to impurity and ever
increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to
holiness...But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is
death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
The good news is that we have a lover of our soul that is all that we could ever hope for and more.
Isaiah 61:1-3 "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me
to preach good tidings to the poor (meek), He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release from darkness for the prisoners...to
comfort all who mourn and provide for those who grieve..."
Jesus has the perfect garment and accessories that He is waiting to give us, it's a perfect fit.
Isaiah 61:3 "...to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy
instead of mourning, a garment of praise instead of a spirit of heaviness or despair..."
Why does He want to bestow upon us these things?
Isaiah 61:3 "...for the display of His splendor, that He may be glorified..."
Just like Cinderella accepted the glass slipper and his request for her hand in marriage, so Jesus wants us to accept His free gift of salvation.
Ephesians 2:8-9 "For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast."
Jesus is the Prince of Peace, He is our prince, the lover of our soul. He died in our place to redeem us and set us free. Jesus is the only way to our 'happily ever after'.
John 14:6 "Jesus said to them, I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the
Father except through Me."
John 14:2 "In My Father's house are many mansions, if it were not so I would have told
you; I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come
again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am you may be also."
When we accept Jesus free gift of grace, when we commit our lives to Him, when we take His hand and walk in Him we become the princess our hearts have always longed to be. We become the King's daughter and we have a rightful place in the kingdom.
We are accepted.
We are wanted.
We are loved.
We are valued.
We belong.
We are His.
1 Thessalonians 2:12 "That you would walk worthy of God, who has called you into His
kingdom and glory.
Colossians 1:10 "That you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him; being
fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God"
So hopefully the next time you see any reference to Cinderella you will have a different take on her story; that no matter what your walk in life, no matter your personality or likes and dislikes, no matter whether prissy or tomboyish you will realize there is Someone ready to fulfill all the hidden desires of your heart.
I'm oh so grateful that I am a Princess and my Daddy is God, Elohim, Yahweh.
Until He comes...
I changed my blog background to...Cinderella's Castle.
Anyone who knows me well is not surprised. I LOVE Disney. I ADORE Disney. I am CRAZY about Disney. Mainly Disney World in Orlando. You can have your cruises (I don't like water and I don't like heights-which to me depths are the equivalent and I'm claustrophobic so the thought of not seeing land FREAKS me out). I will take a trip to Disney World any time!
I love the sight of Cinderella's Castle. I love the color blue. I love the gingerbread work. I love the turrets. I love the massive size. I love the huge wooden door. I love the windows. And I love being able to imagine what it looks like inside.
Now Cinderella herself brings many things to my mind.
Once adored by her father, he marries a woman with two daughters and she bids her time until the man is dead. Then she takes over Cinderella's rightful inheritance and lavishes it upon herself and her daughters and renders Cinderella basically their slave. Mistreated, manipulated, made fun of and scorned, Cinderella has a pure heart and she does what she is told and dreams of a day when things will be different. She longs for her knight, her prince to come and take her away. She ends up having a night to remember, a night of romance and intrigue and excitement and beauty and love at first sight. But all that she is that night is an illusion and at midnight she is right back where she started. Yet the prince is looking for her and he is scouring the kingdom trying to find her. He isn't going to rest until he has made her his own. Cinderella is found, the slipper fits and she goes to be with the prince and her happily ever after.
You and I are adored by God the Father but His enemy has his hooks in us. We are slaves to our sin and our selfcenteredness.
Ephesians 2:4-5 "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love for us even
when we were dead in sins, made us alive together with Christ (for by grace you have
been saved)"
You and I have had our rightful inheritance stolen from us by satan. We are slaves to him and the ways of this world until we commit to Jesus.
1 Peter 5:8 "Be sober, be vigilant; because your enemy the devil walks around like a
roaring lion seeking someone he can devour"
Romans 6:19-22 "Just as you used to offer yourselves slaves to impurity and ever
increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to
holiness...But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is
death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
The good news is that we have a lover of our soul that is all that we could ever hope for and more.
Isaiah 61:1-3 "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me
to preach good tidings to the poor (meek), He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release from darkness for the prisoners...to
comfort all who mourn and provide for those who grieve..."
Jesus has the perfect garment and accessories that He is waiting to give us, it's a perfect fit.
Isaiah 61:3 "...to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy
instead of mourning, a garment of praise instead of a spirit of heaviness or despair..."
Why does He want to bestow upon us these things?
Isaiah 61:3 "...for the display of His splendor, that He may be glorified..."
Just like Cinderella accepted the glass slipper and his request for her hand in marriage, so Jesus wants us to accept His free gift of salvation.
Ephesians 2:8-9 "For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast."
Jesus is the Prince of Peace, He is our prince, the lover of our soul. He died in our place to redeem us and set us free. Jesus is the only way to our 'happily ever after'.
John 14:6 "Jesus said to them, I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the
Father except through Me."
John 14:2 "In My Father's house are many mansions, if it were not so I would have told
you; I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come
again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am you may be also."
When we accept Jesus free gift of grace, when we commit our lives to Him, when we take His hand and walk in Him we become the princess our hearts have always longed to be. We become the King's daughter and we have a rightful place in the kingdom.
We are accepted.
We are wanted.
We are loved.
We are valued.
We belong.
We are His.
1 Thessalonians 2:12 "That you would walk worthy of God, who has called you into His
kingdom and glory.
Colossians 1:10 "That you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him; being
fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God"
So hopefully the next time you see any reference to Cinderella you will have a different take on her story; that no matter what your walk in life, no matter your personality or likes and dislikes, no matter whether prissy or tomboyish you will realize there is Someone ready to fulfill all the hidden desires of your heart.
I'm oh so grateful that I am a Princess and my Daddy is God, Elohim, Yahweh.
Until He comes...
Sunday, August 10, 2014
It's Just Too Much!
Sometimes we hear and see so much going on in the world around us and we want to throw our hands up in the air and declare "It's just too much!" It's too much suffering. It's too much ugliness. It's too much hate. It's too much meanness. It's too much animosity. It's too much apathy. It's too much propaganda. It's too much lying. It's too much to filter. It's too much to comprehend. It's just too much!
What do we have a tendency to do when everything seems too overwhelming and too much? Usually we put our heads either in the sand or under the covers. Maybe not physically but definitely figuratively. If we just don't think about it it doesn't affect us (if something is happening to someone else). If I can just hide for a few minutes maybe it will all go away.
But children in Christian families in Iraq and Syria are still being beheaded whether I think about it or not. Women are still being raped and murdered whether I acknowledge it or not. Men, godly men trying to provide for their families the best they can are still being murdered, hung.
Do we think it's not our fight?
Do we think it's so far from the USofA that it can't affect us; it won't infiltrate us.
I believe it's time to think again.
ISIS. Islam. Muslim. Terrorists.
But they aren't just terrorists from another place. They aren't just something that has risen up suddenly. They aren't a group of wanna-bes. They are the real deal. They are a people. They aren't just a cause. They are a way of life. And they want the world. And they want the USofA, us...
And where are we, the good ol' USofA in Revelation? In Daniel?
If you think it can't happen here...
It's time to think again.
Yes, it's scary to think about. It's scary to think that all of this has been put in place from the foundation of the world. It's scary to think that all we know and love can be gone in the blink of an eye. It's scary to think if this doesn't come to a head right now, in the present, then what in the world will our children and grandchildren be left to face.
Personally my cry is for Daddy to send Jesus to come get His Bride. That's me. That's you if you are a Christ-follower.
The days are urgent. Now is the time for salvation.
"And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain - for He says, 'At the acceptable time I listened to you, and on the day of salvation I helped you'. Behold now is the acceptable time, behold now is the day of salvation." 2 Corinthians 6:1-2
Do you know Christ as your personal Lord and Savior? Do I know Christ as my personal Lord & Savior?
We need to have the answer right. We need to have Jesus in His rightful place in our lives. We need more than fire insurance. He is more than fire insurance.
Do you have a relationship with Jesus that is going to stand the test of time? Are you committed to Him. to persevere to the end? Are you abiding in Him or at least is the desire of your heart to abide in Him and you are pursuing Christ the best you can now with what you know and willing to grow?
Salvation...It's like a coin. Let's take a penny as our visual. A penny is one cent, no matter how you look at it. Yet there are two different and distinct sides to the penny. We call them heads and tails. One side is the face of Abraham Lincoln and the other side is the Lincoln Memorial or more recently the Union Shield. If we see either side all by itself we instictively know what is on the other side. It takes both sides of the coin to make a penny.
Same with salvation. For years people have made the 'salvation coin' one sided. Just pray this prayer and voila'! your saved. And tack on to that 'once saved always saved' (which let me clarify I do believe) and you have a fire insurance policy which lets one basically live any how they want to live. Some actually go on to love the Lord and live for Him but others don't by using the once saved always saved policy.
The salvation coin is one coin with two sides that go together to make a whole.
Belief AND Repentance.
They go together. They are one. You can't have one without the other. Just like you can't have the Father without the Son and Holy Spirit. They are melded as one. So is belief and repentance.
The demons believe and tremble. Good grief, the demons KNOW Jesus is Jesus the Son of God. They fear Him! But there is no repentance in them. They have the knowledge of Jesus but not the personal relationship with Jesus as Lord and Savior. They don't pledge their allegiance to Him.
Do you have a relationship with Jesus? Have you pledged your allegiance to Him and Him alone? Are you living for Jesus, in for the long haul and not just pending all your hope on 'fire insurance'?
I think there is an urgency.
Until He comes...
What do we have a tendency to do when everything seems too overwhelming and too much? Usually we put our heads either in the sand or under the covers. Maybe not physically but definitely figuratively. If we just don't think about it it doesn't affect us (if something is happening to someone else). If I can just hide for a few minutes maybe it will all go away.
But children in Christian families in Iraq and Syria are still being beheaded whether I think about it or not. Women are still being raped and murdered whether I acknowledge it or not. Men, godly men trying to provide for their families the best they can are still being murdered, hung.
Do we think it's not our fight?
Do we think it's so far from the USofA that it can't affect us; it won't infiltrate us.
I believe it's time to think again.
ISIS. Islam. Muslim. Terrorists.
But they aren't just terrorists from another place. They aren't just something that has risen up suddenly. They aren't a group of wanna-bes. They are the real deal. They are a people. They aren't just a cause. They are a way of life. And they want the world. And they want the USofA, us...
And where are we, the good ol' USofA in Revelation? In Daniel?
If you think it can't happen here...
It's time to think again.
Yes, it's scary to think about. It's scary to think that all of this has been put in place from the foundation of the world. It's scary to think that all we know and love can be gone in the blink of an eye. It's scary to think if this doesn't come to a head right now, in the present, then what in the world will our children and grandchildren be left to face.
Personally my cry is for Daddy to send Jesus to come get His Bride. That's me. That's you if you are a Christ-follower.
The days are urgent. Now is the time for salvation.
"And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain - for He says, 'At the acceptable time I listened to you, and on the day of salvation I helped you'. Behold now is the acceptable time, behold now is the day of salvation." 2 Corinthians 6:1-2
Do you know Christ as your personal Lord and Savior? Do I know Christ as my personal Lord & Savior?
We need to have the answer right. We need to have Jesus in His rightful place in our lives. We need more than fire insurance. He is more than fire insurance.
Do you have a relationship with Jesus that is going to stand the test of time? Are you committed to Him. to persevere to the end? Are you abiding in Him or at least is the desire of your heart to abide in Him and you are pursuing Christ the best you can now with what you know and willing to grow?
Salvation...It's like a coin. Let's take a penny as our visual. A penny is one cent, no matter how you look at it. Yet there are two different and distinct sides to the penny. We call them heads and tails. One side is the face of Abraham Lincoln and the other side is the Lincoln Memorial or more recently the Union Shield. If we see either side all by itself we instictively know what is on the other side. It takes both sides of the coin to make a penny.
Same with salvation. For years people have made the 'salvation coin' one sided. Just pray this prayer and voila'! your saved. And tack on to that 'once saved always saved' (which let me clarify I do believe) and you have a fire insurance policy which lets one basically live any how they want to live. Some actually go on to love the Lord and live for Him but others don't by using the once saved always saved policy.
The salvation coin is one coin with two sides that go together to make a whole.
Belief AND Repentance.
They go together. They are one. You can't have one without the other. Just like you can't have the Father without the Son and Holy Spirit. They are melded as one. So is belief and repentance.
The demons believe and tremble. Good grief, the demons KNOW Jesus is Jesus the Son of God. They fear Him! But there is no repentance in them. They have the knowledge of Jesus but not the personal relationship with Jesus as Lord and Savior. They don't pledge their allegiance to Him.
Do you have a relationship with Jesus? Have you pledged your allegiance to Him and Him alone? Are you living for Jesus, in for the long haul and not just pending all your hope on 'fire insurance'?
I think there is an urgency.
Until He comes...
Thursday, August 07, 2014
Continuing the Jump!
Israel. God's chosen people. (The second time to just jump right in!)
Like I said yesterday in the second 'bottom line':
If it wasn't for the Jewish people and the nation of Israel, you wouldn't be able to be a Christ-follower.
The picture to the side is the best way I can try and explain what all is in my heart.
The Jews are God's chosen people. The menorrah and the star of David are Jewish symbols.
But because of the rejection of Jesus by the Jews as a whole, the apostles were commissioned to share the Gospel with the Gentiles (that's us!). Gentiles believed and were saved. The fish symbol is a Christian symbol.
God didn't cast aside His chosen people, He just granted others access to Him as well. The saved Gentiles didn't take the place of His chosen people, we are adopted into His family.
Paul tells us in Romans 11:1 - "Has God cast away His people? Certainly not!" He goes on to explain that he himself is a Jew but given the ministry to the Gentiles. Paul goes on to say in Romans 11:11-15 that the Jews didn't stumble to fall but that through falling (rejecting Jesus) the Gentiles were given the chance for salvation and that if that made the Jews jealous and they come to follow Christ then that was a good thing! On in Romans 11 Paul gives an illustration of the Jews as God's chosen people as a cultivated olive tree. He said if the root is holy then all the branches are holy. In this illustration some of the branches were broken off (some of the Jews rejected Jesus). Then there is the wild olive tree (which represents the Gentiles). This wild olive tree was grafted into the cultivated olive tree. By being grafted in, that wild olive tree takes on the nourishment from the root system of the cultivated olive tree. That wild olive tree becomes one with the cultivated olive tree!
And that is where I am (and you are as a Christ-follower)! We are God's chosen people, not because we took the place of the Jews but because we have been grafted in with the original chosen people!
Paul tells us in Romans 11:18 that if we boast about our position in Christ we have to remember that we are but a branch, we don't support the root, the root supports us! Because of unbelief branches were broken off and because of our faith we were grafted in! And when Jews begin to believe they will also be grafted back in.
 |
| Grafted In... |
If it wasn't for the Jewish people and the nation of Israel, you wouldn't be able to be a Christ-follower.
The picture to the side is the best way I can try and explain what all is in my heart.
The Jews are God's chosen people. The menorrah and the star of David are Jewish symbols.
But because of the rejection of Jesus by the Jews as a whole, the apostles were commissioned to share the Gospel with the Gentiles (that's us!). Gentiles believed and were saved. The fish symbol is a Christian symbol.
God didn't cast aside His chosen people, He just granted others access to Him as well. The saved Gentiles didn't take the place of His chosen people, we are adopted into His family.
Paul tells us in Romans 11:1 - "Has God cast away His people? Certainly not!" He goes on to explain that he himself is a Jew but given the ministry to the Gentiles. Paul goes on to say in Romans 11:11-15 that the Jews didn't stumble to fall but that through falling (rejecting Jesus) the Gentiles were given the chance for salvation and that if that made the Jews jealous and they come to follow Christ then that was a good thing! On in Romans 11 Paul gives an illustration of the Jews as God's chosen people as a cultivated olive tree. He said if the root is holy then all the branches are holy. In this illustration some of the branches were broken off (some of the Jews rejected Jesus). Then there is the wild olive tree (which represents the Gentiles). This wild olive tree was grafted into the cultivated olive tree. By being grafted in, that wild olive tree takes on the nourishment from the root system of the cultivated olive tree. That wild olive tree becomes one with the cultivated olive tree!
And that is where I am (and you are as a Christ-follower)! We are God's chosen people, not because we took the place of the Jews but because we have been grafted in with the original chosen people!
Paul tells us in Romans 11:18 that if we boast about our position in Christ we have to remember that we are but a branch, we don't support the root, the root supports us! Because of unbelief branches were broken off and because of our faith we were grafted in! And when Jews begin to believe they will also be grafted back in.
Romans 11:25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved, [ as it is written: 28 Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30 For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience,31 even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. 32 For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.
Through these Scriptures in Romans 11 we see that
If it wasn't for the Jewish people and the nation of Israel, we wouldn't be able to be a Christ-follower.
We are all one together in Christ! Praise to our Daddy for His love and mercy and grace and for sending His Son Jesus, the Messiah, so we could be adopted into His family. Praise Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God and Son of Man for paying the price for our ransom, redeeming us.
Praying for Israel, for their salvation in so many ways. Praising God for protecting His own.
Until He comes...
Wednesday, August 06, 2014
Jumping Right In!
I have had a friend tell me over and over that I need to blog so I can share all the things that I talk about with her. My friend seems to think others need to know all the spiritual rantings and epiphanies I seem to keep telling her!
So I threw away the old posts since I've never done anything with this blog to this point and here I am trying to decide what to write about today.
When one goes swimming you know it's always better to either jump into the pool (or gulf or lake) instead of inching into it. Nothing to be timid about, just jump.
So instead of trying to tell you where I come from or what my views are or easing in with interesting safe little tidbits of info, I'm going to jump right in with what I am focusing on right now in my life.
Israel. God's chosen people. (See I told you I'm going to jump right in!)
Israel is all in the news right now. Oh... wait... no... that's right, they aren't. The big news stations aren't talking about Israel, aren't telling about what's going on in Israel. Aren't giving the truth about Israel. They are talking about the enemy of Israel, who is trying to annihilate Israel from the planet, lifting up Israel's enemy (Hamas) as the good guy and Israel as the bad guy.
Also they aren't talking about the even bigger problem of ISIS or ISIL succeeding right now in taking over Syria and Iraq which is one of the biggest or the biggest contributor of oil for the world.
Israel lies in a little piece of land in the Middle East. The Gaza strip (which is smaller) has been in the hands of the Palestinians. There has always been in Gaza someone or a group of someones who have wanted Israel done away with, the Jewish people done away with. Over the years the enemy ALWAYS starts the problems. Israel is ALWAYS on the defensive. (Sounds like our lives as Christ-followers, huh!? An enemy attacking us when all we want is peace in our lives...)
So why am I so involved with and up in arms about Israel? If you follow me on FaceBook you see my status updates and lately they have been all about Israel (or our leadership's lack of support for Israel).
Why does it matter, you ask? I'll be glad to tell you because as a Christ-follower you NEED to know and understand.
Simply put:
There is a curse upon those who curse Israel and there is a blessing upon those who bless Israel.
That's the "bottom line" (as our pastor calls it).
Another bottom line is this:
If it wasn't for the Jewish people and the nation of Israel, you wouldn't be able to be a Christ-follower.
First bottom line:
So I threw away the old posts since I've never done anything with this blog to this point and here I am trying to decide what to write about today.
When one goes swimming you know it's always better to either jump into the pool (or gulf or lake) instead of inching into it. Nothing to be timid about, just jump.
So instead of trying to tell you where I come from or what my views are or easing in with interesting safe little tidbits of info, I'm going to jump right in with what I am focusing on right now in my life.
Israel. God's chosen people. (See I told you I'm going to jump right in!)
Israel is all in the news right now. Oh... wait... no... that's right, they aren't. The big news stations aren't talking about Israel, aren't telling about what's going on in Israel. Aren't giving the truth about Israel. They are talking about the enemy of Israel, who is trying to annihilate Israel from the planet, lifting up Israel's enemy (Hamas) as the good guy and Israel as the bad guy.
Also they aren't talking about the even bigger problem of ISIS or ISIL succeeding right now in taking over Syria and Iraq which is one of the biggest or the biggest contributor of oil for the world.
Israel lies in a little piece of land in the Middle East. The Gaza strip (which is smaller) has been in the hands of the Palestinians. There has always been in Gaza someone or a group of someones who have wanted Israel done away with, the Jewish people done away with. Over the years the enemy ALWAYS starts the problems. Israel is ALWAYS on the defensive. (Sounds like our lives as Christ-followers, huh!? An enemy attacking us when all we want is peace in our lives...)
So why am I so involved with and up in arms about Israel? If you follow me on FaceBook you see my status updates and lately they have been all about Israel (or our leadership's lack of support for Israel).
Why does it matter, you ask? I'll be glad to tell you because as a Christ-follower you NEED to know and understand.
Simply put:
There is a curse upon those who curse Israel and there is a blessing upon those who bless Israel.
That's the "bottom line" (as our pastor calls it).
Another bottom line is this:
If it wasn't for the Jewish people and the nation of Israel, you wouldn't be able to be a Christ-follower.
First bottom line:
Genesis 12 Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
God doesn't take back His promises. If He says way back in the day He will make Israel a blessing to others, He means it, whether it's happened yet or not. And if He says He will curse those who curse Israel, He means it. It has happened down through the ages. Israel's enemies have always been dealt with one way or another. Today's relationships with Israel will be no exception.
As a nation, the United States has always had a president that knew the importance of siding with Israel. Whether they were all devote Christians or not, they didn't mock God and dismiss the warning. Billy Graham had been instrumental to have many many many president's ears and minds to keep them understanding the relationship the US needed to have with Israel. (I always wondered what was going to happen when he was no longer able to be God's voice of reason. And we are seeing the fruit of that happening now.)
Right now our leadership (and I say that lightly and I say this sadly) is not supporting or backing Israel.
How does that make you feel? It scares me to a large degree. It makes me angry also. And it makes me wonder just how does God view the United States of America? Is He only going to look at us as a unit and what our leaders decide He will allow all of us to suffer those consequences? Will even the true Christ-followers and those who love and pray for Israel be cursed along with our leadership and those who follow our leadership?
Or will God hear the cries of His true church here in the US and because there are so many of us that DO support and back Israel He will bless us and maybe even continue to bless our nation because of our prayers and faithfulness. Will He maybe not hold the sins of some against the whole? It doesn't hurt to pray and seek and diligently make our petitions known and accept the sins of the whole and ask for His forgiveness.
This is just one of the reasons we as Christ-followers need to know and understand how God feels about Israel and what our stance with Israel should be today.
I pray for Israel. I pray blessings upon Israel. I pray God will defend her (as He has been doing so far) and God will destroy her enemies (as He has been doing so far). I pray the Jewish people will see visions of their Messiah Jesus and that He has come and is their true Messiah and turn to Him in salvation. I pray God will divert the enemies missiles (as He has been doing) and I pray God will bring chaos and confusion to the enemy so they turn on each other and kill each other (as some of the missiles have done). I pray God will send Jesus to receive His bride - the church - soon so we can forever be with the Lord and see Him face to face.
We need to be praying in one accord as Christ-followers for there is power in prayer and power in unity.
So I think this is enough for today. The second bottom line I will talk about tomorrow.
Until He comes...
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