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If I never knew before what the people are wanting to know, I do now. The previous post, “Please, Tell Me About Jesus“, had more views than any other post in the history of God’s Topshelf AND one of the largest view count that I have had on any of my 10 blogs in all the time they have been in existence. People want to know about the Lord Jesus. They are hungry to know about Him. That says to me that we, as Christians, are in a place where we can witness of our Savior. We can tell them how we came to know Him. And we can tell them what it takes to have what we have.
Most professing Christians will not do that. In fact, some would rather allow the person to go to hell rather than embarrass themselves over it. Friend, if you are embarrassed to talk about the Lord Jesus and what He has done for you, the scripture is rather clear on this point, He will not recognize you either. And Him not recognizing you means that you are likely to suffer in the pits of hell. Are you ready to risk that simply because you might be a little embarrassed? Yes, there are those who do not want to hear a word of what we have to say. So be it. In time, they just might change their minds. Who knows. That is between them and God. We are to do what we are told by the Lord. And if there is any question, I can tell you that God has said that we all are to witness, if we do nothing else. Thing is, you can witness by being the best Christian you know how to be. Your light will shine and someone will say “I want what you have” simply because you have a smile on your face and they have no idea why.
This is the time to stop and think how many people out there want to know about Jesus but cannot find someone to ask. According to the statistics about the United States, you should be practically falling all over Christians in this country. The reality is that many who say they are Christian are not. They think that because their parents were Christian and raised them that way, they say. They go to church and give a buck or two. These are really good people, never hurt anyone in their lives. But those people who are so good and go to church are going to die and end up in hell. There is but one way into the heaven everyone wants to go to, Jesus Christ! And someone needs to tell them that. Most of you want the television preachers or the local pastor to do all this. I have news for you. God did not give the job just to them. He gave it to you!
(Mark 16:15-16) And He said to them (eleven disciples), Go into all the world, proclaim the gospel to all the creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned.
Now I know people who will argue that Jesus was talking to them, not us. True. But it is also clear that each time Jesus talked to them, He also meant that they should pass what they learn along to others who would do the same. Don’t believe that?
(John 17:20) (Jesus is praying for His followers at the Last Supper) And I do not pray for these alone, but for those also who shall believe on Me through their word,
He said “their word” meaning the words that they set down in the four gospels and the rest of the New Testament. So, it is clear that each person who professes Jesus as their Savior has an obligation to tell others about Him and what He did for them. Those who are grateful will do this out of love for their Lord. Those who do not, have not understood exactly what Jesus did for them. One thing I am extremely aware of is that if you are grateful to the Lord, you will show it in witness. People who know Jesus, do love to talk about Him. I can tell you that’s true in my own life. When I was preaching at the truckstop, I found it to be fun to talk about my Lord and Savior. It was a joy to tell people who the Lord is and what He has done for us. After those Sunday mornings, I had the excitement and joy lasting well into the night. Everything was all right, exceptionally all right. Now, as I type out things that the Lord encourages me to write, I feel that joy and excitement running through me. Why? Because I know that someone that God sent to this blog will understand something they never did before and give their lives to Jesus or they will come back to Jesus. It is an awesome thing to be part of what God is doing today. Awesome!!!
Just tell what’s in your heart about your Lord. What the person does about it is, for you, irrelevant. God has asked you to witness. Surely what He did is worth that small thing. And the love that comes from God is so worth it. Jesus is my Lord. He died on a cruel and terrible cross, taking on all the sins of the world and you so that you would not have to pay the price for your sins. He paid it all for you. If He had not done that, you would be bound for hell which, by the way, was not made for you. It was made for the fallen angels from heaven and for the devil who persuaded them to fall with him. He has always been extremely selfish and self centered. He knew God. He was his right hand angel. He knew what God thought about what he was going to do but he thought that he could gain God’s throne. That was his purpose but God saw it and cast him out of heaven. Others were cast out with him, a third of the angels. Now, because of that element entering earth and the not so friendly skies, we have evil and sin in this world. Jesus took care of all that for you.
Now is definitely the time to seek Jesus while He may be found. There will come a time when He will say no, you had your chance. A cut off time in coming. The last seven years of this horrible time is just about to occur. When it starts, there will be nasty and awful things happening in the world, worse than Adolf Hitler could ever imagine, worse than Hussein, worse than anyone you can think of. There will be earthquakes worse than you have ever seen, drought, sickness, famine, hurricanes worse than ever before and much more. People need to be ready for all that. And they will not be if no one will witness to them. Aren’t their souls worth the time to tell them about Jesus? YES!!! A thousand times yes!
Take the time to seek God and find out what your specific job is for Him and then go do it. You will not regret it. The joy of the Lord comes upon those who do the Master’s will. What a blessing of God it is to be His child. I am a child of the King! If you are not, just ask Jesus into your heart today. Free yourself by confessing your sins to Him and ask forgiveness. He will welcome you into the house of God and the family. I will warn you, there are many people who, at first, do not feel any different. This is not about feelings. This is about a decision to be a part of the family of God and to put Jesus into your heart. What a life!!!!
How many people ask you that? OUCH! That question came from God. It hurts to hear it because most of us never hear that question coming, no one asks. Why is that? The reality is that those same people do not see Jesus in us. OUCH! Yes, these things hurt us and it hurts our witness. We are not doing what we must to put forth the Word of God as we should. If we were doing what we were supposed to be doing, the world would already be completely divided into two factions, believers and non-believers. That is so true. Right now, even though you can argue that this is exactly what we have, I say that’s not strictly true. What we have are THREE factions; believers, non-believers and fence sitters, those who might or might not choose the Lord. Some are that way because they have never heard the Gospel, ever. Is it so strange to realize that people right here in the U.S. have never heard the Gospel? How about in other countries where it’s preached a lot?
We need to get the Gospel to the world! Why? Jesus told us that when that happens, the end shall come. What end? The world? Oh no. Jesus was talking about the end of an age of misery and pain, death and destruction. That is the end Jesus was talking about. The end will come when Jesus comes back to claim what is rightfully His. There is a song that I love to hear and sing, Till We All Fly Away. Songs like that move the heart, spirit of a person. I have no idea when we will fly but we will. God was clear that the Christian will not go through the wrath of God. And make no mistake, God’s wrath is coming. With the world conditions as they are now, the time is ripe for the enemy to take hold with his diabolical and horrifying dark servant, the anti-christ. He is exactly as that sounds, anti, the very opposite of God and Jesus. Our Father is giving, compassionate, loving, merciful, graceful, saving and Lord. The enemy is just the opposite and his dark servant will be the same. Time is ready for that to occur.
We absolutely must be ready for a time when people will come to us and say that very thing, “Please, tell me about Jesus!” and we will need to be prepared to answer that with the joy of the Lord, the salvation message. But if you never give anyone that message, are you doing your job as a Christian believer? I don’t think so. We ask the Lord Jesus into our hearts because we feel that need inside ourselves to know Him and want Him in our lives. He drew us to Him by the power of the Holy Ghost through others who felt the need to pass on what they knew.
Let me ask you this. If John, Peter, Paul, Luke, Mark, Matthew had not heeded God and wrote the New Testament, where would we be? I have no idea how God would have done it, I am certain His plan would go forth but how much harder would it have been to understand the Gospel message? Do you see how easy God has made it for us? Do you see how God worked it out so that we could have His message, His Word right in front of our eyes? We take that so for granted. I think about the countries that did not allow the Gospel to come in like Russia and the satellite countries at the time. One of the most compelling stories I have ever read concerned Brother Andrew and how he got Bibles into the closed countries. He started with one Bible, hidden from view. Then another Bible that sat on the seat beside him which the guards could not see. When that realization hit, he decided to send truckloads of Bibles into a country that said NO! You cannot have that here. Still, the people in that country were taking ONE Bible, cutting it up and each person having a page to memorize and pass around. Now that is wanting to know the Word of God.
People, we are so blessed in the countries where the Bible is fully accepted. We can have as many Bibles sitting in our homes as we have money to purchase them. How blessed and fortunate we are. But do we use that? Not really. And there are so many excuses not to share the Gospel. “I can’t say anything at work, I would get fired.” “I don’t know how to tell anyone.” “My neighbors would think I’m strange or lost it.” “I’m too shy to do all that. I don’t know where to start.” All these and so many more excuses are just that, excuses. I want to know something here. Are you grateful for the saving grace of Jesus? Did you go to the cross and have Him tell you no, that you were not good enough? Did He say to you that He was too shy to tell you the Gospel? No, He died a horrible, horrifying death on a cruel cross so that you could go to church and sit silently in your little pew for years on end, putting your dollar into the plate every week, listening to the pastor preach, wagging his hand after the service and going home to the same old situation, having forgotten everything the pastor just preached to you.
Before I get all the comments, I do realize that not everyone is like that. But just examine your life. Are you the shining example of Christianity so that someone will come to you some day soon and say to you, Please, tell me about Jesus! Examine yourself to see if those around you will know that you have something that they want. See, you do not have to present the Gospel at work by having a meeting around the table. You can be a shining, silent example of Jesus just by living the life of a righteous, born again child of God, a child of a King! The King’s kids act like King’s kids usually. They simply have the assurance that they are rulers. We have that as children of the King but we do not live like it.
Isn’t it time to live the life we were born to live? We, who claim to be Christians, need to show by example and our lives who we are in the Lord. You know, Jesus told us to let our lights shine and not put them under a bushel basket. Most of us live in our basket covered world. Let the Light shine! And one day, someone will come up and beg you to tell them about Jesus and because you love Him so much, are so grateful to Him for what He really did for you, you will tell the story to them and they will know that they can have what you have. No more secrets!!! Let the Light shine!
I love that song. It tells me what I need to keep in mind at all times. Tonight, there is someone who is needing to be uplifted so badly. Something really bad has happened to her and she is so down but she does not have to be. God is in control. Yes, it seems that He is not around when you need Him but He is right there to hold you, to give you peace that passes all understanding. No matter what has happened to you, He is there for you. It just seems like the world is against you, that no one understands your situation but you are wrong about that. God knows! He is holding you in the palm of His hands. He loves you!!! And so do I.
God and I wanted you to know that and to give you a song that will help and uplift you. Till We Fly Away sung by Ernie Haase and the Signature Sound. This touches my heart.
Remember, no matter what, we love you! And that was not one of those lessons to learn. Evil is running around rampant in the world right now. The enemy is gearing up because he knows he has but a short time. He is trying to gather as many into his prison as possible. Don’t listen!! Let this song and your Lord help you through this! It DOES matter. He is in control no matter what it may look like right now. We have been where you are tonight. God loves you. Come to Him.
Do you have that? Sometimes I think that we say we do when, in fact, we have no idea what that is, not until we experience it.
(Neh 8:10) Then he said to them, Go eat the fat and drink the sweet, and send portions to him for whom nothing is prepared. For this day is holy to our LORD. And do not be sorry, for the joy of Jehovah is your strength.
God is so interested in us receiving the joy of the Lord that He told us that it IS our strength. Don’t you sometimes feel like a wet dishrag, like someone has taken all of your strength and zapped it away. Not all of that strength is spiritual. Remember, God is a Spirit first so He teaches spirit first but He also teaches us how to handle our physical selves too. The problem is that if we do not immerse ourselves in the Lord, we lose the strength we have. Then when it’s needed, it’s already depleted.
I get the feeling people think that the joy of the Lord is all about jumping around and being happy, happy, shouting and having a good time. Maybe it’s partly that, though that would be the smallest part, it is also a knowing in your heart that the Lord is with you and taking care of everything for you, that He is right there no matter what. Now, lots of people say that they believe that but when push comes to shove that is not necessarily so. Why? Because they need to immerse themselves in God. Taking the time to talk with Him, study His Word and learn all you can is immersion in the Lord. I admit that I have not done that for a while myself. But it is time.
Billy Sunday, noted preacher once said;
“If you have no joy, there’s a leak in your Christianity somewhere.”
That is so true. Where is the leak in your Christianity today? Are you filled with the joy of the Lord which is your strength? Take note here. The joy of the Lord IS YOUR STRENGTH. If you do not feel strong in the Lord, perhaps it’s time to get back to the way things should be. God is right where He always is. It would be you who changed directions and tracked off somewhere. Yep, I know about that one. These days are dangerous and perilous. You can watch the scripture coming true right in front of your eyes. What happens when the world falls apart? Will you still have the joy of the Lord which is your strength? Not if you do not talk to the Lord, seek His face and enjoy the peace that passes all understanding.
(Php 4:7) And the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Add this together with the joy of the Lord and how can you miss?
Have you hollered that one at God lately? I have. It’s getting worse and worse. Isn’t it strange that a few years ago, many of the television preachers were telling us all to get out of debt because a financial crisis was coming. I guess they were right. So, we call out to God concerning our money problems and He comes back with…..what? Silence? Sarcasm because we did not listen? The latest get rich quick scheme? No, actually He brings up this:
(Mark 4:35-41) And evening having come, He said to them on that day, Let us pass over to the other side. And when they had sent away the crowd, they took Him with them as He was in the boat. And there were also other little boats with Him. And there arose a windstorm, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was now full. And He was in the stern of the boat, asleep on a headrest. And they awakened Him and said to Him, Master, do You not care that we perish? And He awakened and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, Peace! Be still! And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And He said to them, Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?And they feared exceedingly and said to one another, What kind of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?
I wanted to mention a couple things here. Jesus was asleep as the storm was tossing the boat around. Most people would have gotten up and panicked about what to do or would go about securing the boat and bailing water out of it. But Jesus was peacefully sleeping. That takes the confidence of knowing that there was no danger. Period. God wants us to know that even in dangerous situations, if we will simply go to Him concerning the problems and dangerous situations that He will take care of it. But it does require a confidence that, no matter what happens, God is in control. Jesus knew that.
The disciples did not have that confidence, obviously. They came in and woke a peacefully sleeping Jesus to ask an absurd question. “What’s the matter with you? You are sleeping peacefully while we are about to drown. Why aren’t You getting up to panic with us?” “Don’t You care that we are going to die? Don’t You want to die fearfully with us?” Pick any of those ridiculous questions because they all pretty much sum up what they were asking. Now, why is that a ridiculous, absurd question? Since you asked, I will tell you. The first part is that He was sleeping. I don’t know about you but if I had been with this guy as long as they were, I would be asking myself why he was asleep during all this but not because I thought we were going to die. I would want to know because He wasn’t afraid. He didn’t jerk awake and run screaming like they were doing.
Jesus was not afraid because He had the confidence and sure knowledge that God was in control and that, no matter what, He would guide them safely across the lake. They allowed fear to enter in and make them panic. No one tends to make good decisions when in a panic. So, when they woke Him up…and that must have been one of those jerk awake things which I hate….He got up, took a look at the situation, rebuked the wind and storm, went back to the guys and said…”What’s up with you people? Fear about a little storm? Have you listened to nothing I have taught you?”
If that had been me, I would have looked at them with mouth dropped open wondering what would it take to get through to these obviously hard headed people who pay zero attention to what I’m saying. Jesus is a gentle person Who is not going to rail about things like this but He had to be frustrated with the lack of faith that was showing so strongly. In fact, with His question about faith, you KNOW He was having a problem with them. And what happened after He asked the question? More fear. Isn’t that pretty typical? It’s an unknown. Better have fear. Don’t understand. Bring on the fear. And worse, fear is the total opposite of faith. So, any faith they might have grown leaked out of them fast.
What is the moral of this story and what does it have to do with our financial situation? First, God is not sleeping. He is waiting for you to seek Him. Second, He does not want you to drown financially. But you have to do your part too. Seeking Him is the way to deal with the problem right from the beginning or in the middle. Wherever you are, go to the Lord and seek His help. He sees the end from the beginning. While you may not know about or understand your situation and what will deal with it, He does know. Ever wonder why God does not allow us to see outcomes prior to getting there? Because we would not need faith, would we? And that is the whole point of this lesson, to grow our faith. If we did not have trials, there would be no point in living here. We need our faith to grow strong in the Lord so that we will lean on Him more and more for our needs and wants. At the same time, we need to have a relationship and fellowship with Him. He needs to be your closest family member and friend.
What was the downfall for the disciples? Fear. That fear blocked out everything they knew about boating. See, there were at least a couple of really good fishermen on that boat, remember? How is it that they did not just go ahead and secure the boat, work what they knew about boats? And just to throw in another goofy question….if they couldn’t deal with the problem themselves, what did they hope to accomplish by waking one guy up? One more guy is not going to change anything if they thought that they were about to die. But somewhere in those brains, they knew who He is. But then, He gets up and calms the storm. When He asked them about fear, they panicked some more. Who is this guy? Does anyone see how ridiculous this is? They woke Him up to get Him to do something about the storm. He does it and they get afraid. See how ridiculous fear can be? The problem is that when someone is in a panic, they are not thinking rationally. Obviously.
The lesson here is to seek God and get your faith growing up into maturity. When that happens, you will no longer be afraid of circumstances since God is in control and taking care of everything. EVERYTHING. Now, what does this have to do with the current financial crisis? You guessed it. Faith. God is in control. Now He might not handle your situation the want YOU want Him to do but remember….God knows the end from the beginning. He can handle all situations if only you will give it all to Him. Now is a great time to start that. God will meet you wherever you are right now. Seek Him. He is waiting for you.
When I was a kid, I hated that word. It meant that I was not going to get what I wanted regardless of what it was. My parents were usually pretty busy folks so they really did not have time to stop and do things I selfishly wanted but I did not get that at the time. In fact, my father had a horrendous phrase he used when something I wanted to do did not fit into the time frame. He usually said “Let’s don’t and say we did”. Then he would tell me to be patient. I had no idea what the phrase meant but I hated it and the word “patience” since they always went together. Of course, now I realize that he was trying to do so many things in the short, short time he had at home that my requests probably seemed small to him. They were. I paid no attention to what they were doing. My patience was thin, to say the least. My father’s was better than mine.
Thinking again about my childhood, Christmas was way too far away most of the time. I had such a hard time waiting on it. No one would give me any hints on what I was getting. Being an only child (at the time), I had no competition for “the stuff” coming on that banner day! Having no concept of reality in those days, I started my Christmas lists in the summer time when the latest Sears and Penny’s catalogs came out. This gave my parents plenty of time to work out the amazing numbers of “stuff” I should get. Spoiled? Me? Nah.
A lack of patience for any reason takes us down a road we do not want to travel. We live in the “right now” time and generation. With the internet at our fingertips, there is very little that we can’t get right now. Actually, we are a fast food people with fast food thinking. And fast food thinking has been passed on to the next generation of young people who have little to no patience. They have little use for it. As a young adult, I really never heard of road rage but now, road rage is way too common. That happens when patience wears thin or is not there at all. The “I want it now!” generation does not even know what patience is.
(Jas 1:2-4) My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into different kinds of temptations, knowing that the trying of your faith works patience. But let patience have its perfect work, so that you may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing.
Are you kidding? God actually wants us to HAVE patience. Go figure. And He says we should count it a joy when we fall into temptations. I am usually trying so hard to get away from the temptations that I don’t have time to find the joy in it. But we must learn to have the patience to wait on the Father. Remember that He knows the end from the beginning. He knows what is going to happen. His will for our lives should be what we strive for. And with patience, we can have very happy lives.
However, if we do not learn this lesson on patience, God will continue to give that lesson until it’s learned. Unfortunately, that one is probably one of the hardest lessons to learn. A couple of centuries ago, people didn’t communicate except by one person taking a letter or a note from one place to the other. It took weeks, sometimes months to get to the destination. Even people living only a couple of miles apart might not receive word for days. Patience was pretty easy since there was nothing a person could do but wait. The lesson was very easily learned. Today, that is not the case. Our fast food thinking is causing lots of problems.
There is good news here! Patience has a reward. If you get into a temptation and exhibit the patience the Lord is trying to teach, faith grows. When faith grows, God works it out. You then lack nothing. Lack nothing. Sweet words to my ears. Is that the secret? It’s not really a secret but…yes. Out of patience, you receive joy, growing faith, resistance to temptations, lack for nothing. I would say that is a pretty good reward. I think I am going to work on my patience again. That word again. When we do work on it, we certainly will be happier.
I grew up hearing the phrase “picture of health”. Adults were usually talking about someone who was in the hospital with an unexpected condition or had died. They were shocked since he/she had been the “picture of health”. What they actually meant was, what happened to them since it appeared that they were not ill? They were not truly a picture of health. It only seemed that way. Thinking about that particular phrase brought up the old movie “The Picture Of Dorian Gray” in my mind. I do not recall most of the movie. However, the part that I do remember is that the picture grew old while the guy didn’t. The guy was not what he seemed to be. The words “picture of health” might actually have come from just such a movie or book. I do not know. What I do know is that sometimes things are not what they seem. What does “picture of health” actually mean then?
God teaches us that Jesus is the picture of health. The problem that we tend to run into is that we forget that God always talks about the spiritual matters first. Always. Why? Because He is first spiritual, then the soul or mental and finally, physical. In order to see things from God’s point of view, which we must if we are to ever understand what He is trying to teach us, we absolutely must perceive spiritual matters first. If we do not, the lesson is not going to be understood. Jesus is the picture of health spiritually first. Schooling ourselves to look at God’s Word and what He teaches us from that point of view can be very hard to do if we are so used to thinking in the natural realm.
Let’s use the phrase “picture of health” again. Looking at it from God’s point of view, He heals from the inside out. Here comes our problem with that. We live in an instant world. Everything is either instant or at least fast. Instant messaging, fast food, instant transfers and so on. Since we live like that, it is not surprising to realize that even on an unconscious level we expect answers to happen right now! Fast. Instantly. Sometimes it looks like nothing is happening in our lives when we have sought God asking for His help. It might seem like He did not answer or it is felt that He ignored the request. I have felt that way myself. However, the answer might just be right there inside. You are unaware of it since God is working from the inside out. Sometimes, people stop these things themselves though.
Are you aware that if your spirit is unable to accept what God can do that it looks like He has said “no” when in reality you were the one who said “no”? If your spirit is unable to accept what God has to offer, He cannot force you to take it. He then must teach you in your spirit concerning this lesson. Therefore, He starts to work from the inside out teaching your spirit about Him and His word. There are times when people simply do not want to be taught. They will not be. God is a Gentleman and does not force anything on you if you do not want it.
We have God’s assurance that we are healed according to what Jesus did on the cross at Calvary. In I Peter 2:24, the Bible states that Jesus Himself bore our sins in HIS body. He went from being the picture of health to having all the diseases and sins on His body so that we would not have to take this on ourselves. See, we deserve it all…the cross, the sinful nature, the sickness. Jesus took it Himself so that we do not need to suffer for the results of disobedience and sin. We have only to ask Him into our hearts for this to be so. However, since we are not all the “picture of health”, it is necessary for us to learn the lessons God teaches us concerning healing. Sometimes those lessons can be pretty hard to learn. We all struggle with physical health, financial health, mental health and spiritual health. Yet, according to the scriptures, we should not have to struggle but we do. The lesson is clear. We need to learn it, making ourselves the “picture of health”.
(1Pe 2:24) He Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that dying to sins, we might live to righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed.
The good news is that we can do this. That, too, was part of what Jesus did at Calvary. Makes me wonder what we’re waiting for. Ah but that’s the rub. This world is sin natured and it’s pretty hard to hear God sometimes. We do have our Bibles but there are questions. This is the time to get in touch with God by prayer and conversation. Yes, I said conversation. I have conversations with Him. Of course, a conversation includes both parties talking. Maybe it’s time to get in touch with God and have your own conversation. And the result just could be that you become the picture of health.
That statement rang through my head as I remembered something I had said years ago when I was first born again. How arrogant that statement sounds now. The words “do not be deceived” keep running through my mind. James, the disciple, wrote that same statement or one similar three times in just the first chapter of James alone. What is God talking about here? How easy is it to be deceived by someone? For anyone who has been in a relationship that went south, that should be a pretty easy question to answer. Yet, I used to think that it would be really hard for me to be deceived, which in itself is a deception. Can you see that?
When I was born again, things came very easy; my understanding was fresh and quite clear, at least to me. And I used to think it would be so incredibly simple to recognize the anti-christ–the man–but it is not as simple as it once seemed. Things are never completely as they seem in this world. Our God is unchangeable. All other things and people are subject to a change of one kind or another. All. Unless a person is thoroughly grounded in God’s Word, they can be deceived, sometimes quite easily. It is imperative that a person be taught God’s Word whether through sermons at church, through a visiting evangelist, on television (there are a number of good, Bible preaching ministries on air) or simply reading and studying your own Bible sitting at home.
Do you think it would be hard to deceive you? All right. The American media, and I am certain most other news media around the world, are quite obviously deceiving the public with their incredibly biased reporting. At times, they are so blatant with it that it is hard to understand why some people will continue to believe such drivel but they do believe it. Often, the public will believe simply because they see it on the television much like others will buy into some report just because it’s written and in front of their faces. Some people cannot be convinced that the media would lie to the American people. Come on!!! That is blatant deception.
We sometimes believe that we understand things that God says, which is true, but when we bend it to do what we want, it becomes a deception to ourselves. And we DO bend what God has in His Word to fit our own circumstances. Happens all the time. And in doing that, we deceive ourselves so easily. Only when we seek God’s face, get to know Him much better, know His Word very well and at least some part of what it means, do we stop deceiving ourselves. Growing stronger in the Word daily helps.
We need to take to heart what James says in Chapter 1, verses 17-26. To recap:
1) Don’t be deceived–the good gifts come only from God.
2) Don’t just sit and listen to the preachers and preaching without applying what you learn to yourself or you will be deceived.
3) You deceive yourself if you believe yourself to be religious but do not stop your tongue from saying evil things. (gossip, nasty comments toward people or about them, making people feel guilty)
You can cure all this by simply going to the Lord, getting to know Him, spending time with Him on a regular basis, reading and studying also on a regular basis. Now don’t just study when you “have time”. Make time to be in God’s Word so that you know what He has to say. The more you know, the less likely it is that you will be deceived by anyone. This is an evil world and the devil runs about to and fro trying to deceive even the elect. We do not have to be one of those.
So many times in my life, I reached out to God and it seemed that He did not listen to me. Must have been playing golf or something. My prayers went to the ceiling and no farther since I knew that if I were to pray, they had to go all the way to heaven, wherever that is. It must be terribly far away. I simply did not have his phone number memorized. That was how I felt.
So many days of me talking, so many days He said nothing. The silence was overwhelming me. And I felt so miserable because I just knew that, of all His children, I must have been the one that got away, was shunned. Apparently, I had asked too much. It could not be accomplished. Unworthy.
The truth, however, is so much better. The Father has us in the palm of His hand. He is watching us all the time, hoping that we will talk with Him. Notice I said WITH Him, not at Him, not necessarily to Him. With Him. He wants us to have a relationship, a fellowship with Him. When you have a friend, a really good friend or family member that you love dearly, you will talk with them in person and on the phone, email, whatever medium you find. God is right where you think He is, with you. It does not take a prayer to rise to the ceiling, just talk to Him. He is here. Seek Him and He will answer.
He told us to seek His kingdom first (Mathew 6:33 -But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.) instead of always wanting, wanting, wanting. It took me a long time to learn this. Sometimes, I feel that I have not yet done so. There are times when the prayer does not seem to go anywhere. But you know what I did when I felt that? Praise! Thanksgiving! I thanked the Lord for all He has done. I praised Him.
Do you understand that we do not have to see the end result before we can thank Him for what He does? Recently, I was pleading for something very dear to me. It did not seem as though God heard me. Then, I realized that my prayer was one of doubt and unbelief. If I truly believed God’s Word then I must apply it to my situation. Put my faith on the line. I did so thanking my Lord for that thing as if it were accomplished. I could see the end result before it occurred.
First, take the time to get to know your Father. He wants to tell you many things. However, if you are only wishing to talk, you cannot listen. If things get in the way, thoughts that are negative to the situation, you cannot hear. Put all that worldly stuff out of your mind and just get into the refuge of the Lord, the secret place of the Most High.
(Psa 91:1-2) He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall rest under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of Jehovah, my refuge and my fortress; my God; in Him I will trust.
Because you can trust in the Father, you will find that He is willing to talk with you, guide you and strengthen you. When you dwell with the Lord, your faith will grow. In time, you find that hearing the Lord becomes easier and easier since you are willing to rest in Him, allow His course for your life instead of your own. And that is how the joy of the Lord will come to you!!! What a blessing!!!
Several months ago, I found GodTube. This place is awesome. There are so many good videos that it would be impossible to tell you about all of them. But there was this one video that I ran across during my first trip to GodTube that I posted on this blog some months ago because of how much it moved me. But, with all the newer posts, this one has more or less been buried. I cannot help but believe that if people would see this video they would see Salvation in a different light.
Most videos I watch are nice, good, hilarious or whatever else. They do not move me to tears but this one does. It is an awesome portrayal of what Jesus has done and will do for you if only you will accept Him for Who He is. Please take the time to watch this video..even if you have already seen it before. It moves me in ways I have not been moved before. Each time I watch it, it’s like I had never seen it prior to this time. It is a bit long but it is well worth the time. Enjoy the Lord!
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