Faith based on KNOWLEDGE

What is the difference between a
fatalistic “what will be will be” philosophy & a
trust in God’s sovereignty;

that He is in control of everything?
 

The first is hopeless resignation & wishing
The other is a CERTAIN HOPE based God's promise.
Also, on knowledge & a relationship with God the creator of the universe and all that is in it.
The only rational way to trust God consistently is to know Him personally & experience His faithfulness and as you experience trusting Him your confidence, faith and trust in Him will grow.
Rather than look to someone or something else, look to the one who made you, who loves you and who gave His life so that you can have a personal, eternal relationship with Him.
Get to KNOW God.
Learn to listen to Him, trust & obey Him.
Learn to REST in Him.

“Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;

my hope comes from Him.”Psalm 62:5 (NIV)

 

Faith based on KNOWLEDGE

What is the difference between a
fatalistic “what will be will be” philosophy &
trust in God’s sovereignty?
The first is hopeless resignation & wishing
The other is HOPE based on knowledge & relationship
with God who is in control!
The only rational way to trust God consistently is to know Him personally & experience His faithfulness as you experience trusting Him rather than look to someone or something else.

Get to KNOW God & you can Trust & Obey
You can REST in Him
“Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;

my hope comes from Him.”
Psalm 62:5 (NIV)

If you share this you will go to Heaven (if you have put your fatih in Jesus)

A click, share or Like will have no effect on your relationship with God, your righteousness or right standing with Him or your eternal future!

We all have a sin problem that is insurmountable without Divine intervention - we all miss the mark of God's perfection. It matters not how good you act or that your parents or anyone else have a good relationship with God because your problem with sin is personal and "they" can never make you perfect.
Only Jesus can do that by applying His payment for sin to you!

Quit relying on wishing or thinking or believing in something you did like walking an isle or praying some prayer. Believe in Jesus for it is by Grace through Faith alone that you can be forgiven and brought into a right relationship with God. (Ephesians 2:8-10)
Jesus, who never sinned, was made by God the Father to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him; in Jesus we have God's righteousness or perfection. (2 Corinthians 5:21) 

Don't tell me what you have done good, because it only takes one time of not putting God first for you to be a sinner. All of us are! (Romans 3:23) Once you are no longer perfect, you become imperfect and in need of a Savior. The ONLY one who can do that is Jesus as He is THE way, THE truth and THE life! (John 14:15)

So, quit "wishing and hoping" and give your life to God and receive the life of Jesus; He will give you a new life (2 Corinthians 5:17) let you love Him and be used by Him to do good things and help people and obey Him as you go about growing Spiritually and helping others grow too. "Go therefore and make disciples..." (Matthew 28:19)

Doing any of these things good or bad has no affect on if Jesus loves you.
God loves you because of who He is.
God wants you to believe.
Believe and become a child of God who is forgiven.
Don't try to get better to come to God - come as you are!
He loves you, not what you have or have not done and He wants to forgive you.
Believe or Trust in Jesus and be forgiven; be saved...

THEN, cooperate with God as He changes you and lets you begin experiencing all you are and have in Jesus! "be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." (Romans 12:2)

 

Free to love & obey Jesus

We have all done or thought things we regret or are ashamed of, but on the cross Jesus paid for all sin.
As Christians it is time to quit trying to deal with what Jesus paid for and learn how to live in the "Promised Land"; the place where if you listen to God the work, the thing to do and the victory are all His. Only obedience is our responsibility.
If we have our Ai and try to do things on our own or rebel, we can confess it and get back to walking with God in VICTORY!

In the story of your life,
are there some pages you would not want read?
Give your life to Jesus & all of that will be
covered by the blood He shed in your place.
It is done with once you believe!
Forget it or use it to help others but
never again live under the guilt of “it”!

Don't worrry, be happy.. can you?

Are you happy?
If Heaven is a happy place & a perfect place, then why don't we spend more time & energy preparing eternity there & why aren't Christians happier now too?
4  But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5  even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6  and RAISED us up with Him, and SEATED us with Him in the heavenly places IN Christ Jesus,
7  so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8  For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9  not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
10  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Ephesians 2:4-10 (NASB)

Verse 6 kinda thrills my soul & encourages me to love God and join in with Him in those works of His He wants to do through me in verse 10.
Walking in God's will is a happy place no matter how things look through my eyes if I trust Him & I truly believe my eternity is secure based on what Jesus did for me!
Appreciating Grace leads to loving obedience like Jesus said in John 14:15 & other places.

Live or work out your salvation the same way it started and the same way it is finished - by grace through faith!

Be Happy! God is at work in you both to will and to do His good pleasure!

"for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure."
Philippians 2:13 (NASB)


 

Which are you?

Saved or lost?
How do you know?
Are you sure?

 

 

 

 

If you have questions or need more help with your Christian walk or having a personal relationship with Jesus, please write -
perhaps some previous post may help too.
 

Trust God & His Word

What God says is important!
I used to have an old bumper sticker that said:

God said it,
that settles it.
I believe it.

It started out that the "I believe it" was in the middle but a Pastor friend (Thanks Tommy) pointed out to me that my belief had no bearing on the statement so I corrected it to read as above.
 
My belief allows me to enjoy the blessings & benefits of what God has said and that God given to all who believe.
We are lost because we have not believed.
or
We are 'saved' because we have by the grace of God believed.
"He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." John 3:18

Look at the context, look at the verb tenses, look at the biblical meaning of words and judge all your experiences and ideas by what God says; don't bend it to make it fit your feelings or what some book or person said.
Put your thinking in the right order!
What God says is settled; it is truth!

Remember & appreciate what it took to save you!

REMEMBER -
Jesus did not come to earth as a man to start a religion, but so that you could have a personal relationship with Him. Holy God loves you that much and if that doesn’t at least bring a tear to your eye, I wonder if you have any concept of what that took and how much unconditional love was involved.

If you can think that the God who loves you so much doesn’t know and want the best for you and that not you or anything else can ever separate you from Him, then you may want to meditate on this love of God and be sure you believe in Jesus as your God and Savior.

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 (NASB)

“He (God) made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NASB)

“By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.” 1 John 4:9-11, 18-20 (NASB)

If you love God, you will obey Him and part of that is forgiving and loving others. Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments”, and that includes the ones on loving others, especially those who are your brothers and sisters in Christ.

The Church is not yours, it belongs to Jesus – the Church is the body of Christ and that includes all true believers. Is loving Jesus your motivation for obedience? Do you know you are His as a believer now and forever based totally on what He did? Do you know you are free to obey and love God because you want to and not to gain something? You can’t help it as His love in you flows out.

Do you really believe you are the worst sinner you know and that it is only the grace of God that allows you to have His righteousness and an eternal relationship with God? You and  I are not “pretty good” or “better than…” because we all need God’s grace to save us since we deserve punishment; God took that punishment for us though and it is ours if we believe.
Are you grateful enough for God’s grace that nothing is more important than His presence?
Why not?

Too often I have to ask myself that and humbly recall what it took for Jesus to come and save me and remember all that I received at that moment and then shed a tear of thanks and joy and get back busy being what I am in Christ.
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10 (NASB)

REMEMBER and
BE WHO AND WHAT YOU ARE IN CHRIST because of what He did!

Love produces grateful obedience

Partial obedience is called DISOBEDIENCE!

Want to please God?
Do what Jesus did, He obeyed the Father:
"For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak." John 12:49

Don't say you love Jesus if you don't read the Bible, know it and listen to and obey what it says. Love produces the desire to be with, know and please someone -
Jesus says,
"He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me."
&  "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." John 14:24,15

If you have a relationship with Jesus, get to know Him & love Him. Christianity is not about walking an aisle, praying a prayer or keeping rules, but about believing in Jesus and that belief will produce a relationship.

If you spent the amount of time getting to know someone when you are or did date them that you do talking with & getting to know Jesus, would you have a relationship with them? For most that would be a NO. Try going on a date and spending the night playing on FB and never talking to the person or coming home to your spouse and never acknowledging they were even there unless you wanted something - how would those relationships grow? There would be no relationship.

If you don't spend time with Jesus, you might want to check to see if you really KNOW, really BELIEVE. Not that He existed or is who He says but that you have that believe in, trust in and rely-on belief that the Bible uses.

If you do know Him and don't have a great relationship, then chose to get to know Him better and improve it.
See yourself for the undeserving sinner you are
Be willing to change and be a part of God changing the things that need changing
Accept all that is yours in Christ (spend time finding out what you do have!)
Let Him love others through you
Forgive others

"If we truly appreciate what it took to forgive us (Jesus' death) and the fact we did and can do nothing to deserve it, how can we not forgive others?" - JimBrady

Don't think "I've got this covered" if your life is not changed and you are running your own life instead of God! You may just be fooling yourself and not find out until it is too late.
"it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment," Hebrews 9:27

You can give your life to Christ now and live “justified by His blood, …saved from the wrath of God through Him” (Romans 5:9) and accept the payment, the punishment He took for you or you can die and stand before God judged for your own actions, your own righteousness.
“and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds….and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. Revelation 20:12-14”
 

You can eagerly look forward to Jesus coming for you or hope for the best on your own and be judged by holy, perfect God according to His perfect standard.
"so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him." Hebrews 9:28

Are you a new creation or are you just improving your flesh?
"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." 2 Corinthians 5:17

Be sure! If you are sure, then learn to be the new person you are in Christ!

Cooperate with God!

Getting ready for ETERNITY!

One way to keep them close to God...

                             How to stop the flood of young people leaving the Church

Why do young people leave the church? Truth is, unfortunately many do and fewer seem to return later in life. I saw a scenario not long ago and they had all sorts of statistics and programs to try to stop them from leaving, but I believe they are overcomplicating it.

Most don’t lose or deny their faith, they just decide it isn’t important now in their life or is something for when they get old or something they will do when they have time, etc.

Teaching them why they believe what they believe and some of the arguments that people may use against them can help, but what about something much simpler, but much more difficult to do?

Teach them to have a love relationship with Jesus!

If I know someone and love them and have a relationship with them, nothing is going to be able to convince me they are not important or that they don’t exist. I love my wife and nothing you can do will ever make me believe she doesn’t exist or is not important. Same goes for God!

We teach morals, rules and a few teach some doctrine, but we don’t teach them how to fall in love with Jesus and how to have a solid relationship based on trust, knowledge and experience. We don’t teach them to live by grace and appreciate the grace we have.

How do we get them to understand the difference between the joyful obedience of an attitude of “I get to love on and obey God” rather than an attitude of “I should”? Programs try to modify their behavior, but instead we need to show them how to love and let their love for God change their behaviors!

I have come to realize that we can’t make them understand or change and it isn’t our job; that is the job of the Holy Spirit. We can teach and show them the truth of God’s love, their sinfulness and His grace for now as well as eternity rather than rules by our love, our actions as well as our words.

We can teach them to obey out of a grateful love, a love based in grace and freedom by sharing the truth and freedom of the Gospel, and also by letting them see what it is like in practice. Show them God’s love by example. And, while you are doing all this it is very important to pray for God to guide you and to enlighten them so they can see what they are apart from Christ, and see who they are in Christ and come to love God and crave time with Him! Then leave the results up to God! Be available, stay an example & watch God work. Pray they will respond to His love!

God says, "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Deuteronomy 6:5
And Jesus said, “"If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” John 14:15 (NASB)

Learn to love and you will spend time with God and grow to trust Him and to love Him and to obey Him!
 

Be who you are IN CHRIST!

If you have believed and are a child of God then you are no longer what you used to be. Yes, you have that old nature, but it is dead and powerless unless you give it power. Learn to be what you are!

 

Live in the identity you have NOW in Christ!

Don't believe what you 'hear' - trust in God & His Word

Jesus came to save all who would believe.
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." John 3:16-18 (NASB)

 

Hit bottom? Look up & PRAY

He is the potter, we are the clay He created

Want joy in this life and good in eternity?
Say YES to Jesus and be the new you in Christ He will make you.

Do you really trust?

Trust God - He is reliable!

Trust God - He is both able and reliable to perform what He promises.

 

 

 

Love everyone enough to share the Gospel with them

 

Because God loves you, YOU MATTER

Because you matter to God, YOU matter to me

Thank you God for your grace & mercy!

Jesus didn't just take our place on the cross -

He gave us a new life of VICTORY.

He died in your place and He rose and lives forever for you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don't forget to thank Him!!

 

 

 

 

Sin or Righteousness?

How do you feel about sin?

Psalm 97:10 says, “Hate evil, you who love the LORD” and Paul says in Romans 12:9, “Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good”.
Disciples of Jesus should detest sin and do our best to keep away from sin by staying close to God who is good. Paul wrote to Timothy, “Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” Since Jesus has paid the penalty for sin, we don’t have to fear eternal punishment, but we do know that sin ruins our fellowship with God and others and that it keeps us from being an effective disciple. Sin requires payment and Jesus paid the price. Believe in Him if you haven’t before and appreciate that price He paid for you. If you don’t place your faith in Jesus there will come a time you will receive the wages you earned of eternal separation from God (Romans 6:23). If you are a Christ follower, keep yourself close to Him and away from sin and evil.

How can we come to hate sin?
There is not a “how to” formula, but the closer we grow to God and the more we love Him and the more we understand and see what sin does to people’s lives, the more we will hate it. I would like to hate it enough that there was never any attraction, but sin is fun. Much of it very pleasurable, it is natural to the old flesh and it is easy. If it wasn’t, we would not be so easily drawn to sin against God.

One thing we can’t do with sin is to be neutral.
J.B. Phillips said, “The refusal to be committed and the attitude of indifference can in fact never be neutral.” Either we trust God and are obeying Him or we are sinning because “whatever is not from faith is sin”. (Romans 14:23)

Look at what it took to pay for sin; it took the death of Jesus on the cross and Him becoming sin and giving us who believe His righteousness. Perhaps if we remind ourselves daily of the Gospel and the mercy and grace of God that allows us to fellowship with Him as His children we can have a heart that is grateful and in love with God. Then we can come to love what God loves and love Him enough to keep away from sin and close to Him.

"There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death."
Proverbs 14:12 (NASB)
"Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death.
But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the  outcome, eternal life.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
 Romans 6:21-23 (NASB)