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!