Stay Away

 Have you ever known a Christian that would try to argue you the Bible with you? These people are divisive when it comes to spiritual matters. 

Years ago, in our Sunday School class there was a man that actually would get our teacher off the subject each week by wanting to argue and get arguments started.

It was very frustrating for the teacher because he would spend time preparing for each lesson, only to be interrupted by this man.

What is more, this was not the first class that the man had ever done this. He had done the same in another church. He had gone so far in doing it in that first church, that he was asked to leave. Which he did, only to do the same in the church we were attending at the time.

If there is anything the devil loves to do, it is to use people in the church that would try to instigate trouble-any kind of trouble really-to get Christians off the reason they are there in the first place.

Sadly, in most churches today it goes on. Because if we know one thing that is wrong, the devil does not go to church. The fact is, he does. Not to sit in the pews to learn about God. For he knows about Him. After all God created him as well as every other angel in the heavens.

No, the devil goes there to break up whatever truth is being preached and get attention off that and on to his own evil plot.

If he can do that to us, what more can he do?

Perhaps leave the church? How about our faith?

I myself has heard it said. "If that is what being a Christian is, I can have that outside of church. Why go?"

Indeed. Why go?

Titus 3:9 warns us to avoid people like that. It is a waste of time. Not to mention energy. 

And then there is this one:

If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless. James 1:26

So again, I ask you. Have you ever known anyone like this?

Avoid them. for they will do you no good thing.

Thanks for coming by today, friends. Have a blessed day in Jesus!

Praying For Loved Ones

"What can I do, Lord. My heart is heavy this morning for those I love that do not know you. I fear for the time when they meet you and have not accepted you. What can I do?"

If you have been saved, you probably have loved ones that you have this burden for. To spend eternity without them someday just sees unfathomable. And painful.

I ran across a devotion this morning that explains it better then I probably can and want to share it with you. Please read on:

How to Pray for Unbelievers

by LoriAHatcher | Jun 3, 2021 | Blog, Prayer

Who would you most like to see come to know Christ as their Savior? Your spouse? One of your children? A dear friend? A grandchild? 

If you’re like me, every time you think of this person, your heart aches, because you know if they don’t accept Christ, they will die one day and spend eternity in hell. This frightens me—that someone I love could spend eternity separated from God (and from me). May it never be.

But the reality is that one day we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ and give an account. The entrance exam to heaven has one question: 

The entrance exam to heaven has one question: 

Who are you trusting in?

There’s only one right answer: “I’m trusting in Jesus Christ as my Savior.”

For years I couldn’t give that answer. The best I could do was hope my good works outweighed my bad works on judgment day. Some of my acquaintances, friends, and loved ones can’t give this answer because they haven’t yet come to faith in Jesus Christ. They’re still trusting in their works to get them into heaven. They don’t understand the truth of Ephesians 2:8-9:

“For by grace you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man shall boast.”

Because I love them, I witness to them, serve them, and do my best to demonstrate God’s love to them. But the most important thing I can do is to pray for them.

I ask God to open hearts to believe. Scripture tells us that no one comes to God unless the Father draws him (John 6:65), so it makes sense to ask God to draw our loved ones to himself and open their hearts to believe.

 I ask God to open their hearts to believe. Scripture tells us that no one comes to God unless the Father draws him (John 6:65), so it makes sense to ask God to draw our loved ones to himself and open their hearts to believe.

The book of Acts tells of a woman named Lydia. She was a religious woman who was trying to worship God as best she knew how. But she hadn’t trusted Jesus as her Savior. Paul shared the Gospel with her, like we should with our unbelieving loved ones. And then something miraculous happened. Acts 16:14 describes it this way:

“The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.” 

Apart from God opening a person’s heart to believe, the message of the Gospel falls on deaf ears. The spiritually dead cannot receive the life-giving truths of Scripture unless God opens their hearts. This is what we should pray for.

The take away from Acts 16 is simple: Pray for the people you love who don’t know Christ as their Savior. And when you pray, ask God to open their hearts. Pray and don’t stop.

“For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved” (Rom. 10:10).

💖💖💖

Prayer for them. It's the best possible thing to do for those that have not come to Jesus.  And let me say also that, it is best to not try to hit them over the head with the gospel. I know people that have done that. Been so over zealous about what they believe, that they are actually not doing any good for the Kingdom. And I have seen people actually turn away from those that are doing the hitting.

What? Overzealous?

I believe that it is better to let others see God living in us then by shoving him down the throats of people that have no desire for him, all the time.

It can be so bad as that they hate to see someone like that coming. Always preaching at them, always telling them they are going to hell...always....always....always.

Jesus didn't force himself on anyone. The Holy Spirt doesn't force himself on anyone. God does not force himself on anyone.

As the author of this devotion said, it is only God that draws their hearts to believe. It is our job to pray for them. To be a light to them by letting them see God in our lives. And when God speaks to us about talking about him to them, to do it as he opens their hearts.

Praying for them is the very best thing we can do for those that we love that have not given their lives to Jesus.

Thanks for coming by, Friends. God go with you today.

God's Grace

Have you let God down today? How about yesterday? Last week? Last month?

Have you let him down so much that you feel there just is not any hope for you to be any different?

If you have, take heart. You are not any different from most any other Christian that loves and serves God, not only at this time but through all of history.

From Adam and Eve to King David and more, it happened. God's own people that felt that their sin had let God down.

Even the Apostle Paul said, "I do what I don't want to do and that which I know I should do, I don't." (Romans 7:19)

So, I have failed again. But Guess what. It doesn't surprise God when we fail to live up to what we know that He wants us to do. Our salvation doesn't depend on our doing what we do or don't do.

Our salvation depends first on what Jesus did for us on the cross, and secondly if we accept what He did on the cross and decide to follow Him.

As for our sin, it was first forgiven the very moment we accepted Him, and after that it is where His grace comes in. 

There are some hymns about grace. Maybe you have heard or sing this one that I particularly love:

Grace, grace, God’s grace,

Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;

Grace, grace, God’s grace,

Grace that is greater than all our sin!

Sin and despair, like the sea waves cold,

Threaten the soul with infinite loss;

Grace that is greater, yes, grace untold,

Points to the refuge, the mighty cross.

Grace, grace, God’s grace,

Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;

Grace, grace, God’s grace,

Grace that is greater than all our sin!

Dark is the stain that we cannot hide;

What can we do to wash it away?

Look! There is flowing a crimson tide,

Brighter than snow you may be today.

Grace, grace, God’s grace,

Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;

Grace, grace, God’s grace,

Grace that is greater than all our sin!

Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace,

Freely bestowed on all who believe!

You that are longing to see His face,

Will you this moment His grace receive?

Grace, grace, God’s grace,

Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;

Grace, grace, God’s grace,

Grace that is greater than all our sin!

Those times we sin. Those times we mess up. Those time we feel we have disappointed God. They are times we can know that we are not perfect as God is perfect. They are not unpardonable. They can even be redeemable if we are willing to ask God to forgive us. Oh, sometimes we may have to suffer the consequences. But God promises to work all things to our good, if we love Him. If we trust Him. 

So, if you have let Him down today, remember what Paul said in Philippians 3:13-14 "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, [let’s] press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called [us] heavenward in Christ Jesus” 

Don't let the devil have a foothold on your life because "there is no therefore now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus."  Romans 8:1

And moreover there is this one:  

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

God's grace. Sufficient for us. Yes. And when we believe we have let him down, just confess it to Him and move ahead to do better.

Thanks for coming by, Friends. God bless your day in abundance

The Best is Yet to Come!

God's Word is filled with the good, the bad and the ugly. From beginning to end. Let's face it. He created the world and saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:18) He created the first humans. And he blessed them. (vs 28) And then he looked at everything he had created and saw that it was very good. (vs 31)

And then what did man do? He (and she) sinned. (Genesis 3)

And down through history the story goes. Every time God intervened into the sin of man to give us a new start in Him, we ...

Sin. 

A child was born to save us from our sin. 

God had sent Him to us for that purpose. John 3:16

But then he grew up and it was our sin that sent him to the cross. Mathew 27:50

What were we to do now? He was dead.

Ah, but he rose up, victorious, to do the job that his Father had sent him to do.

And so here we are.

Waiting for it.

What?

The best.

For those that have accepted Jesus

The Best is yet to come!

Thanks for coming by, Friends. God bless you!

If God Could

If God Could,

And He certainly Can

Do all things

In the Past

For all of those 

In the times of old

He can do the same

For you and me

Can He?

Will He?

All we need is Jesus

And a thing called Faith

To get answered Prayer

Because God can!

And God certainly will!

"I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me? Jeremiah 32:27

Thanks for coming by today, Friends. Blessings on this the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad!

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He Didn't Just Pass Away

"My husband's brother passed away in January."

I used this statement just yesterday when I sent a text to someone that Chuck had passed from this life. This morning, I ran across something that really says that statement is wrong. What I found was the truth.

"No one actually passes away."

You can find the statement (and more) here: biblelovenotes.blogspot.com 

It brings out a very good point. One that I had not thought of before. Because when we die, we do pass on. But it's to somewhere far better or far worse then what we lived on earth. 

My brother-in-law, sadly probably passed on to the "far worse" because he rejected God all his life. "Religion is for weak people" he had said. He wasn't weak. At least he thought he wasn't. And when you would try to talk to him about God, he would stop you and refuse to talk to you about anything that he refused to believe. 

Not that there wasn't any hope for him. 

It was funny in a way that after he had married his second wife, she became a Christian at some point. And she read her bible and went to church. I do not doubt that some of the things she did, got him red under the collar sometimes. 

And I do not doubt that she and other family members prayed for him all those years. Until at the age of 84, he was suddenly gone from this earth. To where? 

Hard to say. He lay dying for a couple days in bed. Did he think about God then? Did he ask for forgiveness perhaps knowing he was at the end?

Possible. But we do not know for sure. His wife had already gone to heaven several years ago. His family that prayed for him all those years, were not around.

What is sure, he did not just pass away. His spirit is somewhere.

In a very bad place?

Or in heaven?

And we won't know until we ourselves get to heaven.

So think about it friends.

The next time you tell someone that so and so passed away.

Remember they did die. But they are alive somewhere.

In heaven or hell.

Thanks for coming, Friends. Have a blessed day!

The Deceitful Heart

 

The Heart

It pumps life throughout our bodies

Without it we cannot live

When it ceases to pump, we cease to be on earth

And yet, it is deceitful and wicked

according to Jeremiah 17:9-10

It is dark Romans 1:21

It produces evil thoughts Mark 17:21

It is evil Genesis 6:5

It grieves the Lord Genesis 6:6

It leads us away from God Hebrews 3:12

And so, what help do we have in God if our hearts are so evil?

We can pray the same prayer that David of the Bible prayed 

 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Psalm 51:10-12

Jesus paid the price for our redemption. That is the hope we can claim to go from a wicked heart to a heart that honors Him!

Thanks for coming by today, Friends. I apologize for not being here yesterday. 

Have a blessed day!