Are we content?

Paul spoke of being content in any situation in which he might find himself. His contentment came from knowing Jesus and knowing that he served Him to the fullest extent that he could. Is it possible for us to know this contentment in the times in which we are living? Yes! God and His son, Jesus are still in control and will always be! If we will be submitted to serving them in our lives on a daily basis, we can have that feeling of contentment in spite of the economic times in which we are living.

God wants us to be and have life abundant, especially when we are following Him and serving in His Kingdom. He created everything in the universe from the smallest atom to the largest galaxy. He knows exactly how things are supposed to work together and why. We were created for His purposes and He knows what purpose is right  for each of us in His service. It doesn’t matter what kind of “job” you have as long as you can do it in service to Him and with humility, not arrogance and pride in service to yourself or the world.

God loves all of us, no matter where we live or what religion we claim to believe in. If you feel a tug on your heart toward Him and to His son, Jesus, please respond positively! Humanity was created in His Image to serve Him in whatever capacity or position we find ourselves in. Our lives are not ours alone, but His!

If God is for us, who can be against us? ³²He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?  Romans 8:31,32

I do realize that there are some who do not believe that Jesus was the Son of God and that He was “just a prophet”. The prophecies in the Old Testament point to Him and His birth long before He came to us as the Son of David, the Messiah. I don’t have the room to point out all of the passages which speak of Him and tell who He is, but they are there.

Give the word of God a careful study so that you will find these passages, most of which are in Isaiah. There are also some in the Psalms of David and many others in Daniel, Jeremiah, Micah, etc.

Before your life ends here, please give yourself the chance to hear and really listen to a Bible teaching church and its pastor. Read God’s Word and ask Him to help you to understand and He will. When you do make your decision, it will be the right one. I pray that you and your loved ones will come to Him and be fulfilled in Him.

Our time is short but His message is timeless

God is the creator of the Universe regardless of what science tells people. He placed the stars and galaxies exactly where He wanted them to be and they will stay that way unless He says otherwise. Our lives should be the same. We should strive to do His will in our lives and in the place where He has placed us. Non-believers, take heart, God loves and cares for you too.

He is only waiting for you to decide to place your faith in Him. He knows exactly what you need and when you need it. Your life is in His hands and always has been, because He formed you in the womb! He knows exactly and perfectly about you. More intimately than anyone on earth could ever know you is the way that God knows you.

Don’t put off your decision to join in partnership with Him. Jesus stands at the door of your heart and knocks, gently. But, He knows exactly when you will answer. Give Him that answer soon, won’t you? God doesn’t love you because of what you have done in the past, He loves you because of who He created you to be! He knows what you can do for Him and His kingdom and the limitations that you may have, but He also knows how much you can accomplish that someone else may not be able to do.

We are each given a measure of talents and gifts by God to be used in His service, with no regard to our present circumstances. He knows exactly what you can and cannot do and will give you the words to say when they are needed.

Do what you can for Him while you still have the time to do so! He will reward you with far greater value than earthly things can be measured.

The 23rd Psalm, paraphrased

The Lord is my shepherd, I have everything that I need. He gives me rest daily in His pastures, and leads me beside peaceful, quiet waters. He renews my strength. He guides me in paths that He wants me to follow, bringing honor to His name.

Even when I go through tough times in my life, I will not be afraid, for you are there beside me. Your strength protects and comforts me.

You prepare a meal for me in the presence of my enemies. You welcome me as Your guest, anointing my head with oil. My portion of blessings is overflowing. Surely your goodness and unfailing love will be with me every day of my life, and I will dwell in Your house forever.

The time we have here is important

It is important to us, to our families and to God. Our lives are and always have been important to Him. If many of you would listen and check out His word, the Bible, you would see this is true. 

Psalms 118: 8  It is better to trust in the Lord than to put your confidence in people.

The Lord of Hosts and the Creator of the Universe loves all of His creation, especially us! He created us in His image, all of us! It is about time that we realized this. The word of God is full of passages which point to this out in detail.

We were put here to serve Him and His purposes on earth. Many people are confused about what this means. The Bible tells us if we only take the time to come to Him and pray about it while we study His word. He will reveal exactly what we are to do for Him and how to do it. The Bible is the only Living Word of God. It was sent to us to guide us and reveal to us what our purpose on earth is. Jesus was and is the Living Word and is manifested in the world now as the Bible itself. He is the Son of God and the savior of the world.

Give your life to Him and  live fully dedicated to Him and you will never regret it. He can and will reward you with more than you could ever hope for…. a life that will never end and more satisfaction in your life here than you can get from the world.

Life in our time

We should be grateful and humble that we are living in this time and in the United States of America. Our lives would be totally different had any of us been born in another country. I do realize that there are some who may read this from other countries so please forgive me for sounding like I am a bit too proud to be an American.

Our country and the world around us is in a financial mess that is likely to get worse far quicker before things get better. I am not a financial guru so I cannot give advice, though many people do that these days and their advice is not much better than what most have heard their grandparents say. Which was good advice but only if it is followed. The place that most of their generation got their knowledge from was the Bible and that is where we need to go back to. There are people who claim to be atheists or even wiccans who when faced with something that they know their belief doesn’t address they will call on God. How do you think He feels about that?

His patience and love for us cannot be understood unless we read the Bible where it is shown over and over again to the Jews but also extended to the rest of us, the Gentiles. Our life would not be what it is if He did not love all of us. We would likely be very different people than we are because He would have started over. He is the creator after all and can do anything He wishes to do with His creation.

The attitude of some against Christians as well as the beliefs we have is unbelievable to most of us. Of course the world doesn’t accept us because it rejects anything which makes it accountable for its actions, good or bad. It is truly sad to think that the only way that most of the world who aren’t Christians will ever see us as we are will be at the throne of Christ when He returns.

Something died in me

I was prompted this morning to write about, of all things, death!  I have never experienced the death of a sister or brother through war or by evil things that men do or even by accidents, but the feelings of betrayal and loss are the same. I have a half-brother and sister and I was very worried when she was serving in the Army because she spent most of her five year enlistment in Europe and some in Iraq. God answered my prayers and protected her, somehow as only He can do.

There are many people who have lost loved ones to the evil and hateful ways of men and I am sure that they question God’s love and His divine love when things go terribly wrong. He is still there and He does care. In fact, He will avenge their deaths in ways that we cannot possibly imagine. “Vengeance is Mine, says the Lord.”

The first death that I experienced was the death of my marriage, then my grandmother and finally my mother, grandfather, and my Dad. A few years later, my mother-in-law, my son’s grandmother, died. I was questioning, searching for the answer when I came to realize that He had a plan in all of this. I did not like nor enjoy how His plan for my life worked out but after a while of prayer and crying out to Him, I came to know Him better than I ever had before. I know that death is something that we all have to come to grips with at some point in our lives, and it is not a pleasant part of life at all but it is necessary. Even the loss of someone by gun or by an accident on the highway or even by drugs is not overlooked by God. He knows when your life will end and how, unfortunately He can’t prepare our family or us for it unless we let Him.

I wasn’t ready for any of the deaths which occurred in my life, but He knew that unless I experienced them I would never grow into the person that He intended for me to be. I know, that seems to be a cruel way to cause someone to “grow-up” but even in the Bible there are times when people would die so that a new leader would be brought into their place.

Bitterness, anger, frustration, feelings of resentment, loneliness, grief, frustration….these are all feelings that we experience when someone dies before their time or before we are ready. God knows and cares about all of us and for those who were Christians, He was there to greet them when they came into His presence. The sad truth is that many people die not knowing Him, but sometimes this is the only way to get another member of the family to come to Him and God knows that. It is not pleasant and it is never easy on the family regardless of how the person died.

God loves you! Give Him a chance to show it by coming to Him and crying to Him about your hurt and your anger. The only way that these feelings will be helpful to you is if you let Jesus heal the damage they have caused in your life. There is no way to bring back the people we have lost except through our memories of them, but those memories can be much sweeter if we will talk with the One who can help. The only One who can truly help spiritually, emotionally and eternally. Give Him the chance to show just how much He cares and you will be amazed.

Does God hear us when we pray?

This is a question I pondered for a long time before I decided to follow Jesus. The answer is YES! He hears you, but before you give your life to him He is only listening for the prayer that shows that you have decided to follow Him. Once you make that decision and let Him know it, He forgives you and changes your heart. Every prayer after that point is heard and answered, some sooner than others but the answer will always be His answer. It may not be the answer you were looking for, but it will be His answer for you and your life.

Our lives, according to His Word, are supposed to be living temples and sacrifices to Him. We have to subject our will to His in order to serve Him. We can’t decide to give our heart to Jesus and then keep doing what we have always done before. The life we get after He comes into our heart is His, not ours. That is the reason that it is so hard for us to give our lives to Him. It really has to be done every day. Submission of our will and our lives to Him on a daily basis is not something that we do very well. Only with the strength that He gives us can we do it successfully.

God knows this and He knows exactly how we will respond daily. Being a dedicated Christian is hard for us to do. It is actually impossible for us to do without His help and the strength that He gives us, if we will ask for it. Our lives can be so much more than what or who we are if we choose to serve Him in whatever we do. It doesn’t matter if we are pastors, deacons, missionaries, Gideon's, or just nurses, store clerks, doctors, lawyers, pc technicians, gas station attendants, etc. We can serve Him doing whatever we do as long as we do it for Him and for His Glory and not our own.

Pride can be a terrible master that takes many things from us if we let it. That is what gets in the way of many people’s service to Him. We don’t like to admit that it is there but if you let Him search you and your heart and listen to Him when He speaks, you will know. Our lives, like the lives of every creature God created, should serve Him regardless of what our occupation is. God knows exactly what we are capable of but He knows that we are capable of much more if we let Him have control of our spirit and commit ourselves to Him each day.