How do I know that I know God and His Son?

There are three “tests” that John put forth for a person, a believer, to know that they know God without a doubt. These tests are that we keep His commandments, to walk as Jesus walked in obedience to the Father and to show unconditional love toward our brothers. The first one is usually the hardest for some to understand. It is to keep or obey His commands. Not just the ten commandments, but the two which Jesus put forth in Matthew 22:34-40. Jesus said, “Love God with all of your heart, and with all your strength, and with all your soul and love your neighbor as yourself, on these two commandments hang all of the Law and the Prophets”.

Those who say that they know God, but do not keep his commandments are liars and the truth is not in them. Belief is not enough, reading the Bible, God’s Word is not enough, your life has to show beyond a doubt that you belong to Him. We are put where we are to be “salty” and to be reflections of Him, not of ourselves or our personal views. Our mission, if we are Christians as we claim to be, is to be the best reflection of Jesus that our lives can be. How we live our faith on a daily basis shows what is in our heart, not what may be on our minds at the time. At least, that is what the world should see.

To walk as Jesus walked, in total obedience to God’s will, is our goal and purpose. As Christians, we are to submit to the Spirit’s leading influence in our life on a daily basis. This does not mean to give up entirely, but we are to give Jesus and His Spirit control of our lives daily. This is a hard concept for us because we do not like to give up control of our lives.

How can we, mere humans, accomplish this? The only way that we can do this is through Him and His Spiritual control of our lives. The only way that we can be truly effective for Him is by the power of His Spirit in our life. If we did good things (works) for others before becoming a Christian, how much more could we do with Him in our life? Those works that we did before becoming Christians may have been good but they did nothing more than to make us look good in other people’s eyes. What about the ones we are led to do or accomplish after becoming Christians? As long as we obey Him and accomplish them, we are doing His will and fulfilling His purpose in our lives.

Even though we are not bound by Jewish law, are we required to act as if we are regarding the Ten Commandments, as well as the commandments Jesus gave in Matthew 22? If we are truly His, yes! Our life is to reflect that His spirit lives in us and that we live through Him. If our lives do not reflect what is in our hearts as the truth of God, we need to re-examine our faith and our beliefs. We can only pass the test when we are led by the Spirit on a daily basis.

Is there a broken relationship in your life? Is there any prejudice or animosity toward any particular group of people? Do you fail to demonstrate love for others through tangible actions, not just  giving people “stuff” ? Is there a way we can fix these failures? Yes! Come to Jesus and show that you truly love those who love you and those who don’t.

As followers of Christ, we are to love Him so that we can resist the attraction of the world and all that it tries to offer us. To serve Him in whatever we do, regardless of how insignificant it may seem to us is our calling and purpose. In that way the light of God and His Son, Jesus, should shine through us so that everyone we come in contact with will see that we have something that they need and in doing so we will be the true followers of God that we were called to be.

Ain't God Good!!

Our lives would not be worth much if it weren’t for Him and the grace that He gives us each day. He gives us the grace and strength to get up each morning, the air we breathe throughout the day, our minds and our health to serve Him in whatever job we have and the grace to know when we have messed up so we can confess it and leave it with Him.

God loves us all, not just the ones who serve Him willingly. He created every living being on this planet but he gave us humans the ability to know Him and that is very special. Our lives are special to Him because He created each of us and knew us before we were even born!

Our experiences in this life, good or bad, are our own doing. He doesn’t cause us to fail or stumble, we do. Even in our Christian walk with Him there are going to be days that are tougher to stay focused on Him and His purpose for us. Our enemy in this world is satanic in nature but it is everything that can draw us or our attention away from God.

Truly, that is a lot of STUFF!! But with His strength and guidance, as long as we persevere in our walk with Him daily, we can be overcomers and bring Jesus and His love to the world. Not in a “holier than thou” attitude, but by loving those who would otherwise not be loved or not see or feel loved. In 1 Corinthians it says that all the gifts in the world are useless if we don’t have love to back them up and that is the truth.

Ain’t God Good!!

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.

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.

At least half of every person belongs to……..?

Some more than others are controlled by their own lusts, pride, ambition or ego. There was a country song back in 1995 called “Cain’s Blood”. I don’t know if it ever became very popular but it describes the human condition perfectly. On one side is our conscience telling us that we shouldn’t be doing something we know is wrong and on the other is “Cain’s blood” , or the bad side of us, telling us to go ahead if it feels good.

There are many temptations in our world and for many people there is no way out, as far as they know. The way out is there, you just have to ask for it. Jesus provides the way and the Bible is the instruction book. It has always been there throughout history. Some people find it and embrace it, others know it is there but take a long time to embrace it. There are some people who reject it completely and want no part in any church or service to Him.

Those teachings come from God because the Bible is His word written by human hands by the prompting of His Spirit. God has led me to write this blog, although some people may not agree with nor believe that. I have never been a “writer” for most of my life until a few months ago when I started this. Now, I can’t stop writing!

Each person has the choice to make in their life which side they will follow. Nothing is ever forced on anyone regarding your spiritual condition. God left it up to us to decide. If we choose to follow Him and His Son, Jesus, we will have eternal life with Him in Heaven. If not, we will still have eternal life but it will be in torment because of the decision that we made not to follow Him. It won’t be because of anything that we did in our life here on earth. Paul was a persecutor of the early church and stood by while Stephen was stoned to death for doing nothing more than preaching about the risen Christ. So the most prolific writer of the New Testament was a murderer, and yet Jesus saw much more in him.

Your life doesn’t have to be just your job or where you live. It can be your service to Him! I would rather go into Heaven and hear the words from my Lord, “Well done good and faithful servant” than to have a billion dollars on earth. I still live in a “trashy trailer” and have all of my life. I am not ashamed of it. I would like to have a “real” house but that is not what a home is. Home is where you are loved and accepted and can enjoy being with your family in reasonable comfort. It doesn’t have to be anything more than that.  My real home is where Jesus is and I am looking forward to getting to see Him.

Happy New Year, Everyone!

We have started a new year and so far the same news is around today as it was yesterday, nothing new yet! Our lives are in God's hands and He knows exactly what will happen and when, and yet we worry needlessly about things we cannot control. The weather, the stock market, gray hair, aching joints, our job or whether we will have one in the next six months. These are things that we do worry about and there is nothing we can do to change any of them. Even our job is in His hands so actually we don't have control over it either. There are many situations where we feel in control but He always is in control. If He were not, the whole universe would be in disarray and our world would be dead!

Fulfilling lives and our destinies in the world are dependent upon God, no one else. Your mother can't give you those, neither can your earthly father. Only in service to Him can you truly find fulfillment in everything you do, no matter what it is. If we really want to live out our lives with hope and confidence, we should put our confidence and our faith in God and His Son, Jesus! They are in control of everything and will cause every good thing to work for those who serve them.

There is no higher calling than to be a servant of God, the Creator of the universe and everything in it. He owns everything so I would rather work for the owner of it all than the one who only has a little! A few billion dollars is nothing compared to the entire universe!

In your service to Him, think about how small we are and the insignificance of our little planet in comparison to the universe. Yet, He knows you more intimately than anyone on the earth! He knows all of us on this planet just that intimately because He created us. He formed us in the womb and knows everything about us and our future selves. All the science and mathematics in the world can't explain why your personality is what it is or why, but He knows and He knew it before you were born!

No matter what your age or what "religion" you happen to believe in He still knows you and He will call on you at some point in your life. Listen for that call, it will be repeated until He has your attention no matter how He has to get it. Your Heavenly Father loves you and is waiting to hear from you. Make the decision today to come to Him in prayer, even if you have never prayed before, He is always by your side regardless of what you may have done in your life. He will forgive you if you will repent and believe in Him. That is all He asks!

Once you do that, He may inspire you to write or preach or be a missionary. Then again, you may just be a changed person and inspire someone where you work with what they see in your life. It could be a different job that He wants you to have but He has to have you first before you will be able to do it. Our Creator and our God is the best boss you could ever hope for because His retirement plan is eternal and has already been paid in full, it is not affected by the economy or the stock market either. Give God a chance in your life and you will never regret it!

Thank you, Lord for a wonderful year!

This year has been very different from all others. We have seen gas and oil prices reach levels that our parents and grand-parents never dreamed of. We elected the first African-American to be President. We have gone into a recession like none before it with the exception of the Depression of the thirties and are still coming through it. Banks have gone out of business, the auto industry is on the skids with possible bankruptcy looming. We had record heat during the summer, snow in New Orleans, more rain in December than we saw all summer and we are only half way through winter!

I know it sounds gloomy but God is in control of all of it! Every leaf that has fallen, every penny lost, every snow flake was His doing. But it was all planned to bring our attention around to realize that we are not in control, He is! Nothing that we do can change the color of he sky or the leaves, but He can. The salmon lives it's life in the ocean until it is time to spawn, then it makes its way back to its birth stream to do so. Science says it is instinct, the real reason is that God is in control and the salmon does His will.

We are the only creation to which God gave a free will. We can choose to do His will or we can choose not to do His will. He knows which one we will do but He also knows when or if we will ultimately come to Him. He also knows the trigger that will bring us to Him and He will use it. It may hurt, it may cause us to doubt Him for a time but ultimately, no matter how hard or how far you run from Him you are always running to Him. No one can escape God or His will for their lives. You can put it off, but if He truly wants you to do something for Him, you will. It may nearly take your lifetime to bring it about but He knows when your time is up on this earth and He knows when you can do Him and His kingdom the most good. Even if it is on your death bed.

Don't let it be on your death bed! Go to Him in a church, in your car, in your closet....wherever you need to meet Him, He will meet you because He is always with you no matter where you are or what you may be doing. To me, that is a sobering thought. Knowing that God is always at my side no matter what! He always sees what you do and when. Tell Him you are sorry for doing something which is wrong in His sight, regardless of how small you think it is it matters to God. It should matter to you too.