Tag: forgiveness

Rise Up after the Fall Down

Some will understand this, some won’t. Some will believe this, some won’t. Reading this is absolutely worth your time and understanding, because it is true, beneficial and doesn’t cost any money.

SOLUTIONS

We put so much effort in misguided ways, numbing the pain, bad advice, wasting time and money and often finding disappointment when a lasting solution isn’t achieved. But the lasting solution is here to be found 24/7 (right now). “seek and you will find” (Matthew 7:7, Luke 11:9, Jeremiah 29:13, Deuteronomy 4:29) I won’t make you wait until the end to hear the solution: “surrender your life to Jesus- once you seek and find him.” Before you dismiss this, give it a chance, this is not just “Christian talk”- it is the truth, based on my personal experience and many others. You don’t have anything to lose, but everything to gain.

HUMILITY

If you talk to people who have surrendered to Jesus, some of the strongest believers I’ve met overcame the worst imaginable circumstances. Unfortunately it seems that it often takes “hitting bottom” or some extreme tragedy before we truly seek Jesus. It also takes being in a humble mindset; the proud don’t need anyone. The proud can do it on their own- or so they think. However, pride comes before the fall. (Proverbs 16:5, Proverbs 16:18, Proverbs 11:2, Proverbs 18:12) God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble. (James 4:6)

SURRENDER

I didn’t know what “Surrender your life to Jesus” meant when I first heard it, but it’s pretty simple: basically stop trying to handle it solo, seek God, ask for help from God, pray to the One who truly can make change happen in our lives. Ask God to guide your life, pray for guidance on every decision. With God all things are possible. (Matthew 19:26)

ASK FOR HELP

But there is something more to know, God is not like a “genie” or a “vending machine” where we just “ask and receive”- it takes a desire within us to want to change ourselves for the better, to want to be more godly in our actions, more Christlike – more like Jesus. It takes a willing attitude of “not my way, but Your’s” (God’s will). (To know about Jesus, we can study the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and/or John. There is similar content in each, but also different insights since they were written by different people. Matthew and John were each one of Jesus’ original 12 followers, Luke was a medical doctor and interviewed people who experienced Jesus in person and Mark was a friend of Peter who was one of the original 12 followers of Jesus also.)

SIN – REPENTANCE- HOLY SPIRIT

We can’t ignore the topic of “sin” though if we want to rise up (metaphorically and physically). Sin separates us from God. Sin hinders our prayer requests. (John 9:31). I think most of us know what sin is: going against the commands of God (Exodus 20– 10 Commandments), but Jesus tells people that the commands of God are even more extensive (Matthew 5) than what we see at “face value” in the 10 Commandments. But don’t be discouraged by that, God created us, He knows we are weak and stumble from sin, so He gives us a way out when we experience a temptation and He also is merciful and forgiving- if we truly are sorry and ask for forgiveness. He is quick to reconcile with us. And not only that but after we “repent” of our sin (which is ask for forgiveness and intend to change our ways), when we are honest and intend to change for the better, He gives us the Holy Spirit to help us change- this is how the impossible is possible- with God (the Holy Spirit). When we receive the Holy Spirit, we are “born again”– born of the Spirit, a new creation. We can let our past go because that no longer defines us, we have a new life, we become part of Jesus’ family, we become the son or daughter of God, we become a new creation!

BORN AGAIN- FREEDOM

When we are truly “born again,” we have God’s spirit residing within in us. We and others will know we have God’s Spirit because the evidence will show in our character. People will see the “fruit of the spirit” which is: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. No one who is born of God continues sinning. (1 John 3:9)

MADE POSSIBLE BY JESUS

When we have God’s spirit within us, we know we will be in God’s kingdom in the future. This takes away so much uncertainty about our future, knowing this. The only way this became possible, for us to have the opportunity to be in God’s kingdom, is because Jesus broke the curse of death that comes upon us when we sin, he did this when he died on the cross and raised from the dead. All our gratitude and thankfulness is to Jesus, without his resistance to sin, his obedience to the Father, this would not have been possible. Jesus is the way (to God’s kingdom), the truth (belief/faith) and the life (eternal life). No one comes to the Father except through Jesus. Jesus asks the Father for the Advocate (the Holy Spirit) and gives it to those who are sincere in their desires to be close in relationship with God. This is our adoption into God’s family, into His kingdom that will come.

It’s good to realize the freedom found being in Christ – having the Holy Spirit – brings us.

FREEDOM FROM:

  • a Broken Heart : there will be no more tears (Revelation 21:4) God is close to the broken hearted (Psalms 34:18)
  • Loss: those who put their faith in Jesus, who had the Holy Spirit indwelling when they passed away will come to life (Romans 8:11, 1 Corinthians 15:52)
  • Anxiety- Do not worry, God knows what we need and provides it (Matthew 6:25-34), Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you (1 Peter 5:7) (John 14:27) When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy (Psalms 94:19)
  • Anger – anger is the foothold of the devil, when we have the protection of God, the Spirit of God residing we have strength and self-control (Ephesians 4:27) (Galatians 5:22-23)
  • Worthlessness– we were made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), for a specific kingdom purpose (Phillippians 2:13) (Ephesians 2:10), we are valuable or Jesus wouldn’t have suffered what he did so that we may be saved and live in eternity with God. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb (Psalms 139:13)
  • Temptation -God provides a “way out” for us, a way to avoid the temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13)
  • Depression – God refreshes us (Matthew 11:28), gives us peace and guards our minds (Phillipians 4:7)- Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken. (Psalms 55:22)
  • Lust- So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:16)
  • Addiction – I can do all this through him who gives me strength (Philipeans 4:13), Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead be filled with the Spirit. (Ephesians 5:18) Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you (James 4:7)
  • Guilt – if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God (1 John 3:21) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness
  • Shame- those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. (Psalms 34:5)
  • Condemnation -Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1-2)

FREEDOM BY:

  • Acceptance – though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me (Psalms 27:10)
  • Adoption – we become God’s son or daughter (Romans 8:16)
  • Mercy – he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our sins (Psalms 103:10), the Lord accepts our prayers (Psalms 6:9)
  • Forgiveness – For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. (Matthew 6:14)
  • Love – For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16) But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8) For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38) God is defined as love. “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:8) and Jesus also said the greatest commandment in the law to LOVE, love God and love others. (Matthew 22: 34-40). Love is everything.
  • Hope/The Promise of Eternity – “For I know the plans I have for you” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11) while this message was specific to Jeremiah, after reading the bible, we see this message is consistent throughout and specific for all those whom God loves.
  • Truth – Jesus said: “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”(John 8:32), Jesus also said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6). From these statements, it is through Jesus that we are freed! All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16)
  • Value – So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27)
  • Peace – And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7) The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. (Romans 8:6)- people who have the spirit indwelling feel peace in circumstances those without would not have peace.
  • New Creation – Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17) All things will be made new (Isaiah 65:17, Revelation 21, Revelation 22)
  • a Defined Purpose – For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10)

FILLED WITH JOY! God works all things for the good of those who love Him. (Romans 8:28, Romans 15:13) But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.” (Luke 2.10) That good news is Jesus, his mission and purpose on earth was to save mankind from the law of sin and death and give life to us so we can live in eternity with God as brothers and sisters. This is truth – Flourish with it!

by Categories: bible study, FAITH, FAMILY, FRIENDSHIP, God, HAPPINESS, Improvement, Letting Go, Love, Make It Count, Marriage, Parents, priorities, RELATIONSHIPS, suicide, WellnessTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

When Someone Hurts You…

Right now, find a personal peaceful place of momentary solitude and read or listen (on the podcast) to what I share in this letter. There are many times where having others around is good and positive, but for the moment, find a place and make some alone time for yourself, so you can think without being distracted or interrupted. I don’t know where you are in your beliefs, but what I’m about to share is what has been effective for me personally, when “life” didn’t always go as well as I wanted. I am 100% confident this will be effective for you too, but please be patient, it may or may not be a “quick fix,” depending on the depth of the “hurt” you experienced, but this will be an effective lasting healing. I sincerely hope you give this a try because it works and not only works, but in my opinion is the ONLY solution that will have a lasting healing from the “hurt”! I’m saying this from my personal experience, this will be the best thing in life that you ever did, if you follow through!

In your solitude, whether you have faith or not at this time, just please try this: quiet your thoughts and think about the words in this prayer and say this, directing it towards Jesus:

“Dear Jesus, I’m struggling with hurt (and anger) right now and I need discernment, strength, healing, wisdom and hope that only you can grant me. Please help and guide me through this time in my life.”

WHY JESUS?

As you probably know, the best person to get advice from is the person who has been through the experience and has overcome the experience successfully, so there is no one better to get advice from than Jesus, because he lived on earth and went through many things that we go through: He was tempted, he was abandoned, he was betrayed by those closest to him, he was murdered, people stole from him, people rejected him, people made fun of him, he was beaten, he experienced aloneness for 40 days , his closest friends didn’t support him, denied him, he felt physical pain, he was lied to (Peter his friend), he experienced hatred from others and MOST importantly: He SUCCESSFULLY overcame ALL this! I can’t think of anyone who experienced ALL these things and still came out on top, overcame all of it, can you? This is why Jesus is the ONLY one I go to for advice (through prayer)!

RELEASE YOUR FEELINGS

This is in private: tell Jesus everything (uncensored) because he knows it anyway- no one else needs to know. Be honest about everything, talk to him, because he already knows, it’s good to be honest about the hurt (and anger) or write it down (and tear up the paper, or burn it afterwards, but “pour” it all out, release all your feelings), and understand this hurt is TEMPORARY! It WILL get better. If we don’t express this hurt and anger, it can build up inside and come out later in ways we don’t want it to, if it’s not taken care of sooner, it will come out later.

DISCERNMENT ABOUT THE EVENT

This is one of the things asked for in the prayer above: discernment. Sometimes what happened can be confusing to us, we don’t understand why it happened, but we can be sure it happened due to evil: please be aware, we live in a world that is impacted by unseen forces (both good and evil) and there is a good probability that whoever hurt you has something evil influencing them. That is why we are told not to fight evil with evil, but to fight evil with good because the spirit of God (Only God is good) is more powerful and effective than we are and will conquer anything evil. If a person has unknowingly allowed evil access to our lives (through continual sin), evil is influencing and evil spirits can also possess a person and make them act in wicked ways. People who allow sin to remain in their lives do become slaves to evil. That’s why getting sin out of our lives is beneficial for us. Sin creates an open portal in us and allows much worse events to happen because it separates us from God. Only God can truly protect us from evil – that’s why we need to eliminate what separates us from God. These evil spirits bring with them into people: sickness, mental health issues, addictions, violence, etc. This is real, not a fairy tale. If you don’t believe this, you are simply in a “blind-state” about it at the moment, but Jesus will open your eyes, when you sincerely seek him. If we do not have God’s spirit residing within us, by default, we are vulnerable to evil, but we can change that by calling out to Jesus in prayer and asking for His Spirit, which he willing gives to those who ask with good intentions. There is no doubt that it’s evil behind what hurt us; God’s spirit (when residing within someone) will warn a person before they act in an evil way, but it is up to the person if they choose to respond to the guidance. Discernment is the ability to distinguish between good and evil, we have to know about this before we can understand this. Evil is deceiving, in fact it can portray itself as “an angel of light” but we can discern what is evil by what we see in action, this is called the “fruit” of the spirit, what the spirit of God “produces” in action (which will not be seen in a person influenced or enslaved by evil): “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Galations 5:22-23

LET IT GO

This is where you’ll need the strength we asked for in prayer: to let it go. After the “hurt” happens, it served its purpose and it is time to move on, it is over, the damage is done: God will use it for good, if you are one of God’s children and God will restore you and bless you in some way. Sometimes bad things happen as lessons in life (teaching us), other times bad things happen to test our relationship with God- to see what decision we will make after it happens: do we get closer to Him? or do we reject Him? And other times bad things happen to us as punishment for what we have done (separating ourselves from God- through our continual sin, know that we all sin and we all are not and will not be perfect as long as we are alive), so God disciplines His children with the hopes that we learn from the discipline and change our ways before something worse happens. Changing our ways means living life with Jesus as our model, our example, looking up to him for how we should handle ourselves. (This information is scattered throughout the New Testament and best found in the gospels. I like the book/gospel of John because he was one of the 12 original disciples who followed Jesus. he personally felt like he was “the closest” to Jesus and you’re hearing about Jesus, from first hand physical experience- from one of Jesus’ friends.)

FORGIVE

The person who harmed us may never ask for forgiveness, but we still need to forgive them because if we don’t, God may hold back His forgiveness of us. We all have broken God’s commandments at some point during our lives, so we ALL are in need of His forgiveness. Forgiving someone doesn’t mean what they did was “okay” but if we use discernment, we see that what they did was purely out of evil influence in their life. In truth, they may need more help than us, but leave it to God. God is just and will justly take care of the offense, God tells us: “it is mine to avenge“. And this may not be the most Christian way to think about the outcome, but God’s wrath is much more severe than anything we could ever do, so leave it in God’s hands and trust that God will address it in the future. He will. He is trustworthy and just. We truly don’t want to be against Him for this same reason. It is a battle that will be lost.

REDIRECT YOUR FOCUS

What we surround ourselves with affects us. Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” (Corinthians 15:33) The best way to deal with the hurt when it arises is through prayer: express it and ask for help. Reading or listening to scripture or teachings from the bible will take your mind off it and give you something more useful/productive as an alternate focus. The music you listen to affects us, so try a change, find something peaceful, not sad, and even better is to find worship music that sounds good to you. This will uplift and encourage you as it takes your mind off the hurt. If you like positive “pop, hip-hop” upbeat music, there is an app you can download and listen to anywhere you go: here is the link to the website: BOOST Radio is 24/7 Pop, Hip Hop & Hope. Clean hip hop and pop music. – BOOST Radio (myboostnation.com) here are some other options: Top 10 Christian Radio Stations (godtube.com) When you are ready to be around others, choose people who build you up in your relationship with Jesus. This is the way to have support and lasting healing: we need to stay connected to Jesus, that’s what he mean when he said: I am the vine and you are the branches; if we are not connected to him we will not have the spirit of God protecting and guiding us.

KNOW THE FUTURE

There is only one who knows the future and he is God. When Jesus was on earth, he told people about the kingdom God has prepared for those who come to God through Jesus. This time on earth is temporary, there is a future eternity where people who have God’s spirit residing in them will be changed in an instant (at the return of Jesus) and those people will be rewarded with an incredible immortal future in a beautiful NEW earth and heaven that is not broken, where there will be no suffering, no tears, no sadness, but only joy and happiness and it will be indescribable, magnificent. No one can adequately, effectively describe what God has in store, but this world has nothing to compare to it. So it will be amazing. God’s new earth and heaven will surpass any expectation because of who He is. Don’t worry about what happens here, this is simply a transition to something greater, focus on the future of what God has in store for us. It will be incredible! Here is a glimpse: Revelation 21 (NIV) – Then I saw a new (blueletterbible.org) and Revelation 22 (NIV) – Then the angel showed me (blueletterbible.org) Help those you love know about what is in store for them as well, if they choose God and trust in Jesus (who we get to know through reading the gospel)! Jesus told everyone: “I am the way the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me” John 14:16 ,

MY PRAYER FOR YOU

I pray that you are healed from your hurt and that God restores and blesses you in ways you can’t even comprehend right now, but when it happens, know that God did it! Through Jesus’ name, Amen.

by Categories: bible study, Dating, FAITH, FAMILY, FRIENDSHIP, God, HAPPINESS, Improvement, Letting Go, Love, Make It Count, Marriage, Parents, priorities, RELATIONSHIPS, WellnessTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Why Don’t We Care More About God?

It’s easy to not deeply care about someone we only know by name (a stranger), but not someone we truly know (an important person to us).

Think about this for a minute: think of someone you know: that person you see occasionally (it could be someone from work, or someone living in the neighborhood, this person should be someone you see occasionally but don’t interact with much), you know their name, but you might not know many details about them such as their life story, stories of their struggles, or stories of their favorite memories in life. You know them primarily by name only, the depth of your knowledge about this person is limited. Let’s refer back to this person as “stranger” going forward.

Now think about someone you love (it could be presently or in the past) but pick someone that you believe you truly love, someone whose “well-being” you truly care about, someone you take time to be with regularly, you know their struggles, you know their life story, you know what makes them happy. Let’s refer to this person as “important” going forward.

Take a minute to think about both these people, you “know” both of them, but one you know primarily know by name, the “stranger.” and the other you know many more details about them and they are the “important” person to you. This is how most of us are with God (until we seek Him), we know OF Him, but we don’t truly KNOW Him. If we don’t truly know a person, we can’t genuinely love that person- the same holds true about God. How can we love God or make Him a priority in our life, if we don’t genuinely know Him? We can’t.

The best way for us to get to genuinely know God is by reading scripture (the bible) daily, here’s what I’ve learned about God and us over the past three years of doing this. Let’s start at the beginning: Creation. God’s creativity is so much more impressive than anything mankind can create. Think about our bodies, the intricacy of our unique DNA coding, the systems of the body, how they work together, the ability of our body to “heal”, the intricacy of our eyes, the complexity of vision, all the tiny blood vessels, nerves, and muscles, throughout that provide what’s needed for various components of our bodies to function as designed. Think about our minds, the capacity to think, ponder, analyze, feel, etc. This didn’t just happen by “accident”- there is a complex, well- designed system that even the doctors today don’t have full understanding, often treatments are still trial and error when doctors try to fix something. God made us. He intentionally made everyone of us (we are here because He wanted us here): each of us is unique and has special gifts, created by God. We were created to relate with Him and with others in this world. God wants to be known and sometimes uses supernatural means to be discovered by us. Think, for a minute , about that “important” person brought to your thoughts earlier. You love that person, now imagine this: what if that person didn’t know you? You knew them, you love them, yet they don’t react to you, they ignore you, they don’t respond to you. Wouldn’t that be frustrating? Now think about how God feels when we ignore Him. God has feelings and emotions. We were created in His image and similar to Him, we also have feelings and emotions. How would you feel if the person you love responded to you as a “stranger”?

Creating us is what God did, but there is more about who God is. There is a mystery about God, revealed through scripture. There is one God, but a triune God: God the Father, the Son of God (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit. All three were present during the creation. This is a detail that can be supported by the original Hebrew scripture with the word: Elohim This is very interesting because the word is “plural” and the singular form is Eloah and both are used in scripture, but the creation as well as other pats of scripture use the plural version. Explore this if you doubt. Why would God be referred to with a plural reference if He is not triune? Genesis further describes God’s Spirit hovering over the waters during creation and the bible also says “let us make make mankind in our image” (Genesis 1:26) It is not until Jesus arrives that we fully understand this “triune”, when Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist all are present: the spirit descends visibly when Jesus comes up out of the water during baptism and God speaks audibly telling those present that Jesus is His Son (Matthew 3:17). But even further back in scripture, about how Jesus came became man, we learn from God’s messenger angel, who visited Mary (Jesus’ mother). The angel explained that it is God’s spirit who makes this pregnancy occur, not by man, the angel also visited Joseph who was engaged to be married to Mary and was thinking about secretly departing from her due to the pregnancy, but the angel explains what happened to Joseph and Joseph follows through with Mary. (Matthew 1:18) The three (triune God) are present at the very beginning of Jesus’ human life. Something else to think about: throughout scripture, no one technically sees God, Moses gets the closest to seeing Him, but then hides his face. When Moses returns to the people he is described as “radiant” (Exodus 34). Scripture often tells us God is Spirit, so it’s hard to comprehend His presence, is He pure light or does He have bodily form? Scripture mentions the throne of God and Jesus is seated at the right hand, so it does seem like there is a form of some type and if mankind was created in God’s image, then it would also seem likely. If we look back in scripture again, in Genesis (Genesis 3:8), God is walking in the garden (all three are present: Elohim) it is written about God’s voice being heard, and then the singular version Yehova (Jehova) is also used and so is Ruah (which means spirit or wind in the Old Testament, in Hebrew; ruah is used used 378 times) and is interesting to discover. Could it have been Jesus who was walking in the garden? (I don’t know the answer to this question but it crossed my mind after reading this verse.) Jumping forward, in the book of Revelation, Jesus reveals that he is the beginning and the end (Revelation 21:6), he also reveals this in the gospel of John when Jesus tells the Pharisees that he existed before Abraham who was born around 20 BC (John 8:58). It is believed that Jesus was born sometime between 6 BC and 2 BC. In the New Testament, pneuma is the name for Spirit, it refers to either God’s spirit or other spirits and is referred to 385 times in the New Testament. When we explore the original words of scripture like these: Elohim, ruah, pneuma, and the words of Jesus documented in the New Testament Gospels, our eyes begin to open and the Bible gets interesting by exploring and discovering “who” God is through scripture we begin to learn.

But there is more to learn about God than “who” He is. There is the personality and character of God that we discover through the Bible. This is best discovered gradually throughout the entire bible, so this following summary will not be complete, but is an attempt to summarize some of what I’ve learned about God’s character through studying scripture. Since God made us in His image, I think we can comprehend a little bit of His character is because God is the only one who is good; we are not, so we can’t fully relate to a perfect God. (Jesus said this documented in the Gospel of Mark 10:18 – also explore the word Jesus used for God “theos” in Greek found here) So we are imperfect beings trying to understand a perfect Being, therefore we are limited in our comprehension of God and in what has been revealed to us through scripture. Here are some characteristics of God found through scripture:

LOVE: God loves us greater than we currently have the capacity to love. Our love is often conditional. God’s love is unconditional. He loves us even while we are broken, separated from Him by sin. He created us to experience a loving relationship with Him. When any human relationship fails, it is different from our relationship with God who’s love remains, unfailing. We can’t comprehend God in exactly the same way as we experience human relationships: God is perfect, humans are not.

FORGIVENESS: God sets the standard so high on forgiveness. When we comprehend His capacity to forgive we are amazed, especially when we think about betrayal. How hard is it for us when someone betrays us, then comes back? Some of us may be forgiving yet others struggle with it, but not God and He wants us to be like Him in forgiveness to others. He wants us to understand how often He forgive us (which is whenever we truly mean it and ask Him for forgiveness, He forgives). Aren’t we grateful that He is like this? How many times do we mess up and then regret it? What if He wasn’t forgiving? Do you realize what that would mean? We would never have a relationship with Him again. Think about that for a minute: what if you hurt that “important” person you love and you never had the opportunity to be back in a relationship with them because they didn’t forgive you for what you did against them. How much greater would that hurt us when we know what God has planned (Revelation 21 and 22) for those who love Him back and those who have a relationship with Him?

MERCY: God see us as His little children, He lets us make decisions (even ones that aren’t good and ones that go against Him, the Commandments He gave us Exodus 20)- He is not controlling (He let us have free will), but then He will discipline His children, the ones He loves Revelation 3:19 (for our benefit to learn from our mistakes and turn back to Him) He cares for us and wants the best for us. Jeremiah 29:11

JEALOUS: Yes, God gets jealous. There are different types of jealousy: one type is “coveting” something someone else has; wanting something that is not ours, being envious of someone else. This is not the jealousy of God. God made us, God loves us and God is jealous when our love is shown to someone or anything else more than Him. In fact it is in the beginning of the commandment He gave us (Exodus 20). Whatever we love more than God is our idol: it could be money, it could be a false god, it could be ourselves through self-centeredness, fame or pride, it could be things we may obtain, it could be any person we hold on a pedestal, it could be our “important” person. We should know that God is meant to be our priority, He gave us everything we have and He can take away whatever we prioritize over Him to teach us this lesson. It’s much better to make God the priority now so we don’t have to learn the lesson the hard way.

ANGER: Yes, God gets angry. The anger that God shows is against evil. This is righteous anger. He is not “hot-tempered” and scripture tells us to avoid “hot-tempered” people– that is not God’s character. God is slow to anger, scripture tells us that too. God actually hates 7 specific things Proverbs 6:16 (link here): included are pride, lying, harming innocent people and those who contemplate and choose evil.

JUSTICE: God is just, God is perfect, therefore when he subjects anyone to wrath or to death, it is justified. God is patient (2 Peter 3:9), he gives people opportunities and time to repent, but if God sees there is no repentance, at a certain point (only God knows that timing) He takes action and destroys evil. Yes, God destroys evil. Sometimes He does it now, but He will also do it later to the evil that remains during the Judgement of all Evil (sin) separates us from God, so God destroys it according to His timing, but we can trust that He will do this, even when we don’t see it happen immediately when bad things happen in our world. It will come. Scripture tells us, God says “it is mine to avenge” Unless a person repents, they will perish. Scripture tells us this.

POWERFUL: God is powerful and can make supernatural things happen. With God all things are possible. Scripture gives us insight to God’s power through God’s response to Job about who He is: Job Chapter 38, 39, 40, 41 Jesus foretold that he has overcome the evil within the world through his death and resurrection. (John 16:33) We overcome evil when we choose to be “born again“, become the spiritual children of God, when God’s spirit resides within us. (John 5:4).

God will be respected; all people will end up bowing to Him when Jesus returns and Jesus will rule from that point on through eternity. Those who make fun of God or mock Him have a horrific future ahead- the irony of this is that the ones who are doing the mocking right now are the ones who are currently deceived and will be the ones in the future who will be known as fools in the end. But those who turn to God, get to genuinely know Him and remain in relationship with Him through prayer have nothing to fear because God loves and protects His children. He has an incredible amazing future planned; it’s only a matter of time before we experience it. Take this to heart and take action now: make God your “important” person, your priority, don’t leave Him in the “stranger” category, get to know Him and experience His goodness, His blessings in your life. Click here to see who is blessed by God, there are multiple pages so scroll to the end to see the various pages in scripture that mention “blessed”.

When we think about “success/advancing” in the world, so many of us do well getting to know those at the top who can make a difference in our future, but at the same time many of the same don’t know the ultimate God who WILL make a more substantial difference in our future (eternity). This is called blindness until people are made aware and short-sightedness if they don’t take action that matters for eternity, people don’t understand, but desperately need to understand and need to know God. Not for selfish gain in this world, but for our future, for Life. Once we truly comprehend the truth about Life and Death, we can break from what enslaves us by calling out to God, helping others do the same (we’re not to be selfish), then rest in the grace and eternal blessings from God. Remember it all started with God’s LOVE for us. Jesus made the WAY for us (John 14:6). We simply need to seek God, repent and place our faith in Jesus to save us and help others know this Truth.

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12 Questions to answer and find out if you will have eternal life.

Let’s just get to the point. Russia is currently setting up outside Ukraine. China has been threatening Taiwan. Iran is enhancing its nuclear capacity and openly expresses its unacceptance (to put it mildly) of Israel and the United States. The Middle East in general is continuously in some level of conflict.

If you haven’t done this yet, it’s time to make sure your ETERNAL future is in the place of your choosing, because you may not end up where you expect. You need to make a decision and take action now. So here are 12 questions to know where you may end up and find out what you need to do if you don’t get the answer you want:

  1. Do you believe that JESUS is the ONLY way that you can be in eternity with God? (You can’t be “good enough” based on your own actions.) Yes or No?
  2. Are you familiar with the 10 Commandments? Yes or No?
  3. Do you admit that you break God’s commands? Yes or No?
  4. Do you know the following is prohibited by God and those who continually do this (and don’t change these ways) will not enter God’s eternal kingdom? (sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, greed, theft, lying, slander, “magic” such as seances, astrology, mediums, practice of witchcraft, spiritist, interpreting omens, casting spells, anger, getting drunk, sexual perversion, false teachers of religion, false prophets of religion, pride, a person who stirs up conflict in the community, a person who loves and practices any false teaching, hypocrites, taking advantage of other people, practicing homosexuality, slave traders, anyone who speaks against God’s Spirit (the Holy Spirit), being conceited, prioritizing money or wealth) Yes or No?
  5. Have you rebelled against/sinned against God by doing anything in #3 or #4? Yes or No?
  6. Have you asked God for forgiveness and subsequently made an effort to avoid all things listed in #3 or #4? Yes or No?
  7. Have you told God that you want and intend to be obedient to Him by not breaking anything in #3 and #4, even though it is hard to do and you will mess up occasionally, but not regularly? Yes or No?
  8. Do you ask God for forgiveness then change the behavior if, or when, you do anything listed in #3 or #4? Yes or No?
  9. Have you publicly shown your commitment and surrendered to God and without hesitation state your belief in Jesus being the Son of God, the Messiah, who made it possible for you to be in eternity with God by being Baptized? Yes or No?
  10. Have you asked Jesus for God’s spirit (the Holy Spirit) to help you live according to God’s will? Yes or No?
  11. Do you know God personally? Do you have a personal relationship (ie. pray, read the bible, study the bible) with God? Yes or No?
  12. Is the Spirit of God residing in you? Yes or No?

If you honestly answered “Yes” to ALL the questions above, you can know that you will have eternal life with God. If you answered “No” to any of the questions above, then you have work to do if you want eternal life with God.

Here are some (but not all) links to scripture validating the questions above:

  1. John 14:6
  2. 10 Commandments: Exodus 20
  3. We all sin: 1 John 5:17, Romans 3:23, 1John 3:4, John 8:34
  4. Many Verses, Drinking
  5. Mark 21:7, Romans 3:12
  6. Acts 3:19
  7. Matthew 7:21
  8. 1 John 1:9
  9. Get Baptized, Matthew 10:32, Romans 8:2
  10. John 15: 26
  11. Matthew 7:14, Hebrews 8:12
  12. Romans 8:11, 1 John 5:18, 1 Thessalonians 4:8
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Is Satan the embodiment of Sin?

I woke up with this concept on my mind: “Is Satan the embodiment of sin?” Please give this some thought, does this make sense to you?

Mornings tend to be the most spiritual time for me. Some mornings, I wake up with a strong thought about something and I have no idea why that thought popped into my mind. Sometimes it’s a dream, sometimes it’s a clarity about something, sometimes it’s a “message” that I feel compelled to share. Often when it is the “message” type, later in the day I will see the same message, sometimes even the exact same sequence of words being spoken by another Christian, and sometimes numerous Christians in the same day will say the same thing. When that happens, I can’t help but think there was more to it. It wasn’t just “my thought”, it was God using various people to pass on the message. I don’t know if God is giving me clarity here about Sin and Satan?

Let’s think about when “sin” entered the world. It happened in the biblical story of Adam and Eve when the serpent deceived Eve and she disobeyed, then caused Adam to disobey the only command God gave them. Pay attention to this too: God was walking (and you can trace this back to the Hebrew word: Halak in scripture) in the garden when He called for Adam. My conclusion is that God was present with Adam and Eve. This concept works whether you believe the story of Adam and Eve is figurative or literal. God was present with mankind on earth at that point in time, before sin entered, but then the Bible doesn’t seem to describe the same possible “physical” presence after that: God remains omnipresent though, it just seems “differently described” after that. It seems (my opinion) that if God is present and a sinful person comes into His presence, the “sinful” person will die: an example is when God told Moses to keep the people away or they would die at Mt. Sinai when he revealed the 10 Commandments to Moses. And interestingly, the 10 Commandments were placed in the Ark of the Covenant and God appointed a specific group of people, the Levites, to be the ones to carry the Ark. The arc was known to be “holy” and there were many rules about being in the presence of the Ark. In fact, there was a story of men transporting the Ark and one of the men reached out and touched the Ark to save it from falling (which would be a “kind” action), but he instantly died. If the man was sinful (and all people are naturally) and the Ark is holy, that would make sense, follow the logic, explaining why he died instantly. Yes the bible tells us God caused that to happen, but was it because of the law (Sin leads to death and the sinful will die in the presence of God or what God defines as “Holy”)? There were also stories of people who stole the Ark and then had calamities happen to them and at one point there was a passing back and forth of the Ark (you take it, “no, you take it”) that I recall from reading the Bible too. This logic seems to make sense to me.

As I was writing this, I had more clarity about “sacrificing.” I wrote about this before and have always struggled with God requiring a “sacrifice.” Why would He ever do that? Why would God allow people to kill animals in the sinner’s place? I really struggled with these questions. However, I just recalled there are many entries in the bible where God states: “I am not happy with your sacrifices! They are worthless!” But yet God told the people specifically what they had to do. Think about this logically: if sin leads to death, then death is a consequence of sin. We know God places a high value on people and doesn’t want people to perish so if God made the law that Sin becomes Death, then if a person sins, according to God’s law, the person must die, but God didn’t want that, but in accordance with His law, there had to be a death as a penalty for sin. Therefore a life must be sacrificed or given up, so God allowed animals as a substitute for people during the Old Testament time. Of course I would not question God about that sacrifice not being proper, knowing who He is, I just didn’t understand this, I couldn’t accept it, but I knew there had to be a reason for it, I just didn’t understand. But throughout the Bible it states that God’s word will remain. Now I think I am beginning to understand: God didn’t want ANY OF THIS! Remember one of the 10 Commandments God gave us: Do not murder. (Does this have a slightly different definition than kill?) The living sacrifice only came about because of Sin and the law was the penalty of Sin is death. There had to be a resolution, an end to the killing, an end to the sacrificing. But it couldn’t stop unless the law was fulfilled, so God (the only one more powerful than all) took personal action, through Jesus, who became the final sacrifice that ended it. Jesus was the sacrifice that no one else could be, no one else has the value of Jesus, was sinless, without blemish, only Jesus. The Son of God is the only one who is worthy to be the substitute for all the sacrifices, and to be the sacrifice for our sin, Jesus was the final sacrifice. We should be thankful, Jesus ended this horrible act.

Getting back to Satan being the embodiment of Sin. The Bible tells us the life we are experiencing is more than what most of us realize: it is a spiritual war happening. Satan, and his followers, rebelled against God and are fighting against God still today. You may ask: Why doesn’t God simply kill Satan then? If He is all powerful, why doesn’t He just take care of it now? My opinion, from what I understand from the bible is that God gives everyone a choice to love and obey Him, but God has a timeline for each and every one of us already determined: a time to be born and a time to have a physical death and that time in between is our opportunity to choose God or reject God. We have numbered opportunities (so don’t waste them). If God did that for us, wouldn’t it be possible for God to do that for Satan too? If God is Love, that conclusion/opinion makes sense.

Here is another opinion/thought about the Bible: maybe God knew how confusing and tough this spiritual war would be for all of mankind to comprehend and experience, so in His love for us, He spoke through the authors and gave us this information (the scripture), so we would know there is a good ending (God wins): don’t give up!

The Bible reveals the last thing that Jesus conquers in this spiritual battle is DEATH. The Sin that leads to death is blasphemy of the Spirit. (Blasphemy: the act or offense of speaking sacrilegiously about God or sacred things; profane talk.) All other sins can be forgiven by God, if a desired change in action occurs and one asks God for forgiveness, God is merciful and he forgives. Satan is cast into the lake of fire for eternity = Sin and Death are gone forever.

Think about this: God is Love. Satan is Sin. There is a spiritual battle happening and it is between God and Satan.

Sin separates us from God. Satan is sin. Satan wants to separate us from God; he seeks to kill and destroy. When we choose sin, we are allowing, permitting Satan spiritual access to our bodies, our mind, our being. Satan/Sin is powerful, appealing but deceiving, it’s manipulative, full of lies and people are influenced and drawn to it naturally (sin is an evil spiritual force). People are not more powerful than the spiritual beings, but God is. Who/whatever we give access to will influence and determine the outcome of our existence.

When we allow God access (by surrendering our life, or asking God to take over/guide our life) we then permit God spiritual access (through the Holy Spirit) to our bodies, our mind, our being.

God has always allowed “choice.” So what are you choosing?

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