Eleventh Hour Gift

James 4:17 “Therefore to him that knows to do good, and does it not, to him it is sin.”

A Moral Compass

Yesterday I was reading one of my morning emails by Max Lucado, this one was titled “An Eleventh Hour Gift”. If you’re a Christian, you might know where I’m going with this and what it all means. The eleventh-hour gift was the gift of forgiveness as Jesus hung on the cross dying.

When one criminal hurled accusations at Jesus, the criminal on His other side chastised him for saying such a thing about a man who had done nothing wrong! “Yes we did something wrong, yes, but this man is innocent!” No one knows exactly what was said while three men hung bleeding to death on a cross but Jesus said something profound, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” My faith tells me that THAT is the kind of man Jesus was/and IS all about, love and forgiveness.

What? This criminal? Paradise? Full of sin gets to see paradise? Yes, people, that’s what Jesus’ death was for this tainted world, forgiving our sin-filled nature. Did these men attend church? Did they wash Jesus’ feet? Did they tithe and read scripture regularly, picking it apart word for word so they got it right with the Lord? Do they get to see paradise too? 

It gets tricky and I believe this is why we have an era stuck in a world judging God/Jesus and the moral compass. They answer to no one and forcing them to read a Bible that is full of sinners, rapist, killers, sodomy, and incest, the line of teaching gets lost and they come out on the other end with their own truth. Atheist didn’t become that way because they DIDN’T read the Bible, no, more than likely they read it and came away with their own summation.

I have a son, nieces, and nephews from blood and marriage and I know the different upbringings each of them had and what they carry with them. They define God in their own way, no matter what the Bible says, their parents said, ministers say, they come to their own conclusion of what a Moral Compass even is; they answer to no one. And even the ones that turned out to be Christians, came out believing ‘God didn’t mean it this way or that way, again, making their own truth fit what they’ve read and learned.

This is sad but when I read that email of Max Lucado’s it seemed pretty clear to me, Jesus didn’t die because we were all perfect in our moral compass worlds. He died because we are ALL sinners. So does that mean we get left behind because we’re out here with our high and mighty Moral Compass? We do everything right and honorable and fall on occasion, so does that mean we’re just going to be forgotten in our eleventh hour? I don’t believe so.

Will all of the children growing up today be forgotten because they don’t understand what the bible and the message said? No, they won’t! They are not being taught and much of what is taught is misconstrued, mixed and a jumbled up mess of laws, vows, deaths, and sins, they see no hope in the Word and are not taught of the HOPE in the Word.

People today are so vindictive, so eager to have the upper hand and smite the neighbor, it is a long line of misconceptions we teach our kids that it is okay, because of what, God forgives? TO ME, it is us, who already know that it’s a sin who will have trouble ‘knocking on heavens door.’

What I’m saying is, today is Good Friday, it is the day designated as the day Jesus was hung on the cross. I say designated because no one, and I mean NO ONE, knows of the day or hour our Lord was hung on the cross. One thing we Christians ARE certain of is that He died with one last breath forgiving a sinner who didn’t know any better all of his life, that Jesus was the God that many searches for. He forgave mankind, point blank!

I remember when I broke my femur last September and I laid crying in pain, what kept me sane at the moment was knowing Jesus suffered more as He made his way to the cross. The images of Jesus being whipped and beaten as He dragged the heavy wood to the top of ‘Skull’s Hill’ gave me something to focus on other than what I was enduring. Every drop of bloodshed, every laceration, every wail of pain from an innocent man, left my pain feeling small and petty.

As the past six weeks have been filled with pains all over my body that I DID NOT expect to feel, I thought I could handle any pain after Septembers rain of pain but this pain is just as immeasurable and I failed to conjure the images that I know might carry me through to the finish. I feel like a failure as I head into my New Year, no longer looking forward to ringing in the New Year in the fashion that I’ve done for years now. It’s all changed. Life has changed, the world has changed.

Easter Sunday will be different this year. My husband has to work, my son has to work, the family will rejoice with food and one another, sharing and caring and I’ll be left alone to celebrate my New Year in the fashion that I saw it coming, alone, with the One that forgave man, all of mankind, for being the sinners they are.

One thing I can say is that this Sunday I will RISE from my bed, and embrace the chance to live another day, basking in His glory! Another sunrise and sunset to tell the people of the world that no matter the sin, no matter the pain and shame you feel, there is the eleventh-hour forgiveness awaiting each and every one of you. Remember, it’s your magnetic moral compass that will lead you north or south

James 5:15 “And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.”

James 4:11 “Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.”

Unknown quote: “The more fake you are, the bigger your circle will be. The more real you are, the smaller your circle will be.

These are well known facts.”

May each and every one of you have a most Blessed Celebratory Day as we remember the reason for the Season!

Ten Things I Observed In 2016

Num. 16:30 “But if the LORD make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the LORD.”

Ten Things I Observed in 2016

1) Every one of US is judge and jury.
(Think about it, you’re judging that statement right there)

2) Not everyone who says they’re a Christian IS a Christian.
(There is still tons of work to be done)

3) Every church is filled to the brim with sinners.
(As it should be. If all were perfect, there would be no need for a church)

4) Politics can destroy sanity and friendships.
(I see many people differently after this year)

5) Opinions are like an anus, everybody is born with one.
(I tried to be discreet here)

6) Life is filled with more questions than answers.
(Age old question, WHY?)

7) Not EVERYONE has all the RIGHT answers.
(They think they do but they are mere fools.)
Proverbs 18:2 (NIV) “A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions.”

8) Birds are the most pure in Spirit
(They weather below freezing temps, they know their place, have no opinions, and learned to soar with all that they’re given to survive!)

9) Death is just a transitional phase.
(Those who think otherwise need to do some deep soul searching)

10) IT’S OKAY TO GRIEVE!
(It’s okay to be sad for others who are hurting. It’s okay to be pained by a loss. It is okay to be sorrowful. There is a time to mourn and a time to move on.)

I’ve come to appreciate every second I’m alive, not just the days I make it through. Life is too short to judge the person sitting next to you whether homosexual or not, black or white, etc., these are your brothers that God wants us to LOVE! Love your neighbor as you love yourself. When you judge someone by their looks or sexual preference, the race, religion or color you are judging all the things that you yourself lack. 

Be wise in the New Year but most of all, BE BLESSED!

"There is more to life than what is in front of your eyes. May 2017 be the year that you embrace what you can't see." ~Joni

Belief vs. Knowledge

Ex. 31:3 “And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship,”

“I no longer want to be a Christian. Oh, I want to follow Christ and stick to my beliefs but to be a person who calls herself a Christian I feel like I have to put on an armored coat while all other Christians walk around pretending to be a Christian and wearing the face mask the rest of the week. They are the Sunday only Christians I spoke of in another post.”

Please note I do have on the full armor of the Lord and that the term ‘Christian’ I found only three times in the bible:

Acts.11:26 “And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.”

Acts.26:28 “Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.”

1Pet.4:16 “Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.”

Also, note that I make the statement above to see a reaction, not as a statement of me giving up on everything I believe in. And you just know there will be more posts, so hang in there before judging me. I’ll say this also, if any man (or woman) suffer as a Christian, let him glorify God on this behalf. 

Belief vs. Knowledge - I can see this topic is not one that I’m equipped to just spew out an answer of the differences in a few hundred words, so links will be added so you can read your heart out. 

Belief vs. Knowledge an interesting read.

Knowledge definition: 1. facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject.
2. awareness or familiarity gained by experience of a fact or situation.

Belief: 1. an acceptance that a statement is true or that something exists.
2. trust, faith, or confidence in someone or something.

My belief comes from knowledge not via books, or an encyclopedia or the internet, not from scientists or ministers, it comes from what I’ve experienced and know to be true to ME. That is what makes my strong belief different and that is that it comes from hands-on, visual, and sometimes spiritual experiences that have happened to me in my life. After an experience, I would check a book to see if I’m crazy or not and more times than not my experience is not much unlike many of the people that I’ve read about in the bible and others who have been on the same journey.

Let me just say, before everyone goes off thinking I’m losing my faith, satan himself has tried to shake my faith and I’m still here writing about what has been MY experience, in a nutshell, I AM NOT LOSING MY FAITH.

My post is not here to sway you to think MY way, my post is here to have you and you alone think, to search, to read, to feel for yourself what is the truth that lies within YOU.

Yesterday’s post about agnostics vs. atheist struck a nerve in veins I never thought reachable. The journey I’m on has me meeting many different people, ones I don’t understand and subjects I need to do a little research on so I don’t come off as someone who don’t know what they’re talking about. 

My post yesterday brought about a slew of links, worthy of a share.

Are all religions the same? 

Hypocrisy in the Church: 

What IS the Church? 

Church bullies? 

What NOT to say to someone who has been hurt by the church: 

As with all of my writing, I aim to gain knowledge, to grow as a person and to share with you my experience along the way. I’m not writing so you can tell me I’m right or wrong, just as your opinion to me is not right or wrong, it is growth, internal or external growth is what we are all here for on this planet. Growth is the very reason we were planted.

My suffering is a part of that growth. I don’t announce to the world that I’m struggling or suffering to gain pity, I offer it to you so you can see my growth through my suffering. You get a visual of what my suffering entails then the further writing of blog posts show you how I as a human being have grown through the pain. 

I am human. I am a sinner. I am the very hypocrite you fear (not for my lies but for times I may judge wrongly) yet the one you long to speak to and embrace. I am a living testament to MY belief through the knowledge that I gained via experience. In truth… I AM ME!

2 Thes. 2:13 “But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:”

Everything Has Changed

^ALONE^

Luke 21:34 “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.”

I was going to write this yesterday but I thought it would come off as a bitter post instead of the mixed emotions I’m feeling. I took a deep breath this early morning with the temps at 6 a.m. hovering in the upper fifties. Ahhh the summer morning temps have yet to arrive, although I’m sure they will, for at least a month or so. My sympathy goes out to those enduring scorching heat and drought.

Back to my thoughts… everything has changed. I didn’t ask for the change but I was certainly ready and knowing it would happen. I assumed others were ready too but it looks as if it caught them unawares just as the bible stated.

In the passing of a week, I woke to find friends who’ve I known for quite a while sending off some much more than usual hate filled vibes. Why? What happened? What changed? It’s kind of funny how I woke and saw a few of my friends hadn’t changed, their vibes came through as often they do, as a light I see in them, while others just exuded inner hate that poured through the screen even if they didn’t intend it that way, you could FEEL the pool of hate.

It started with the Confederate flag. A kid, 20 years old, walked into an African American church and killed nine people all in the name of HATE. He had posted on Social Media his hate and was seen touting the Confederate flag, which by the way is part of American history, but seen as a waving of hatred of blacks across the south. So the plea went out to remove the flag from the State Office buildings.

I noticed a small ripple in the pool of hate. The Confederate flag! How dare they remove this symbol from our history, they cried. I wish the poor poor me tears would flow out to sea, but no, the hate wallowed in the pool never to meet a river of love.

I DO realize the Confederate flag is a part of our history but people are just so riled and ready to spew hate they attacked at the first sign of unrest. I realized now more than ever before that the white man has never really accepted the black man into the same circle. Many will deny it but after this past year it is EVIDENT in the pool of hate! Last week we watched a movie called BUTLER and it showed me quite vividly how the black community has been oppressed by the white man for no other reason than the color of their skin! (A GREAT movie by the way.)

Then the whopper – the Supreme Court ruling that gay marriage will be accepted in ALL 50 states! Wow, talk about an epic eruption of hate. The Social Media lit up in rainbows, people changing their profile pic to be overshadowed in a rainbow as a show of support of gay pride. People making fun of the gay community as far as going on and saying all pedophiles are changing THEIR profile pics to the rainbow too, that to me was a slap in the face to gays and the hatemongers to ‘like like’ when others are WITH them in their hateful opinions.

Oh wait that’s not all, the so-called Christians stood on their self-righteous soap box saying, “That is not in the bible! Homosexuality is against God!” You could even see the smoke flaming out of their nostrils as the huffed and puffed. Me? I’m being judged for not falling into their hate trap. I’m teased for my mental instability and physical disability, no human is right these days.

Did you know that every single homosexual is a human being? Created by God? They are the sons and daughters of God loving parents; they are the aunts and uncles of possibly YOU! I know many who love God as much as YOU! They are HUMAN BEINGS!!!! Yet you treat them as scum on the bottom of your shoe?

If this is how you carry on Jesus’ work then I better go back and read the bible and see where Jesus condemned homosexuals to hell without any chance of salvation. I need to see the story of Jesus walking along a dirt road coming upon two men having sex and saying, “REPENT you sinner or be condemned to hell for eternity!”

The way I see it, we ARE ALL condemned to hell!!! His blood was shed for me a sinner yet I am condemned to hell? People want God back in this world but maybe what they need is God in their SOUL and stop condemning every single thing that you don’t agree with. I don’t see millions of Christians marching and protesting for the return of religion to this nation, yet you claim to stand with Christ? You turning a blind eye awaiting the return of Jesus, how’s that working for ya?

I can see the real Christians. Their walk is in Christ. They lift up their voices in the name of love and ignore all the hate-spewers and carry the armor of God, in a manner that Christ himself taught Christians to do. They don’t judge, taunt, tease and hide behind words that they don’t wish to LIVE by.

While everyone’s newsfeed on Facebook was lighting up to a Confederate War with a Splash of Skittles, my newsfeed looked like it always does: food, kitties, roses, flowers, scripture and prayer. Yeah, apparently that makes me mentally unstable, have a good laugh. Now I have to wonder just whom I’m befriending. * scratching my head *

As satan is lurking effortlessly and having people do his bidding, I struggle every day to keep my focus on GOD and LOVE! No easy task in a world of hate. Wake up people, the world is changing. You don’t want to be caught sleeping now, do you?

Heb 13:2 “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”

 

 

Sin is Sin

Luke 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

Sin is Sin

I read something interesting this morning, note that it is not mine:

*** I went to church tonight with my family and the pastor said something I think every Christian should hear.

Pastor: Now according to a few passages in the Bible, homosexuality is a sin.

Couple of older males in the audience: Amen!

Pastor: Now wait, I’m not finished.

Pastor: You know what else the bible defines as sin? Divorce!

~ uncomfortable silence ~

Pastor: There are countless passages that talk about how divorce is wrong, and there are consequences to getting a divorce such as a woman should be stoned.

He went on:

Pastor: We choose to overlook the consequences of divorce because time has proven that they are inhumane and cruel.

The bible doesn’t say anything about the consequences of the homosexual lifestyle. Yet we seem to be spearheading a campaign to ruin the lives of people we don’t even know.

Pastor: The bible says we are to love thy neighbor. That’s it. There are no other rules or restrictions to that passage.

So WE as a church family have to support equality with a smile on our face. THAT is the true Christian way. ***

Here lately I see so much hate coming from so-called Christians. I say so-called because while they call themselves Christians they certainly don’t act like a Christian. Posting a scripture here and there does not make you a Christian, attending a church does not make you a Christian. The way you ACT and partake in living Christ-like makes you a Christian.

I saw another post:

***Love Thy Neighbor

Thy homeless neighbor

Thy Muslim neighbor

Thy black neighbor

The gay neighbor

Thy White neighbor

Thy Asian neighbor

Thy Jewish neighbor

The Christian neighbor

Thy Atheist neighbor

Thy disabled neighbor

Thy addicted neighbor ***

I’d like to add to the list, Thy Sinning neighbor. So as much as you despise the homosexual and hate the Muslim, the divorced woman must also repulse you?

Luke 17:25 “But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.”

I am a sinner. I have been cohabiting with a man for many of years. My Church just about did away with me because I didn’t bow to their rules. *I* am no different than a homosexual being turned away from a church, or for church goers to deny them/us entry because of their/our lifestyle.

I almost forgot, I’m also divorced! Stone me now! I don’t feel I committed adultery but by marrying this man I have spent thirteen years with, it is considered adultery. My ex husband abandoned his son and me and I found a man/friend who respected and honored me in ways the ex never did, nor would or could. He broke the vows by treating me as an obsession/possession that when he lost me, he never tried to file for a divorce as he said he would. He kept me hanging, wondering and dangling feeling like the most repulsive sinner in the world.

I remain committed to God. The blood of Christ washes away my sin, right? So why would Jesus’ blood not be forgiving to the homosexual? Does he only forgive certain sins, like the man who hates, despises, steals and tells white lies? A lie is a lie and a sin is a sin. You cannot paint your sin a pretty color and say that it is not sin.

My beau and I have decided to get married at a Historical courthouse. Why a courthouse? The church that is built for sinners to come to has turned us away. We are just sinners, so please, stone us now.

I think I will give up on religion for the time being. RELIGION! Not my faith in God and certainly not Jesus Christ. I am empowered by the Word and by the Word I will live, and as a sinner I will die. But Jesus will forgive me, right? "...the kingdom of God is WITHIN you."

Jas. 1:26 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.

[27] Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Think about this:

 
Luke 17: [33] Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.
[34] I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
[35] Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
[36] Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
[37] And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.

MY Commitment to Christ

Pss. 31:5 Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.

MY Commitment to Christ

I need to think of the commitment I made to Christ and not my readers. While you all are important to me, not to hurt any feelings, but I need Christ more than I need you. I watch as people are committed to the social media walls, their allegiance to unhealthy food is quite amazing, they have the audacity of committing to anything BUT Christ. They commit on a Sunday morning but then they fall until the next Sunday.

Sure they read and believe, but commitment to Christ is 24/7, it cannot be compartmentalized to suit you when you need it. You can’t be a Christian one-day a week. You go to church on Sunday and the rest of the week you act like your good old sinful self, then Sunday comes around again and you’re suddenly a Christian again? Does anyone else see something wrong with that picture?

We live in a world where everyone knows more than everyone else. Ministers are in the pulpit preaching and we feel they MUST know more than we do not only about the Word but most everything. I’ve seen so many times a preacher taking advantage of the system he vowed to uphold by way of taking money from the poor leading them to believe the more they give the closer they will get to God.

Sometimes I’ve seen the church give gold-bound Bibles out for a fee of course, or a little crystal bird to display and show everyone you gave more than 100 dollars. When I was younger a priest was fired for putting alcohol in the chalice instead of the grape juice all the other priests used.

Then we have the Jim and Tammy Faye ministers of society preaching the word of God as they see it and believe. Do we wonder why the world is in such a Christ crisis? We wonder why we’re such a confused nation? We have churchgoers acting sinful, priests acting sinful, ministers participating in the act of sin; we as followers of Christ might have a hard time discerning truth from fiction here.

We live in a ‘jump on the bandwagon’ nation. If someone says you’re going to hell because your beliefs aren’t perfectly aligned with their beliefs, everyone jumps in cheering, “yeah, yeah, you’re going to hell!”  I am so glad that God appointed man judge and jury of who is going to hell; it sure makes His job a lot easier.

I read something interesting today:

“The Chinese have an interesting lesson in the two characters chosen for their word “crisis.” One character is danger and the other is opportunity. The inference is that in every crisis experience, both elements are present. So a crisis is a dangerous situation presenting an opportunity. When you focus on just the danger, you become paralyzed by fear. Focusing on the opportunity, however, enables you to fly with wings of faith. It is we, ourselves, who choose on which of the two we will focus.” ~ Paul Estabrooks

I think the world is in a Christ crisis. While people see men not of Christ as a danger, I see the situation as an opportunity to show MY commitment to Christ. Not by lashing out but by being what He intended for ME to be, Christ-like.

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Nowhere in this scripture does Jesus point fingers at people and boldly proclaim YOUR GOING TO HELL. I do distinctly remember Him saying, ‘Judge not lest YOU be judged.’ And for that very reason, I may slide off the grid for a while. I will not sit, point fingers and judge my fellow man. The only thing I WILL judge is my soul. It is not MY mind that needs the help, I realize it is the world I’m surrounded by. I cannot allow myself to be exposed day after day to the negative aspects of humans that try and put a dent in MY commitment to Christ.

My commitment is 24/7. I don’t pick and choose the hours and days I will stand committed to Him. He dwells in me; He is a part of my Spirit. I do not have a one-way ticket to Heaven just because I believe in Christ. What, no baptism, no being born again, just believing is my ticket? I for one am not THAT naïve. I cannot conform to man and his ways, I can only conform to the Spirit that dwells in me and that my friends is MY commitment to Christ.

John 14:15-17 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

 

 

God be with you ALL!

I Walk with Him

Luke 18: 25 For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

I see a confused nation. They’re walking around dissecting the bible as if it was written to be dissected. They believe in every wind of doctrine and follow false teachers in a parade of arms waving them on.

Some might say I walk around in a blind ambition but let me tell you, I am not blind to what the Lord is showing me. Maybe He tells you to dig and dig to find the truth, dissect book by book to find the true meaning of the Word. Maybe He is the one leading you into  false doctrine? I doubt it.

People are a curious lot. They need answers to all their questions and they will shovel anything that someone is out there ready to cover them with. They will call it deciphering Bible prophecy and to my mind, they’re trying to know God’s mind and that is, to me, impossible and not able to be dissected.

I think what people are trying to do is put a Religion into a box, wrap it up and look at the beautiful present they have before them. I was always taught to think outside the box and not to conform to what others want me to think and believe, thus the very reason I consider myself a Spiritual Christian.

There is a verse in the bible that has always stuck with me:

Matt. 18:3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

While I don’t feel in any way that this is a literal statement meaning we should all walk around with pacifiers in our mouth spewing goo-goo ga-ga, I do feel it is meant for us to become of the utmost innocence that only a child knows.

When a newborn babe is wrapped in your arms, you are touching innocence from the realm of God in the purest sense of all creation. Did you ever wonder what was going through their minds as they looked around at their new surroundings? I always thought they were wondering how to get back to the God realm and as they grew and grew they found that there is only One way to get back there and throughout life in all their journeying they were being led back TO Him.

I never felt in any way that God wanted me to pick His words to pieces, dissect book by book looking for meaning, I always felt God taking me on a journey based on faith. The newborn has faith like no other. He is striving to be led by his Creator. He doesn’t need to understand the why’s of the things God wrote, or the how’s of how he did it, or the when’s as in the precise time God created the world; all that a newborn knows is trust and faith.

To become as little children always meant to me, to take on the innocence and purity of faith and all that means. If you cannot see with your own eyes that bible prophecy is coming to fruition and you need some stranger to dissect and point it all out in black and white, you’re throwing mud in the face of faith. You’re slaughtering all that God intended you to be, a faith-filled servant.

“Religion is the belief in someone else’s experience, Spirituality is having your own experience.” ~ author unknown

If you are going to fall into the snare of religion, you are only following others and what they learned on THEIR journey. To be a spiritually vibrant person of Christ, you will have your very own journey/experience led by God, it is YOUR story to relay to people, not regurgitated words of someone else.

We live in a world where ministers are telling us, “We sin, we go to hell”, “You are saved by the blood of Christ, you’re going to heaven”, “Sin all you want, you’re saved, you’ll go to heaven.” By the way they make it sound, we’re all destined for heaven. I tend to think God had it right when He said, “Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Point blank, no explanation necessary.

When I think of Jacob, Peter, David, Noah and the other sinners God used for his message to be delivered, what they all had in common in the end, they had FAITH in God and ALL His works and needed no clarification. (google and wikipedia wasn’t on hand) so they HAD to become like little children tasting the truth on their tongues as newborn babes in purity and innocence.

I Walk with Him.

Rom. 1: 17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

Lent: Day Thirty-five ~ Salvation

Joshua 24:15 (NIV) "But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

Salvation

I have good news for you, people. The past couple of weeks I’ve written about the renewal of your spirit, I talked about serving the Lord, the commandments of the Lord, praise and worship of the Lord and so many other richly rewarding posts, but today I bring great news, Salvation! It is free, not earned, nor bought or achieved by any works that your physical body can do, it is FREE, given with the blood of the cross.

I may come off a little crass in saying serve, praise, worship and be a part of a church. I think I make it sound like that’s your only way into heaven. It is not so, all these posts are for the committed Christian who understands what it means to serve our great and mighty God. We don’t serve because it will BRING us closer to God; we serve because it helps us FEEL closer to God.

Jesus calls us to be more than a mere Christian in word. If you call yourself a Christian you need to know what it means to be Christlike ie. a Christian. But if you’re a non-believer and searching for the peace within your body and feel that there is a higher power governing you, you need to meet my friend Jesus Christ.

I’ve have a few friends who say they won’t serve such a cruel God, who maims and kills and destroys but they see all His blessed goodness and would rather call the goodness by another name. Can I ask you something? When you were a kid and you defied your mother and she disciplined you, did you hate her? Did you turn away from her? Stop loving her? No, not often.

God is like that. When we sin, sure He disciplines us but by His saving grace we are forgiven. That is not to say that once you become a Christian you carry on like nothing has happened spiritually to you. You don’t drink booze, lay around reading and believing, sin and keep on sinning some more because God will save you.

I know a few people who will believe in God and all the testimony in the Old Testament but won’t believe Jesus is the Son of God. They’ll believe God parted the sea, they’ll believe he wiped out humans on the earth and saved the animals via Noah, they’ll believe a man resided in the belly of a whale, but they won’t believe in the Immaculate Conception?

“Since no man is excluded from calling upon God the gate of salvation is open to all. There is nothing else to hinder us from entering, but our own unbelief.” ~ John Calvin

To be Christian, you believe that the blood of Christ was shed for you, a sinner among men. You’re not going to become a Christian just because it is a phase you’re going through. You’re going to become a Christian because you feel empty inside; you feel like something is missing and you sense that there IS a power out there that can fill the emptiness. Salvation! You become saved by grace from carnal sin by the hanging on the cross of God’s Son.

Christians are called to serve the Lord. We feel a need to do good, help others, attend church, praise and worship; it is part of our spiritual Christian growth. But to others who don’t know Him who want to know Him, salvation is yours for the asking and receiving. God extends His hand out to you, sends a comforter by way of the Holy Spirit, and washes you in the Blood of Christ so you too feel changed spiritually.

When this happens to you, you no longer hang onto just reading and believing. You want to take ACTION, not because it brings you closer to heaven, or brings you closer to God, but because you can sense the power of God in you and this new spiritual growth calls out to you and propels you into action. You crave being closer to God! All the reading and believing in the world will not bring you into a closer relationship with God, action FOR and TOWARDS God, will.

Through salvation, the will of God becomes evident. You won’t miraculously stop sinning, but you have a clean slate FROM your sin to begin anew. You will STRIVE to be Christ-like meaning you recognize any and all of your sin and bring it to Jesus. Only He can wash away the unclean sin.

Yes, we are all sinners and fall short of the Glory of God but salvation is the saving grace, through Jesus Christ. Read and believe this, you CAN taste heaven and see what awaits you. You CAN drink from the cup of salvation and walk eternally with Christ himself. You can take this to the heavenly bank and cash it; God awaits YOU!

“If you have to be reasoned into Christianity, some wise fellow can reason you out of it! If you come to Christ by a flash of the Holy Spirit so that by intuition you know that you are God’s child, you know it by the text but you also know it by the inner light, the inner illumination of the Spirit, and no one can ever reason you out of it.” A.W. Tozer