Faith is a word that I have always been fascinated with. In the church, we hear this word often. Pastors and teachers have used the word over and over. Even we ourselves use the word regularly. I wonder sometimes if we really know what faith is. In the dictionary the definition for the word, "theological", is the secure belief in God and acceptance of God's will. This is one big mouthful. I want to think that most of us have very little problem believing in God, but the second part of this definition is another thing…Accepting God's will. Let’s look at the word accepting. Its definition says, to receive willingly, to regard as proper or true, or to answer affirmatively.
The scripture tells us many truths about our Father. We know that God has created all things. We know that God has control over everything. That would include mine and your life as well as everything that our lives consist of. I have often wondered if we truly believe that God is really involved in all our life. Does He walk every step with us? Is He really in control? I think for most of us, we think that God is only involved in what we allow Him to be involved in. Think about that statement. If that were true, then we would be more powerful and stronger than God. We can tell God what He can and cannot do! Saying it that way sounds ridiculous doesn't it? Yet, for most of us, we probably feel and think that way. Fortunately for us, God does not operate who He is based on us. In spite of us, He continues to be the God He says He is. God is in control. He is perfect in all His ways. If we believe the scripture is the inspired word of God and all that is written is true, then we have many scriptures by which we can stand on all through life that can provide us with that peace and contentment we seek in spite of any obstacle that gets in our way, including ourselves.
Hebrews 13:5 says, "for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee". Psalms 37:28, "For the Lord forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved forever". I Chronicles 28:20, "Be strong and of good courage, fear not, nor be dismayed; for the Lord God, he will not fail thee; nor forsake thee". As I read these scriptures, I find no where that God put a condition that He could or would do these things only if I allowed Him. We, so many times, put all the emphasis on ourselves. We make it out that the only way God can fulfill His work is by me allowing God to do so. God is God!! His perfect will and love can be nothing other than that. If only we could see this. May God open all our eyes to His mighty truth. When Jesus said in John 19:30, "It is finished;" that was His shout of victory. Jesus said in John 4:34, "My food is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work". Hebrews 10:10, "By which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all". Again, as I read the scripture, I see all that was done had nothing to do with me. Jesus did it all. Our Father is the true God. He always fulfills His promises and the things He has said.
I want so much for the Holy Spirit to take these words and allow them to make sense to us. You see, our lives are in His hands. We can be rest assured that nothing goes on in our life that our Father is not involved in. God allows many things to come our way. Some seem to be good to us, while others seem to be bad or hard. But God is a God of victory. That includes everything. Problems, all problems, health, finances, relationships, hardships, the economy, world issues, I don't care what it is our Father provides us victory in them all. Those of us who are His children need not be dismayed by anything that comes our way. We can stand on His promises and His word and know that all is well in spite of what it might look like.
Now here’s the excitement of this message. We might be thinking right now, my faith is just not strong enough. Many of us have probably asked God to strengthen our faith so our life can be more victorious. To me, that is a foolish prayer. Stay with me here, and this roller coaster ride we are on can come to a halt. Let’s go to Galatians 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ: Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me". Let’s break this down. "I am crucified with Christ". Sometimes it's all in the way we read the word. Let’s take the word "with". We could say me and Christ are crucified, or we could say it's with Christ that I am crucified. Let’s add another example. Me and the stove were burnt or I was burnt by the stove. The scriptures intent here is for us to understand that we are crucified with Christ. "Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me". Even though I have been crucified, I still live, I am alive. But it’s not me, it's Christ that lives in me," and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son Of God". This is a major point. Go back to the prayer of asking God to strengthen my faith. We don't live by our faith. We live by the faith of the Son of God, Jesus!! There is no power in my faith. But faith is complete in its power and strength when it is Jesus'. We can count on His faith. It always works! Praise the Lord!
So, you see, all this time we have thought that it was up to my faith. No wonder we have been on the roller coaster ride for so long. My faith just won't work. But His faith will and does! Now we can relax and just count on Jesus. I am certain that's what the scripture means when it says, "deny ourselves and take up the cross and follow Him". We truly need to surrender this battle we fight each day and accept the will of God. We need to enjoy every moment of our life. We can count On Him! "Greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world". Eternity is ours forever because our Father wants us to be with Him. He has conquered it all. Nothing can take us down. Nothing can defeat us. All because of who He is. Praise God with me right now and let’s thank Him for who He is.
Till next time---God loves you!Stan
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Friday, February 6, 2009
Is This the Time
It has not been one week yet and I can already see the hand of God moving with this site. As you can see, several people have visited the site and a few have commented. I find it amazing how the Holy Spirit moves in us and speaks. God uses all of us to minister. This will be the beauty of this site. I so much enjoyed what was said by others. God knows how to confirm His truth to us by moving in us to speak. In this day and time, we truly need to hold on to each other worshiping our great God together. God has provided us a way to do that without being physically close. It's our hearts that bring us together and that is directly where our Father deals with us. Praise His name.
This week, as I was searching, the Holy Spirit led me to some scripture that stuck out. I encourage you to turn in your bibles to the 24th chapter of Matthew and look at several verses. Jesus was talking to His disciples and was talking about a particular time that was coming. The information was interesting to say the least. As the disciples listened, their curiosity began to move and questions started to arise in their thoughts. Jesus was talking to them about His return and the events that were going to take place. They had two questions that they asked. We can find both of these starting in verse 3. "And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the age?
As we continue to read, Jesus answered them starting in verse 4 by saying, “Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that ye be not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you; and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many, And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall grow cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. (this reference is not to the salvation of the soul of the believer who endures persecution, but to his deliverance by the Lord's return ) And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come”.
I have heard many thoughts on this subject. We will want to lean on the Holy Spirit to give us discernment on what the truth is. I want to express what I think the Holy Spirit is saying to me. First of all, we don't want to get these events tangled up. Each one of these is real and will happen at different times. The first event that will take place will be the rapture of the church. God has determined that the church will not go through the tribulation. He speaks very clear of this in I Thessalonians, chapter 4 verses 13- 18. Listen in particular to verses 15-18, "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not precede them who are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words ". This will be the reunion of all believers. This event will be the prelude to the beginning of the tribulation. We have talked about this event for many years. God has told us to do this so we could be comforted in those days. He has also spread that news so that when it took place there would be a huge revival of non believers who will be conformed instantly. In fact, the bible states that this will be the biggest revival ever in time. This is not the second coming of Christ. This will happen at the end of the tribulation.
The tribulation is the next event to take place. The understanding here is that this event will last for a seven year period. In fact, the first three years will operate in peace. An individual will step forward and lead the world in reaching peace. This person is not the anti-christ. Satan is the anti-christ. He will take over this person to rule the world. The scripture is very clear about his capabilities. He will brilliant and well received. In fact, it talks about him overcoming a fatal blow and performing great miracles. In verse 24 of Matthew, chapter 24, we read, "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect". That's us folks. This anti-christ will be convincing. I used to wonder how on earth this could happen. As time has progressed and we have seen the things of today, it has become much easier to see how it could happen. Think about this with me for a minute, in a twinkling of an eye there will be untold numbers of people who will be lifted off this earth along with graves that will open up where those that were dead are gone. Just a hole. Not all of them, but a lot. ( the rapture ) And yet this anti- christ will be so believable that he can come up with some explanation of how this happens. Go back to the original scriptures we started with in Matthew 24." you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, for nation shall rise against nation, these are the beginning of sorrows." And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall grow cold." Do these words ring a bell with us. Everywhere we look we see these things. It's very hard to function today. Not just this country, but all around the world, we are spiraling out of control. We seem to be grasping at straws. Can anybody come up with the answer for us and even if they could, could we stop fighting with each other long enough to come together. Our political system today is a perfect picture of what we are reading in the scripture. So, I can see how if one could come to the front with a solid answer with results, how the world could fall for it. Fear will cause us to do and accept anything. The Lord has told us "believe it not ". We have not seen the tribulation that the scripture speaks of in Matthew 24, verses 21 - 24, thank the Lord. But it is coming. As the phrase goes, we haven't seen anything yet.
We can then read about the return of our King to the earth at the close of this tribulation in Matthew 24 verses 29 - 31. This would be considered the end as we speak of it here on this earth.
I want to take us back to Matthew 24, verse 14 for just a minute. Jesus says, "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." Every person that God has created will hear the TRUTH. Every person will have the opportunity to receive this special gift that our Father gave us in JESUS. For you see," For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light.
The only thing stopping our Jesus from taking the church out of this world right now is that there is still someone who has not heard. Let us be used by the Holy Spirit to tell the "Good News". God loves us and all he wants for us, is to know Him. It doesn't matter about anything that's going on in our life. It doesn't matter what kind of condition that we are in. It doesn't matter how bad we think we are. God is bigger than it all. His love is greater than anything else. He stands waiting with open arms for us to just call on Him. He will give us all that we need. He wants us to spend eternity with Him.
Anyone who might be reading this, I want to ask you, do you know Jesus? Has there been a void or knocking inside your heart that you have been missing something? Well that void is the call of God reaching out to you to receive Jesus. Just remember His words. He does not condemn you. He loves you. You can receive Him right now by simply praying a simple prayer. Just tell God that you can hear Him and that you know you are lost without Jesus. And then just simply ask Jesus to come into your heart. If you pray that prayer you can have the assurance that you will be saved. Praise the Lord for his perfect work. For those of us who already know Him but have been captured by this fast moving world we live in. Here is some good news for us. It can stop right now by simply turning it all over to Him and let it go. God will put us back in perfect standing with him immediately. Why? Because He is perfect and loves us unconditionally. It's not about who we are, it's totally about who he is. He is waiting. May every decision that the Holy Spirit is leading us to make be made right now. We will claim it in the name of Jesus knowing that He is bigger than the enemy.
Well, until next time may God take every step with us and make His presence known every waking minute of our lives.
In Jesus name,
Stan
This week, as I was searching, the Holy Spirit led me to some scripture that stuck out. I encourage you to turn in your bibles to the 24th chapter of Matthew and look at several verses. Jesus was talking to His disciples and was talking about a particular time that was coming. The information was interesting to say the least. As the disciples listened, their curiosity began to move and questions started to arise in their thoughts. Jesus was talking to them about His return and the events that were going to take place. They had two questions that they asked. We can find both of these starting in verse 3. "And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the age?
As we continue to read, Jesus answered them starting in verse 4 by saying, “Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that ye be not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you; and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many, And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall grow cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. (this reference is not to the salvation of the soul of the believer who endures persecution, but to his deliverance by the Lord's return ) And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come”.
I have heard many thoughts on this subject. We will want to lean on the Holy Spirit to give us discernment on what the truth is. I want to express what I think the Holy Spirit is saying to me. First of all, we don't want to get these events tangled up. Each one of these is real and will happen at different times. The first event that will take place will be the rapture of the church. God has determined that the church will not go through the tribulation. He speaks very clear of this in I Thessalonians, chapter 4 verses 13- 18. Listen in particular to verses 15-18, "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not precede them who are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words ". This will be the reunion of all believers. This event will be the prelude to the beginning of the tribulation. We have talked about this event for many years. God has told us to do this so we could be comforted in those days. He has also spread that news so that when it took place there would be a huge revival of non believers who will be conformed instantly. In fact, the bible states that this will be the biggest revival ever in time. This is not the second coming of Christ. This will happen at the end of the tribulation.
The tribulation is the next event to take place. The understanding here is that this event will last for a seven year period. In fact, the first three years will operate in peace. An individual will step forward and lead the world in reaching peace. This person is not the anti-christ. Satan is the anti-christ. He will take over this person to rule the world. The scripture is very clear about his capabilities. He will brilliant and well received. In fact, it talks about him overcoming a fatal blow and performing great miracles. In verse 24 of Matthew, chapter 24, we read, "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect". That's us folks. This anti-christ will be convincing. I used to wonder how on earth this could happen. As time has progressed and we have seen the things of today, it has become much easier to see how it could happen. Think about this with me for a minute, in a twinkling of an eye there will be untold numbers of people who will be lifted off this earth along with graves that will open up where those that were dead are gone. Just a hole. Not all of them, but a lot. ( the rapture ) And yet this anti- christ will be so believable that he can come up with some explanation of how this happens. Go back to the original scriptures we started with in Matthew 24." you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, for nation shall rise against nation, these are the beginning of sorrows." And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall grow cold." Do these words ring a bell with us. Everywhere we look we see these things. It's very hard to function today. Not just this country, but all around the world, we are spiraling out of control. We seem to be grasping at straws. Can anybody come up with the answer for us and even if they could, could we stop fighting with each other long enough to come together. Our political system today is a perfect picture of what we are reading in the scripture. So, I can see how if one could come to the front with a solid answer with results, how the world could fall for it. Fear will cause us to do and accept anything. The Lord has told us "believe it not ". We have not seen the tribulation that the scripture speaks of in Matthew 24, verses 21 - 24, thank the Lord. But it is coming. As the phrase goes, we haven't seen anything yet.
We can then read about the return of our King to the earth at the close of this tribulation in Matthew 24 verses 29 - 31. This would be considered the end as we speak of it here on this earth.
I want to take us back to Matthew 24, verse 14 for just a minute. Jesus says, "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." Every person that God has created will hear the TRUTH. Every person will have the opportunity to receive this special gift that our Father gave us in JESUS. For you see," For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light.
The only thing stopping our Jesus from taking the church out of this world right now is that there is still someone who has not heard. Let us be used by the Holy Spirit to tell the "Good News". God loves us and all he wants for us, is to know Him. It doesn't matter about anything that's going on in our life. It doesn't matter what kind of condition that we are in. It doesn't matter how bad we think we are. God is bigger than it all. His love is greater than anything else. He stands waiting with open arms for us to just call on Him. He will give us all that we need. He wants us to spend eternity with Him.
Anyone who might be reading this, I want to ask you, do you know Jesus? Has there been a void or knocking inside your heart that you have been missing something? Well that void is the call of God reaching out to you to receive Jesus. Just remember His words. He does not condemn you. He loves you. You can receive Him right now by simply praying a simple prayer. Just tell God that you can hear Him and that you know you are lost without Jesus. And then just simply ask Jesus to come into your heart. If you pray that prayer you can have the assurance that you will be saved. Praise the Lord for his perfect work. For those of us who already know Him but have been captured by this fast moving world we live in. Here is some good news for us. It can stop right now by simply turning it all over to Him and let it go. God will put us back in perfect standing with him immediately. Why? Because He is perfect and loves us unconditionally. It's not about who we are, it's totally about who he is. He is waiting. May every decision that the Holy Spirit is leading us to make be made right now. We will claim it in the name of Jesus knowing that He is bigger than the enemy.
Well, until next time may God take every step with us and make His presence known every waking minute of our lives.
In Jesus name,
Stan
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