A Little More than 8....

Been pondering this thought for some time now.  The return of Christ is imminent. Which means that in a little more than possibly 8 years the Thousand Year reign of Christ will begin.  

People often play along with games of where do you see yourself in 5 years.  

My friend, without Christ in 5 years you will be in the midst of Hell on Earth.  The Judgment of God being unleashed.  The AntiChrist going full swing on people publicly worshipping him.  Worship or be killed.  Yeah you think today's world is rough.  What happens in those 7 years will make today's problems look like a minor fender bender.  Will look like a slap in the face compared to the horrific life people will go through because of the AntiChrist.

Nobody needs to see those days.  In the here and now we have the choice to choose Jesus and to be saved.  Once the Rapture takes place those who come to Christ will be enemies of the world.  Can't be?  Look at what this world is like right now, was anything you are forced to live through, with masks, lockdowns and vaccines remotely on your mind 2 years ago?  It certainly wasn't on mine.  My life today consists of work, home, and extremely limiting who I am in contact with.  This isn't what I was doing 2 years ago.  I can't really call this a life.  I can't just go somewhere or just see someone. Government intervention keeps people from meeting in large groups. Even though this so-called pandemic isn't any worse than the flu.  There was and is no global crisis this was something that opportunists grabbed ahold of and are using to program and manipulate people. To get them used to the idea of just submitting.  Guess what, the World Leader that is coming after the Rapture will do much more of the same.  

We are indeed seeing the beginning of the end of the way this world is, in its defiance of God.  After the 7-8 years of Judgements Christ will Himself reign for 1,000 years.  There will be no wars, no rumors of wars. There will be no famines or global disasters. Peace will envelop the planet.  Lifespans will be near a thousand years.  

But then...at that end, Satan will be released to deceive the world once more.  He will succeed in that...and at a spoken word from Jesus all rebellion will be obliterated.  The Final Judgment before Jesus begins.  All who have ever denied Christ will face judgment.  

Life is bad right now but life is going to be a whole lot worse once Christ returns.  Those who gladly join the World Leader will pay for that poor decision.  

It doesn't have to be that way for you.  

Today you can be saved. Today you can know for sure that when Jesus returns you will go with Him.  Look up Romans Road to Salvation.  Read it, decide today, have your name written down in the Lambs Book of Life.  

Time is running out.  I said 8 years but in all reality it's 7 plus the gap between now and His return.  Don't believe the lies of this world. Your eternity depends on it.

Truth is only True if it Comes from God

Truth is Only True if it Comes from God 

I woke up a little earlier than I wanted to, and after taking care of a few things, thought about returning to bed.  I just had this sense that sleep wasn't what was to happen, that there was writing to do.  

What crossed my mind is the whole subject of truth.  This world is replete with examples of people trying to create their own version of truth. 

When the rich young man approached Jesus about eternal life he was thinking he had already done so much, surely he would be ready for Heaven.  Jesus still saw the truth in this man. His wealth and prosperity wasn't enough to save him. That's God's truth vs man's truth. 

The Pharisees and Sadducees liked bringing charges and challenges to Jesus.  Essentially they were bringing their truth to Jesus to see what He would say about it.

To be honest with yourself is the first step in helping yourself in and through problems.  Basic psychiatry says admitting that you have a problem has to be first.  

Billions of people in this world won't ever admit that they are wrong about their belief about God.  They would rather ignore physical truth, refuse to acknowledge mental truth therefore they cannot see Spiritual truth. 

In Revelation these people are seen as the sand on the seashore.  There's that many against the truth of God. 

Also in Revelation they refuse to repent.  They refuse to acknowledge is another way to say it. The truth is there but they just don't want to let go of what they want truth to be. 

This universe was created by God.  He defined what truth is.  Satan has been deceiving himself and trillions of people throughout the centuries, denying the truth of God.  

Satan knew the truth of the Old Testament. He couldn't stop it being written but he did twist how it was taught and lived out. The result was the Pharisees and Sadducees. He blinded the minds of the unbelieving.  They totally missed the arrival of Jesus. Totally missing the triumphal entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem. Their truth was more important to them. Do you realize that had they not done that, had they been looking for Jesus, life today would be so much different? If you remove the Church Age, we, at this point, wouldn't be here. The Thousand Year reign of Christ would have been over by for a thousand years. The final judgment of mankind would have already happened.  The book of Revelation is about Israel. Daniel's 70th week of his prophecy. 

Truth. God's truth is the most hidden thing on this planet.  Media refuses to show it. Publisher's fight printing it. Political parties try to crush it out of existence.  Hollywood tries to keep the world from thinking about God's truth.  Consuming their minds with useless things and thinking.  

Jesus said He is the Way, the TRUTH, and the life.  Nobody comes to the Father but through Him. 

Truth is without Jesus it is impossible to be saved. 

Truth is without Jesus it is impossible to please God. 

Truth is we cannot do anything, for that matter we could try everything, and still fall short of what is needed to be saved. 

This world is trying to drown civilization in falsehoods.  Teaching and forcing people to believe, teach, and promote lies as being the truth. 

The Bible is the last Word.  The Bible states clearly who will never see Heaven. It states clearly what Hell is like and who WILL be going there.  Your truth or my truth aside the Bible is the truth.  Satan cannot stop the reality of the truth of the Bible.  He's been trying since the dawn of time. 

We all want a peaceful truth.  To live a peaceful life.  Jesus says that in this world we would have tribulations.  What do we have? Tribulations. Truth. 

Jesus said that without faith it is impossible to please God.  Everyone living for themselves has tried, they failed, nothing they did pleased God. 

We spend billions every year in escapism. 

Escapism is television, theme parks, fiction books, plays, productions. On drugs, therapy sessions.  Anyone, anything to escape the reality of the Bible.  That's the real truth. We spend billions on it. Time is one thing that even Satan knows we can't get back.  So he creates things that are designed to waste it as quickly and quietly as possible. 

Do you have God's truth in your life?  Does it even matter to you?  God's truth is telling others about Jesus and how He wants to save them.  It is living for Jesus.  I am blown away at the hundreds of thousands of videos that people have A) created and B) have hundreds of thousands of followers.  They have millions wasting time taking apart movies, television shows, tearing people apart by social media trashing etc.  People by the hundreds of thousands are pouring into Hell in the meantime.  From drug overdoses, texting while driving, drunk driving, shootings, stabbings, murders of every kind.  Suicides.  

How does it sit with you?  Would you be like that rich young man to walk up to Jesus to ask about what do you need to do to be saved?  Would you take stock in your life at that moment He tells you and would you walk away like he did?

Truth hurts at times doesn't it?  Probably the number one reason people try to create their own. 

Every person has a need for Salvation in Christ Jesus. That is your truth for today.

Is There Enough Evidence to Convict?

Is There Enough Evidence to Convict?

If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 1 JOHN 1:6 Think of the last time you experienced tension in a relationship—perhaps with a family member or someone at work. Conversation is superficial, and you’re more comfortable apart than together. When something happens between people who are normally close, the first thing to vanish is the evidence of fellowship. It’s the same way with the Lord. We think we can stop following Him without damaging our relationship. The conversation is surface (“Lord, please bless this food”), and we avoid spending time with Him (“I just don’t have time for my devotions”). The main prerequisite for experiencing fellowship with Jesus is following Him and obeying His commands. It’s like when Peter and the disciples were fishing, and the Lord told them to cast their nets on the right side of the boat. When Peter obeyed, something greater than catching a boatload of fish happened—he saw Jesus. What followed was an intimate meal, a sweet time of fellowship with the Lord. Fellowship follows obedience. If you’re feeling out of fellowship with Jesus, chances are good that you’ve either stopped following or started disobeying.

- Dr. David Jeremiah Morning and Evening 

People, well most people, try to avoid any incidents with the Law.  They try to stay out of trouble. Christianity isn't a religion of causing any kind of trouble.  Yet trouble always seems to find those who walk closely with Jesus.  Jesus said that in this world we would have tribulations, troubles, but to be of good cheer for He has overcome the world.  

The trouble with most is the lack of realization that this world we live in isn't true life.  Life begins when we step into eternity.  This is a precursor, the application process if you will, the part before life begins. In Mark, where I am reading this morning several times Jesus mentioned things we should remove now in this existence that would be more beneficial not to have now than to enter into life with later.  Meaning what we are doing right now isn't true life. 

Jesus came because He was obeying His Father's Will.  He was about the Father's business. He did not deviate from obedience.  He wasn't 'living His life'. What we see is obedience to His Father in all 4 Gospels.  Ever since Genesis 1:1 til the end of Revelation a great deal of the Bible is about obedience to God and the consequences when we don't.  Angels, Demons and humans.  Angels disobeyed God, were kicked out of Heaven, became Demons. They already were spirit beings there is no Savior for them.  All demons will end up in the Lake of Fire. 

Humans needed a Savior. Eluded to in Genesis, throughout the Scriptures every book of the Old Testament pointed to what we read in the Gospels of Jesus Christ coming in obedience to His Father. The Old Testament is replete with examples of how mankind CANNOT measure up to the standard of a sinless life such as Jesus. 

You could theoretically be born, be educated by a fictional perfect artificial intelligence, never violate anything written in the Bible, and still die and go to the very real very non-fictional Hell. Apart from Salvation in Christ Jesus it is impossible to please God.  Without Salvation your fictionally perfect life is rubbish. You are born in sin. It's in your DNA. You can't remove it. 

I was listening to an old song last night for the first time in years. All His Children was the name.  In the grand scheme of things all humanity is indeed God's Children. The question is acknowledging His right to be your parent and needing what He says you need to be saved. Hell is filling up with countless trillions of people who said they want nothing to do with God as their Father nor Jesus as their Savior.  That's what rejection of Jesus in this life will get you.  

You cannot ever live in such a way that your good deeds outweigh your bad in order to get into Heaven.  God said you can never do enough.  You have to have Jesus as the propitiation for you.  He has to be your substitute when you face leaving this world.  

It comes down to this...are you simply trying to live a good and decent life apart from God or are you living with the idea of living to please God?  If it came down to it would there be enough evidence to show you belonged to God? 

It may sound like a odd way to say it but we aren't here in this world for our good pleasure. 

Christians are to be lit up with the light of Christ.  To be seen by others. That's what the Bible says.  Not to be hidden under a basket as the children's song goes.

If people can't see the light of Christ in you and they can't tell by your speech, conduct and life that you are indeed a Christ follower then, my friend you have great reason to be concerned as to whether or not you are indeed saved.  Because it means there isn't enough evidence to convict. 

If all you are concerned about is enjoying this world then there's not enough evidence to convict.

If all you are concerned about is how good you can make yourself feel then there isn't enough evidence to convict. 

If your world is more important to you than showing the world Jesus is in you...then there isn't enough evidence to convict. 

Someone once said you are only going one of two directions.  Towards God or are running away from God.  The life of one running towards God would be convicted of being a Christ follower.  The life of one running away would certainly not.

Is your life filled with ideas and idols that push God out?  Do you at all take time, appropriate time, to be developing a right real relationship with Jesus?  You cannot love this world and love Jesus too.  One leads to Hell one leads to Heaven. There is no door number 3.

Get Your Mind Out of the World!

Get Your Mind Out of the World!

If there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. Philippians 4:8b 

What you think about in your unguarded moments reflects what your mind dwells upon. What you speak about when your guard is down is a good gauge of what is in your heart (Matt. 12:34). Your mind needs exercise just as your physical body does. To keep your body healthy, you must be careful what you put into it, and you must exercise regularly. To keep your thoughts pure, you must guard what goes into your mind. To exercise your mind, you must contemplate things that are noble and truths that stretch your mind. Some Christians allow the world to fill their minds with ungodly thinking. Some people seem drawn to concentrate on the negative, choosing to be pessimistic about everything. Some remain satisfied with thinking of the mundane. Others fail to intentionally place Scripture in their thoughts, choosing instead to adopt human reasoning. Others, however, choose to expose their minds to the truths of God—to that which is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, and good. The things you allow your mind to dwell on will be revealed by the way you live. If you focus on negative things, you will inevitably be a negative person. If you allow unholy thoughts to fill your mind, ungodliness will become common in your life. If you fill your mind with thoughts of Christ, you will become Christlike. What you fill your mind with is a matter of choice. Choose to concentrate on the magnificent truths of God, and they will create in you a noble character that brings glory to God. - Blackaby Experiencing God Day by Day 

In recent days, for whatever reason, life's been a lot more...shall we say...intense. 

I have been in the same job, but not the same role, since this time last year.  The struggles are very real, the battles are in my face. 

If not for my trust in my God and not in me, I would never have survived.  I have been praying that Jesus would do for me as He did for the children of Israel. To go before me into battle before I set foot on the battlefield. The situations were much bigger than me. 

When life gets this way that is where I turn.  Why?  No, it's not a sign of weakness.  It's a sign of strength.  I am no longer my own. I was bought with a price, the blood of Jesus.  When life is good or life is less than ideal, it's to Jesus that I go.

I may be a learner.  I like to watch videos on how things work, how to fix things. I have fantastic ideas on things that I would like to build because of them.  But my life isn't about my achievements. It's about what Jesus is achieving in me.  I cannot and should not, love this world nor the things in this world.  It's been a sticking point with me, ever since I was convicted of it, not to brandish worldly symbols on my clothing. I don't want people to look at me and think of things in this world. I would rather take every opportunity for them to hopefully look at me and think about Jesus. I may be partial towards a sports team or two, but I will never hold them higher in my life than where Jesus is to be.  I have had several convictions along those lines. It's not being a fan, it's worship. Only God deserves my worship.  Same goes with my likes in this world such as science fiction. I may like something like Star Trek, as an example, but will not collect nor wear anything that can be seen as worship.

My mind needs to be on the work at hand, on my Wife, and my walk with God.  I do watch older television shows from my younger years.  But I do not dwell on them.   I occasionally watch movies from long ago but I do not dwell on them.  I look forward to my moments with my Savior in the morning more than all the world has to offer.   Everything in this world is doomed to perish, my relationship with Jesus will be for eternity. 

Where is your mind?  Are you at all concerned about what you are thinking about?  Is family, even, more important to you than your life before Jesus?  We live in a trophy world these days.  Kids believe they should be given a trophy for participating.  We live with adults who believe that too. We live with a culture who wants others to do the work while they go do what they want.  Sin run rampant is the result. It's where their mind is. 

Where your heart is there is your treasure.  If it's on anyone or anything down here all the time, my friend you are very much distracted from what really matters. Jesus said to store up treasure in Heaven.  That means focusing on Heavenly things. On our Father in Heaven. On Jesus and His Words. On a life that says THAT is where my mind is. 

If all you do is look upon things down here, anger, malice, stress and anxiety will be your daily diet of life.  Your anger does not achieve the righteousness of God.  You thinking your retired and can go live out your life your way does not achieve the righteousness of God. Your living in your day today without time with Jesus will never achieve the righteousness of God in you.  Get your mind out of this world.  Set your mind on things above not on things down here. 

Don't Let it Only be an Act for People to See

Don't Let it Only be an Act for People to See 

Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Hebrews 11:6 

Your relationship with God is largely determined by your faith. When you come to Him, you must believe that He exists and that He is exactly who He has revealed Himself to be in Scriptures. You must also believe that He will respond to you when you earnestly seek Him. Without this kind of faith, you cannot please God. Regardless of the morality of your life, the good works you perform, the words you speak, or the sacrifices you make for His sake, if you do not have faith, you will not please Him. It can be tempting to substitute religious activity for faith in God. Christians may claim they are being “good stewards” of their resources when, in fact, they are wanting to walk by sight rather than by faith (Heb. 11:1). They may refuse to do what God tells them unless they can see all the resources in place first. You may say, “I love God, but I just have difficulty trusting Him.” Then you are not pleasing to Him. You cannot struggle at the core of your relationship with God and still enjoy a vibrant fellowship with Him! Faith does not eliminate problems. Faith keeps you in a trusting relationship with God in the midst of your problems. Faith has to do with your relationship with God, not your circumstances. Some may say, “I'm not much of a person of faith. I am more of a practical person!” Yet you will never do anything more practical than to place your trust in the Lord! Nothing is more secure or certain than that which you entrust to God. - Blackaby Experiencing God Day by Day 

Is your life really an act you play out?  In front of people at work you are one kind an actor, at home a different actor?  Do put on a show for different kinds of people based on who it is?  

Do you believe your striving to be a good person will ever get you into Heaven?  Do you have some belief thay "maybe the good will outweigh the bad"? 

It's a hard pill to swallow but it doesn't matter. 

What?  Seriously, in light of God's Word those kinds of things do not matter. 

Without FAITH it is impossible to please God.  Scripture says that. 

FAITH without works to prove it is dead. Scripture says that.

Without Salvation in Christ Jesus alone for it, you cannot be sealed in the Spirit of God. Scripture says THAT is the key to the door of Heaven.  You must do more than believe that God exists.  Demons do more than believe that God exists.  They at least acknowledge that if their efforts fail, which again Scripture says they WILL fail, they know and understand they are going to spend eternity in torment in the Lake of Fire.  Scripture says so.  

YOU are the ones who either are deluding yourself or are flat out denying the importance of God in what He has said or you don't.  

There can be no acting when it comes to the day you stand before Christ.  There will indeed be a day when you will.  Apart from having the mark of the Spirit on you showing that you belong to God, you will not be allowed into Heaven. NO EXCEPTIONS. 

Give up your acting.  Give up on your trying to be a good person without God.  Quit lying to yourself about how good you think you are.  

Scripture says clearly Let God be found true and every man a liar.  God is truth. Jesus is God. Every knee shall bow every tongue WILL confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.  You WILL confess some day before Jesus, either willingly or unwillingly you WILL. 

My friend quit also trying to embrace this world.  Those in Christ are strangers here. When we come to Christ we get a new citizenship.  It's in Heaven. When we leave this world we arrive at our home.  The Spirit brings us to that place of promise. 

Likewise without Christ you are taken to your temporary home which is Hell. Read for yourself what that entails. Luke 16:19-31 "Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, enjoying himself in splendor every day. And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, and longing to be fed from the scraps which fell from the rich man’s table; not only that, the dogs also were coming and licking his sores. Now it happened that the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s arms; and the rich man also died and was buried. And in Hades he raised his eyes, being in torment, and *saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his arms. And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus, so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set, so that those who want to go over from here to you will not be able, nor will any people cross over from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I request of you, father, that you send him to my father’s house— for I have five brothers—in order that he may warn them, so that they will not come to this place of torment as well.’ But Abraham *said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”

THAT is a direct description from Jesus Himself.  

THAT is what you have to look forward to if you refuse Salvation in Christ Jesus.

There are no atheists in Hell.  Everyone who has died rejecting Christ is in Hell, in the same state as that rich man.  There are millions and millions of religious people in Hell.  Religion does not save you.  Being a good person does nothing to save you.  

It's time to quit acting.  An actor is one who plays a part that isn't really them. In its cruelest sense it's an intentional deception.  You deceive both yourself and others by living a lie.

In no way can a Righteous God "look the other way" in regards to the sin of an unbeliever.  In Christ Jesus forgiveness of sins is found. In Christ Jesus forgiveness is granted to those who ask. He then casts those sins as far as the east is from the west.  Remembering them no more. 

It's time to stop running.  If you are not saved you are wasting your time in this life trying to be a good, moral, upright person. 

It's time to run TO Jesus instead of away from Him.  Be real for once. No more acting.  Your version of morality will not save you.  If it were possible then everything Jesus suffered through was all in vain. 

Close down the production and get on your knees before God and ask Him to save you, to become the Lord of your life. Ask Jesus to be your Savior and to forgive you of your sin.  Find out was living life is all about. 

To Obey, Even When We feel Unworthy

To Obey, Even When We feel Unworthy 

He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. Isaiah 61:1a-2b 

God's timing is perfect! When He speaks, the time to respond in obedience is now. We often act as if we have all the time in the world to obey Him, but history doesn't wait on our commitments. There is no such thing as postponing a decision with God. Either we obey, or we disobey. It is either faith or unbelief, obedience or disobedience. When God announces that now is the acceptable time, what you do next is critical. How often people have been unprepared when a word came to them from the Lord. God said, “Now is the time for you to respond to Me” and their response was, “But I'm not ready. I have some things I need to do first. I'm too busy!” (Matt. 8:21). God's timing is always perfect. He knows you, and He is fully aware of your circumstances. He knows all that He has built into your life until now, and He extends His invitation knowing that His resources are more than adequate for any assignment He gives you. That is why Scripture tells us God is concerned with our heart. If we do not keep our heart in love with Jesus, our disobedience when God speaks could affect the lives of others. When God speaks it is always out of the context of eternity. We don't have to know all the implications of what He is asking. We just have to know that it is a word from Almighty God. “Now” is always the acceptable time to respond to the Lord! - Blackaby Experiencing God Day by Day 

It's not hard to be brought low in life. It's not difficult, as I heard in a television show once, to "feel lower than a snakes belly". 

I often struggle with obedience right after doing or saying something that I shouldn't have said or done. Sometimes it's neither and I still feel like I am going through a Job season of difficulty, like I am right now.  Life is difficult.  It has nothing to do with advancement at my work.  Has nothing really to do with work at all.  It has to do with Spiritual warfare and the barrages of small attacks, not necessarily the big ones. 

Your will takes a beating when things don't go right.  It takes another when the troubles of the day compound like we read had happened to Job once the assault by Satan began. I find myself in a similar situation.  

What to do?  I haven't gotten that far in his book, but, I am reading Dr. David Jeremiah's book "What to do When You Don't Know What to Do".  I can only share with you life as it happens.  I can only press on.  My Doctor isn't privy to my life to know what goes on in it. She only sees the physical results of what life has been like.  She orders tests and tries to make a diagnosis based on that...AND what all I share with her on what is happening in my life.  You take your car to a place to be worked on, you hand them the keys to get access to your car, THEN you must relay as accurately as you can what isn't right.

We are often brought to things to go through things. Not to avoid them because through is necessary.  I have saud the prayer of avoidance.  Lord take this away. Lord stop this. Lord help I can't take this. Lord don't let so-and-so have this or die from that. Lord....well fill in the blanks. 

Often obedience requires going through. 

Daniel had to go IN the lion's den. 

Noah and his family HAD to build an Ark over 100 years and spend 40 days and nights living through the Great Flood. 

Daniel's 3 friends HAD to go into the fiery furnace.  Saul HAD to be stopped by Jesus to make him into Paul. Samson HAD to be brought low to end the tyranny of those who had captured him.  We all too often want to use an escape clause that doesn't exist with God. 

Temptation is to be avoided.  THAT has an escape clause.  Intentionally indulging in temptations, seeing how much we can (be real here) enjoy it before we want pulled out of that fire. 

A result of a lot of both disobedience and just plain Spiritual Warfare leads us to think we aren't worthy of what God brings into our lives for us to do and go through. 

We don't feel worthy to be useful to Him. 

We try to be 'busy' for Him but aren't really busy for Jesus.  We justify our disobedience and try an exchange program.  Do this good thing so that it offsets that bad thing that I want but don't want to admit that I want.  People by the millions if not billions do this weekly and daily. They believe a lie of going to a Priest and 'confessing' gives them a ticket to go out into their world and do as they please until next week.  Paul, in the book of Romans specifically taught against that. Yet it seems many denominations don't teach that. 

We who are Christ's don't belong in this world in order to live like the world.  You aren't necessarily going to be successful and rich. You and I are to be fruitful for Christ. Whether in physical prosperity or not that mission doesn't change. Whether we feel unworthy or not that doesn't change. Whether we feel like it or not it doesn't change. Whether or not the world looks more attractive and appealing it doesn't matter.  To take up His cross, His yoke, means living for Jesus in all that we do.  I am never going to see the thousands of things in this world that I have always wanted to because I have an assignment from my Savior. Sure some of my desires have been seen. But I should never let the apparent attractiveness of this world or its riches detract me from living for Jesus. 

I often do not feel worthy. Yet Jesus still stays with me. I am facing some rough things at work. Jesus is still with me. Would I pray to avoid these things? I could. But I won't.  Jesus is taking me through, not around, those things. 

Look at your life in this moment. Are you praying to avoid something that God has kept before you?  Try instead to pray that He take your hand and guide you through it.  He survived the torture before the Cross, endured the Cross, enduring death. Came back from the dead. He can handle what we go through in life. 

Never fail to forgive...Never rewrite Scripture to Suit You.

Never fail to forgive...Never rewrite Scripture to Suit You 

Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. MATTHEW 6:12 

When I was a teenager, I disobediently took my father’s car out for a joyride when he wasn’t home. Unfortunately, I ended up running the car off a country road and into a ditch. I went to him and said, “Dad, I’ve got to tell you, I feel terrible about what I did. I was wrong, deceitful, dishonest. I knew better than to do that. I’m sorry, and I want to ask you to forgive me.” He said, “You are forgiven—but you will pay for the car.” When I damaged my father’s car, did I cease to be my father’s son? No. But my relational forgiveness was in deep trouble. If you want to know oneness with the Lord in your daily relationship with Him, if you want to feel the reality of your forgiveness when you pray to God, don’t hold grudges against others and fail to forgive them. You can’t come to God and expect to enjoy His forgiveness of your sins when you have not confessed your own sin of unforgiveness and forgiven your brother. If you want to know the daily sense of your forgiveness in your walk with the Lord, then you must forgive those who have wronged you. - Dr. David Jeremiah Morning and Evening 

There is much poison in not forgiving others.  What's worse is it's a poison WE ingest that we believe we are inflicting on others. 

As studies have shown the only differences between successful marriages and unsuccessful marriages is the degree of forgiveness shown throughout their lives.   Where forgiveness was shown marriages survived.  Where selfishness was shown they didn't. 

When we would rather hold onto our selfishness we end up hurting ourselves and others, not to mention our relationship with Jesus. 

You can't hold onto anger and joy at the same time.  You can't hold onto peace and fear at the same time. The fascinating thing is it's our CHOICE. 

We choose to follow Christ and obey, or we choose self to follow and obey. 

We choose to put self aside and to forgive or we choose to embrace self and drink the poison of unforgiveness. 

People are GOING to be abrasive, are going to be both intentionally and unintentionally hurtful. All people everywhere have a sin nature.  What we choose to do creates either a future of hope or of pain and sorrow. 

People today try to rewrite what they want the Bible to say.  Word to the wise is Jesus warned against that. Twisting Scripture is NOT the work of the Holy Spirit.  It's the work of Satan.  Even if the so-called Church claims to be speaking in Jesus's name, if what is presented is twisted Scripture then its a false Church and what the Bible calls a Synagogue of Satan.  You cannot rewrite what the Bible says is right and wrong. You cannot redefine marriage. You cannot say what is acceptable to God while His Word says clearly what is not.  You cannot hold onto animosity and anger and expect God to forgive you. You cannot embrace angst and selfishness and expect God to bless you.  You cannot hold to worldly philosophies of inclusion and diversity while it is against the teachings of God's Word.  You cannot hold to incorrect teachings about places like Purgatory when the Bible says it doesn't exist.  You cannot justify your position at the expense of Scripture. 

You cannot claim to be a Child of God, a follower of Jesus Christ and not forgive those who trespass against you. 

Look at your ideologies and your beliefs. My friend if you are holding to beliefs that are not taught in the Bible you need to fix that.  Regardless of who the so-called preacher is there are unchanging certainties in the Bible. There's a specific list of people who will never see Heaven. There's a specific list who WILL see Hell. There's a specific need for Salvation. It's not a suggestion.  There is a Day marked by God the Father for Christ's return.  There ARE consequences to rejecting Christ Jesus.  Your deeds done in the body you have been given WILL be reviewed by Jesus. Without Salvation in Christ you WILL NOT enter into Heaven. A marriage is defined by God as being between one man and one woman.  No laws of man can change any of these things. Your hopes, wishes and good thoughts will never do anything to save you or help anyone else. 

Your forgiving others or not forgiving others will put up a wall between you and God.  

Scripture cannot be broken. Jesus said every single letter of it, every single inflection of every single word WILL come true to the glory of God the Father. 

What lies Satan is saturating the world with.  The lies of gender equality and identity. The lies about marriage. The lies of what the world says is or isn't morality.  

You and only you will stand alone before Jesus to give an account of your life. No lawyers no public defender no Priest no Pastor will be with you.  If you are breathing then you have hope to change your life to one of obedience to God. 

Today you can let go of anger and resentment and forgive yourself and those who you have something against.  Today quit fighting against God and embrace what His Word says.