Why Works ?

1 Corinthians 16:14,  Let all that you do be done with love.

Many people and a number of religions, believe that works will get you to Heaven. Is this biblical? Absolutely not.

Ephesians 2:8 - 9  for by Grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God , not of Works, lest anyone should boast.

John 3:16,  for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Romans 10 :13 for whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Okay so where do  works fit in? Are they necessary? to find out for sure let us go back to the Bible.

James 2: 26  ,For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also, 

James 2 1:17, Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

Matthew 5: 16, Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your father in Heaven.

So now we see what the Bible says. If works are a part of what we need to do, what kind? The answer is simple. as the Bible tells us in Galatians 5 22:23 the answer is plain. This is a very good example of where to start. 

Galatians 5 22 - 23, the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering (patience) kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, against such there is no law.

Colossians 3 : 23, whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men.

These verses are examples of how we can reflect the light of Jesus to everyone we meet. Reflect on these verses every day, and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you and to help you. God bless you and your family. Praise The Lord!

Remember Jesus loves you.

Prayer of Salvation.

Lord Jesus, please forgive all of my sins, and come into my heart as my personal savior. I want to serve Only You. 

Praise the Lord! 

Amen

Hang In There

Philippians 4: 13,  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

One of the hardest things a Christian has to do is not give up when things get tough. Everyone finds themselves in a valley of despair at some point in time. Christians especially are attacked because satan is trying to shake their faith. When you are in the valley, you think that things cannot look worse. satan waits for those times to attack us even more.

When you find yourself in a valley, it is time to realize the following truths. It is a test, because our faith grows in the valleys. If everything was perfect all the time, we would never recognize that we are sinners in need of a savior, that savior being Jesus Christ Our Lord.

The Bible gives us many words of encouragement. Since we know God cannot lie, and He dictated Bible content, the Bible must be true. There are too many verses to list, so here are just a few that should help you anytime you choose to use them.

Romans 8:28, and we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

Philippians 4:19, and my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in Glory by Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5 : 16 - 18,  Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you

If you start reading the Bible, or asking Jesus or the Holy Spirit for help, in your despair, the Bible will lead you to victory over that despair, because satan cannot be in the presence of God and do his mischief. The wonderful thing about the valley is that when you leave it, you're faith will be stronger than it was before. God bless you and your family. Praise The Lord!

 Remember Jesus loves you.

 Prayer of Salvation.

Lord Jesus, please forgive all of my sins and come into my heart as my personal savior. I want to serve only you. 

Praise the Lord! 

Amen

A Hard Gift From God

Proverbs 16:9

The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.

We have been taught since our youth that we have free will. This can be a good thing, or a bad thing, depending on how you look at it. Many people in today's world believe that they are in control. They feel that they can get along just fine without God. As a matter of fact, most of these people do not accept the existence of an all-powerful creator.

In these times we live in, it seems that most people make decisions based on what they feel is best for them at the time. They seek ever-increasing pleasure, and feel that they are their own God. Usually if things get really bad, they must blame someone other than themselves for their bad decisions. That someone is usually the God they don't believe exists. That's logic for you.

How many people believe in the God of the Bible? All of God's help is available to all who accept Jesus as their savior. When they let go of self and turn their lives over to God unconditionally, they are on the right path. They must believe in their heart Jesus died for them, and that all He said is true.

Following the path of Jesus is not without problems. The big difference is,  that with Jesus, he helps you through the Holy Spirit to a good result. Following your Lord's plan means your decisions will be correct, you can overcome any adversity, and satan has no power over you in Jesus name. So you see my friends, free will is a two edged sword. How you use it is up to you. Either way though, there are consequences.

Following satan is the easy way to total destruction. Following Jesus is sometimes harder, but when Jesus is your savior, you are the ultimate winner for sure. Make sure you use your free will to make the right decisions. God bless you and your family. praise The Lord!

Remember Jesus loves you.

Prayer of Salvation.

Lord Jesus, please forgive all of my sins, and come into my heart as my personal savior. I want to serve Only You. 

Praise the Lord!

Amen

My Time With Jesus Tuesday

Work From God

Psalm 90 : 17

And let the beauty of Our Lord Our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us. Yes, establish the work of our hands.

Are you aware that you were born to love and serve God? In fact, every person is supposed to help others to find God. That is the work we are supposed to do. Let us find out if we can back that up with the Bible.

Genesis 2:15, then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it.

Hebrews 13: 20 - 21, now may the God of Peace who brought up our lord Jesus from the dead,  that great Shepherd of the Sheep, through the blood of the Everlasting Covenant, make you complete in every good work to do  His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever amen 

There is an old saying that the third is the charm. And in that case, the next makes these verses pretty plain.

Galatians 5: 22 - 23, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, against such there is no law.

All of these verses tell you which way to go. That we are to work for God means that we should do according to His will, we should reflect Jesus' light which we do as explained in Galatians 5 22 - 23. If we make up our minds to do these things as the Lord tells us we will have a happy, fulfilled life.

At first you might think it is too easy. There must be more to it. Well, yes there is more to it. The difficult part of these verses is that these things must come from the heart. In order to do what it requires the help of the Holy Spirit, and knowing Jesus intimately. God knew before creation, how many people would love Him and serve Him.  We must make sure we are among them for the honor and Glory of Jesus name.

Luke 10: 2,  then He said to them, the harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.

Just in case you are wondering, the world is a harvest, and we are the laborers. our work is before us. In Jesus name and with the help of the Holy Spirit, we can do God's will and fulfill the purpose that He had for us in this world. God bless you and your family. Praise The Lord!

Remember Jesus loves you.

Prayer of Salvation.

Lord Jesus, please forgive all of my sins, and  come into my heart as my personal savior. I want to serve Only You. 

Praise the Lord! 

Amen

God's Mercy

It Is Written, Mark 16:16, he who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned.

Every day we see hundreds of people. Have you ever looked at someone and wondered if they were saved? I do, all of the time. Obviously, it is not possible to know who is saved or who isn't, but sometimes we speculate by how they act.

I believe that the Holy Spirit tells us who we should pray for, and bless those He puts on our heart. God blesses us, and is expecting us to bless others.

You will more than likely never know who was saved in part by your prayers, but keep doing it anyway. Don't think that's possible?

True story. A person was given a copy of a prayer of salvation. This person gave it to a second person, and that person gave it to a third person. The second person had a spouse who was dying. They were concerned about their dying spouses salvation. As it turned out, the third person who received the prayer of salvation, said it with the person who was dying, months before, thus ensuring that person salvation. Salvation and joy for all.

Never doubt the power of prayer, just do as you are led. Remember this fact. When you do something like praying for other peoples salvation you are doing what Jesus told His disciples to do before He ascended to Heaven. God bless you and your family. Praise The Lord!

Remember Jesus Loves You

Prayer of Salvation

Lord Jesus, I thank you for what you did on the cross for me. Your blood washed away all my sins, by your stripes I was healed, your death and resurrection brought me salvation. Please forgive my sins, and come into my heart as my personal Savior. 

I want to serve only You

Amen

A Hard Gift From God

Proverbs 16:9

The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.

We have been taught since our youth that we have free will. This can be a good thing, or a bad thing, depending on how you look at it. Many people in today's world believe that they are in control. They feel that they can get along just fine without God. As a matter of fact, most of these people do not accept the existence of an all-powerful creator.

In these times we live in, it seems that most people make decisions based on what they feel is best for them at the time. They seek ever-increasing pleasure, and feel that they are their own God. Usually if things get really bad, they must blame someone other than themselves for their bad decisions. That someone is usually the God they don't believe exists. That's logic for you.

How many people believe in the God of the Bible? All of God's help is available to all who accept Jesus as their savior. When they let go of self and turn their lives over to God unconditionally, they are on the right path. They must believe in their heart  Jesus died for them, and that all He said is true.

Following the path of Jesus is not without problems. The big difference is,  that with Jesus, he helps you through the Holy Spirit to a good result. Following your Lord's plan means your decisions will be correct, you can overcome any adversity, and satan has no power over you in Jesus name. So you see my friends, free will is a two edged sword. How you use it is up to you. Either way though, there are consequences.

Following satan is the easy way to total destruction. Following Jesus is sometimes harder, but when Jesus is your savior, you are the ultimate winner for sure. Make sure you use your free to make the right decisions. God bless you and your family. praise The Lord!

Remember Jesus loves you.

Prayer of Salvation.

Lord Jesus, please forgive all of my sins, and come into my heart as my personal savior. I want to serve Only You. 

Praise the Lord!

Amen

My Spirit Is Grateful

It Is Written, Genesis 1:26, then God said, let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

That verse tells me that since God is spirit, and we were created in God's image, we are all spirits. John 4:24 says, God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

Many of us, feel that we are blessed by God. When we look back at our lives, we can see countless times that God took care of us. Remember this simple truth, the greatest blessings from God, are not only what we prayed for, but things that happened so quick, or were so traumatic, that we didn't have time to pray.

Almost everyone has had an incident in their lives that could've resulted in death. How about things we have done that could be classified as criminal or disgraceful.

When I looked at all of this and more in my life, I saw the blessings of God in each event. The problem is, how do you tell God how grateful and thankful you are? Human words don't cut it.

This is where the Holy Spirit comes in. He put on my heart the fact that we are all spirits, created in God's image, just as the verse says. It is not imagery, it is fact.

At that point the answer was simple. I told God that the spirit me is grateful, thankful, and loves Him, beyond what human words can say. I always do that now, because my spirit puts it in my heart, and since God is in me, His spirit knows how my spirit feels. I take that by faith and believe with all my heart. God bless you and your family. Praise The Lord!

Remember Jesus Loves You

Prayer of Salvation

Lord Jesus, I thank you for what you did on the cross for me. Your blood washed away all my sins, by your stripes I was healed, your death and resurrection brought me salvation. Please forgive my sins, and come into my heart as my personal Savior. 

I want to serve only You

Amen

See Us In The Bible

Ecclesiastes 1: 9

What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.

As we go through life, we see behavior that we are surprised by. We really shouldn't be surprised at anything. It is like old news. See what you think.

It isn't hard for a skeptic to say that people in general are not very bright and that most people refuse to acknowledge the truth. It seems that many people have an aversion to doing what is right, or what seems too difficult for them. They may even be afraid of what others will think.

Since the beginning of written history, history  keeps repeating itself. In 1948 Winston Churchill addressed the House of Commons. He paraphrased a quote from George Santayana, a well-known philosopher at the time. “Those  who fail to learn from history, are condemned to repeat it”. If you question this idea, just examine the last 100 years or so. There is no way to dispute it. 

Just imagine this. If you took a look at failures in the past, you could avoid the tragedies that followed those failures. That goes for individuals, groups and governments all over the world. So how come people as a whole, we just don't get it. By the grace of God we can, if we follow Him.

A couple of perfect examples. France was involved in a war in Vietnam for years, and finally left with no victory. Why did the US do the same thing? Russia spent ten years in Afghanistan, and could not win. Why did we not learn from that debacle?  We have been there twice as long with the same result. Yes my friends, history is full of blunders that no one learned from.

2 Timothy 3: 26-27, All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

It  all boils down to this. Most of us have looked at characters in The Bible that made mistakes,  and we probably said to ourselves, how could that be. In some cases some of these people lived with Jesus as apostles and disciples, while others saw Him in their day-to-day life. Would we be any different?

The Bible is full of truths that lead to a wonderful life with Jesus. The apostles had Jesus for a short time, we have Him our whole lives if we wake up to the truth in the Bible. Turn your life over to the Holy Spirit to guide you in the right answers, and listen and do what He guides you to do.

I don't want to belabor the point, but I just have one more comment. Pick up the history of any country that you would like, study its history and see what their mistakes were. Did they learn from it?  Better yet, did we? God bless you and your family. Praise The Lord!

Remember Jesus loves you.

Prayer of Salvation.

Lord Jesus, please forgive all of my sins and come into my heart as my personal savior. I want to serve only you. 

Praise the Lord!

Amen

God Is the Answer

It Is Written, Matthew 6:33, but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Ask the average person about how they feel about their personal security, and you will get all kinds of answers. People have different backgrounds and beliefs, that contribute to how they see things.

People usually look to their financial situation as a yardstick to their ideas about security. Owning a house, having a good job, a retirement plan that will provide during retirement, just to name a few. If all of these are seen as good, it will be reflected in family life, relationships with others, and overall happiness.

Since we live in a world of chaos, instability, and hate, many people worry about everything. Violence, corruption, and the roller coaster of life, keeps most people on edge, leading to physical and emotional problems. It doesn't have to be that way. If we stop to realize one simple fact, we can live with an inner peace that is beyond understanding. The answer to all things is God. Since God created everything and provides for humanity and the world itself, He must be the answer.

The children of Israel did not suffer the plagues that the Egyptians suffered .God provided food, water, health, and all of the other needs they had during the Exodus. The same God is alive and well today. If we trust in Him, He will provide all of our needs as well. The Bible says so. And if the Bible says so, it must be true. All the answers are right in that book. God bless you and your family. Praise The Lord!

Remember Jesus Loves You

Prayer of Salvation

Lord Jesus, I thank you for what you did on the cross for me. Your blood washed away all my sins, by your stripes I was healed, your death and resurrection brought me salvation. Please forgive my sins, and come into my heart as my personal Savior. 

I want to serve only You

Amen

My Time With Jesus Tuesday

 The Two Faces Of Faith

Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

This particular verse is a very good description of faith, but it doesn't tell the whole story. Faith works two ways in life. There are many verses about faith, but there are just as many people who do not realize what triggers it.

In the Supernatural world, everything exists. The spoken word brings into existence in this world, whatever is called on.

Isaiah 55:11, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty. But it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Psalm 19:14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord my rock and my redeemer.

Revelation 22:19-18,  I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book. If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life, and in the holy city, which are described in this book, 

When we study these verses and put it all together we see how great or how dangerous words can be. It is a fact that good  words make good things happen, and bad, negative words make bad things happen.

What most people don't realize is that when they make a pronouncement such as “ I can never get ahead “, they are speaking  a self-fulfilling prophecy. Take a look at your speech from the past, and you will discover that your life today is what you spoke weeks or even years ago.

When you study the Bible, you will see hundreds of reasons to use faith-filled, positive words. It is true that you are what you speak. Jesus only uses positive faith-filled words to bring all of his miracles to fruition. When He cursed the fig tree, it died.

Do this little experiment for the next few weeks and see what happens. Since our actions get started by our thoughts, try to see something good in everything. Speak only positive words and avoid negative ones as much as you can. I think you'll be surprised at what you find out. Remember nothing is either good or bad, the mind makes it so. Choose and act the way Jesus did. God bless you and your family. Praise The Lord!

Remember Jesus loves you.

Prayer of Salvation.

Lord Jesus, please forgive all of my sins, and come into my heart as my personal savior. I want to serve only You. 

Praise the Lord!

Amen