December19th.
“He came to His own and His own received Him not.”
(John 1:11)
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem it was God incarnate in human flesh. He came seeking His own creatures whom He made. We did not seek Him; it was Him seeking us. He came all the way, not halfway, reaching down to lost mankind with His special gift of love. Offering salvation and eternal life for all who come unto Him. How terribly inexcusable is man who rejects such a great love.
Mind your Mind!
Win a man’s mind and you have him. Capture his thoughts and you control him. Scripture says: “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he!”
If you can find a way to get into a man’s mind and get your ideas inside of him so that his thinking is your thinking, you now have control over that mind and his life! If we are not careful the evil one can reach our minds with destructive and corruptible suggestions and we can easily be bent to (do) his will. Satan wants our minds! The apostle Paul said in 2 Cor. 11:3: “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”
Isaiah 41:10
Fear thou not; for I [am] with thee: be not dismayed; for I [am] thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
Proverbs 9:10
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Basically, this verse teaches that the fear of God is foundational to true wisdom; all other types of learning are worthless unless built upon a knowledge of the Lord Himself.
Psalm 119:11
“Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee”
Preventive medicine is more important than curative medicine. Once sickness strikes, though cured, it leaves scars and weakness. So it is with sin. Sin may be forgiven but if avoided it will leave no scars psychologically, morally, or spiritually. Prevention of sin is found in training in the Bible.
The Awesome God!
“Behold I have graven (made a decree) thee upon the palms of my hands.” (Isa. 49:16)
Christ’s hands were pierced for us on the cross of Calvary, but now He is seated in the heavens at the right hand of God the Father making intercession for those who have placed their faith in Him. The scars on His hands will forever be a reminder of the sacrifice of love He made so that we may eternally abide with Him.
He gave His life and shed His blood to pay our sin debt and will always forgive our sins when we plead the blood of Christ. Those who refuse Christ and the sacrifice He has made will be committing the greatest sin that one can ever commit.
To deny the Awesome God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, who loved us so much and gave His life a ransom for us, to deny this is the only sin that cannot be forgiven. This is the most horrendous sin of any for we blaspheme the Spirit of God by calling Him a liar.
All who reject His gift of eternal life and salvation will spend eternity in the Lake of Fire, a fire from which there will be no reprieve. Christ made it easy for us to spend eternity with Him, for He paid the price and shows us the truth and the way through the Spirit of God.
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord (Jesus Christ) shall be saved.”
Today is the day of salvation! If you have never placed your faith in Jesus Christ and asked forgiveness of your sins, do so today, for we are not promised life past the moment we now have. For we are always only one heartbeat from eternity!
A fruitful Life
“The branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye except ye abide in me” (John 15:4)
If we desire to live a fruitful and worthwhile life we must devote our thoughts to Jesus, living in Him. His teachings and His empowering presence. Let Him live in and through you the beauty of His life, and your life will bear much fruit.
Walk With God!
“Walk with God, and you cannot mistake the road; you have infallible wisdom to direct you, permanent love to comfort you, and eternal power to defend joy.” Charles Spurgeon
The Lord tells us “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly….but his delight is in the law of the Lord, Psalm 1 and in Psalm 37:23; “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way and in verse 18 “The LORD knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be forever.”
What a thrill to know the blessings we have when we walk in the way of the Lord. He gives His wisdom to direct us as we should go, and surrounds us with his love to comfort us and protects us. Even though our lives are like a “wisp of smoke” He has given those who love Him ‘an inheritance forever.” What a contrast to the ungodly who are like the chaff which the wind bloweth away. The LORD knows the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly (those that hate Christ) shall perish, ultimately spending eternity in the “Lake of Fire”.
Psalm 31:15; ” My times are in thine hand.”
That is really a special statement and a comforting thought if we think about it! That the God of the universe, the creator of all things loves us enough to have our times in His hand.
James 4:14 gives us a truth. That truth is that we don’t know what tomorrow will bring. We can take a guess and make our plans but we have no certainty of that. Those who boarded planes on 911 had no idea that it would be their last day on earth. They had plans just as we have plans each day, but they were cut short and in an instant they were in eternity.
For only the Lord knows what each day holds, so our lives are really in His hands. He also tells us in James 4:14 that our lives are like a vapor, like a mist, like a puff of smoke, here today and gone tomorrow. I knew my grandfather and grandmother, but nothing about my great grandfather and great grandmother, nor about any of my relatives before that time.
In a hundred years nobody will know anything about us either. Our loved ones will be gone also, and other than a video or image on Facebook or in a scrapbook we will be just another name in the sea of endless humanity.
Our life on this earth appears for a little while and then vanishes just as smoke vanishes before our eyes. We are only ever one heartbeat from eternity, and that is only a fraction of a second.
So isn’t it comforting to know that the Lord controls our life, we are in His hands and the length of our days are there also. Things happen to us all the time, we stump our toes, pull a muscle, catch a cold just like every other person that has ever lived.
However, in the life of a believer there are no accidents in our lives. You see God watches over us. That doesn’t mean that we won’t ever have problems for we will. We face problems just as everybody does, and it does not mean that we will live a perfectly healthy life into our ninety’s either. Some of us die younger than others and the reason is not for us to know.
But everything that happens to us must come through the filter of God’s love and ultimate wisdom. It is only through His permission that what enters our lives, does enter, whether it be health, blessings or seemingly cursing’s.
For that reason, we can trust the Lord, for whatever comes our way, He has a purpose for it. He will do what is best for us. His goal is to make us into the image of His Dear Son Jesus Christ and He will work on that until the last heartbeat he has given us on this earth.
When things go wrong, when pain and suffering comes into our lives that we cannot understand and do not like. When life becomes difficult it is easy to be bitter and angry with the Lord and with life. However, as difficult as it may be as believers we must trust Him, knowing that He loves us and only wants what is best for us. For we do not see as He sees.
If we look at the life of the Apostle Paul we see that his life was not easy. He could have easily given up. He was shipwrecked, beaten, lied about, thrown into jail, and had health problems. If he had thrown up his hands in despair and said; “I’ve had enough, I can’t do this anymore Lord”, look at what we would be missing. There would be so much of the doctrines of the Bible missing. He never gave up though and gave his life to serve His Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Can we not do the same?
Whatever God has for our lives is best for us, for we are but a whiff of smoke here today and gone tomorrow. But this we must remember, absent from the body is present with the Lord. For believers in Jesus Christ when our lives on this earth are finished, then we will stand before Him and see Him face to face. For He always keeps us in the hollow of His hand, He encamps around us and keeps us, and only that which He allows can come into our lives.
I heard a pastor say once: “I don’t want to live any longer than the Lord wants me to live, and I don’t want to live any less days than He wants me to!” Isn’t that how we should feel and live our lives?
The desire of our hearts should be to live for the Lord all the days He has given us, and to praise Him and seek to bring souls to salvation while we are able. I John 1:9;
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
For Christ came to this earth to give us life. For He said;
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.
(John 3:16).
We must all stand before Him one day when our lives on this earth are ended, and be sure that day will come to each one of us. He came to save us and set us free from the slavery of sin and death, but you must place your trust and faith in Him and accept Him as the Lord of your life. He came the first time to save us, when He comes the next time He will come to judge those who rejected Him.
Remember His goodness, and remember what our life is. James 4:14:
“Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”
Our life on this earth should be to bring praise and honor to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Give your lives to Christ and when that last heartbeat comes know you will stand before a loving God who forgave you and not as your judge!