A Life that Knows God is Real

Can someone really know that God is real? God is probably the most discussed topic through the ages. Is God real and if He is then can a mere human know Him in a personal way? Yes, God is real and His ways are just as real as the law of gravity. You can not see the law of gravity but you can feel its effect on your life. The law of gravity does not change according to your opinion of it. It is a law and and it can be counted on to be true. Actually, knowing the law of gravity is what makes you feel secure. Since it is always true here on earth then you can count on it not changing. When you wake up in the morning you don’t have to wonder if your head will hit the ceiling. Your feet will stay on the ground because of the law of gravity. In the same way, God is real but you can not see Him. However, you can feel the effect of His laws. They are just as real. God is not mocked by whether someone believes or agrees with Him.

Galatians 6:7,8 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

Just like one of the best ways to experience the law of gravity is to test it and jump off of a high place. You will fall every time. If you want to know if God is real then take one of His laws and act on it and see the consequences. If you do what His law says then you will be blessed but if you don’t do what He says then you will experience the consequence. God is not mocked. We are the ones who are deceived. If you are hurting in some area then look in God’s Word, the Bible, and see what the Lord has to say about that certain area where you are experiencing pain or frustrated and do what He says. If you are hurting then you have nothing to lose if you seek the Lord for help. You have tried it already your way and it did not bring the desired result so try to live God’s way. He will help you if you are sincerely seeking to do the right thing.

Isaiah 64:5 You meet him who rejoices in doing righteousness, Who remembers You in Your ways. Behold, You were angry, for we sinned, We continued in them a long time; And shall we be saved?

The Lord will meet you and help you. He will save you from the error of your ways and show you His ways.

Psalm 25:8-10 Good and upright is the Lord;
Therefore He instructs sinners in the way.
He leads the humble in justice,
And He teaches the humble His way.
All the paths of the Lord are lovingkindness and truth
To those who keep His covenant and His testimonies.

Being humble is bring honest with yourself and with God. Tell Him that you failed and ask Him if He will teach you His way. His ways are perfect and not only do they not bring any frustration or pain but they bring healing and restoration to your soul.

Psalm 19:7 The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

Just as someone experiences pain when they go against the law of gravity so also a person will experience pain when they go against God’s ways. Just as the pain with the law of gravity is to teach you to go with the law, in the same way, you will experience pain when you go against God’s laws but it is to put in you a healthy respect for His laws and ways. The Lord wants you to get back on His path so that you will experience good. If you were to continue in the path of not doing right then you would only experience more pain. His wrath is poured out on unrighteousness to get your attention to seek Him and His ways. His love draws you to Himself and His wrath pushes you away from unrighteousness so that you will not continue in it.

Romans 1:18,19 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.

The Lord wants you to believe in Him and know His goodness. He is good and He is love. If you do not obey Him then you will experience His wrath, which is the pain of not doing life His way. It is not a personal thing just as the law of gravity shows no partiality to anyone. His ways are laws that are to be respected and obeyed.

John 3:36 He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

Seek Him and His ways so that you might experience life indeed and flee from His wrath by learning to obey Him. It is the foolishness of man that thinks he knows better than God. It is the foolishness of man when he lives as if there is not God.

Psalm 14:1 The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds;
There is no one who does good.

He who comes to Him and believes in Him receives life. He will experience and know that there is a God and that He is good. It is when you turn away from Him that you experience His wrath and then you will either try to not believe in God or you will be angry with God.

Proverbs 19:3 The foolishness of man ruins his way,
And his heart rages against the Lord.

Seek Him while He can be found. Call upon Him while He is near. You will see that He is very real and that He is good.

Isaiah 55:6 Seek the Lord while He may be found;
Call upon Him while He is near.

As you learn to seek the Lord and walk in His ways then you will grow in your understanding of the Lord and you will understand more of His ways.

Proverbs 28:5b But those who seek the Lord understand all things.

 

 

A Life that Does Not Worry

Worry is rampant these days as people do not just worry but they are paranoid about many things. What a thief that worry is and how it robs us of much joy and peace. Worry can paralyze us, control us and it can eventually kill us. What does worry tell us about ourselves?

Matthew 9:36 When he saw the crowds, he was deeply moved with compassion for them, because they were troubled and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

When we are anxious and troubled then it is more of a symptom than a problem. The problem that we have that is being manifested in worry is that either we do not have a Shepherd or we are living as if we do not have a Shepherd. Jesus is the Good Shepherd and He cares for His sheep. When you become a Christian then Jesus becomes your Shepherd and the Shepherd is responsible for the sheep.

John 10:11 I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

He laid down His life for you. Does He not care for you? Will He not take care of you? Yes and yes and yes…a million times yes! When the Lord is your Shepherd you shall not lack anything that you need, or in other words, you shall never be in want.

Psalm 23:1-6

The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters.
He restores my soul;
He guides me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You have anointed my head with oil;
My cup overflows.
Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Can it get any better than this? He will make you lie down in green pastures and not in the weeds. He will lead you beside still waters and not by the dangerous torrents that could endanger you. He is the One who restores your soul and He will guide you in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Even if you were to walk through the valley of death, He will be with you. You need never fear evil for it can not touch you without coming through Him first. He comforts you and prepares a table for you in the presence of those who might be your enemies. He anoints you with the oil of gladness and your cup will overflow with joy. Not only all of these things but goodness and lovingkindness will follow you all the days of your life and then you will dwell with Him forever. Again, can it get any better than this? Do you believe this?

Hebrews 4:2 For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.

If you don’t believe this then there is no profit for you. If you do believe it then these precious and magnificent promises are yours and they will transform your life, take away your anxiety and bring you the peace and joy that you long for.

II Peter 1:2-4 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

The Lord wants to multiply His grace and peace to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord. His diving power has granted to you the privilege and power to live above circumstances and resist the devil and his lies. You must choose, either to live by faith in the promises of God or to live by worry on the fears of the world and the lies of the devil.

Hebrews 13:5b-6a …for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,” so that we confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid.”

Yes, life in Jesus Christ is much better than the slow death of anxiety and worry. Are you anxious and worried? Cast your cares upon Him now and ask Him to be your Shepherd.

I Peter 5:7 casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

A Life that Understands Satisfaction in Marriage

Understanding What Brings Dissatisfaction in Marriage

Many of the problems that come in marriages and relationships are expectations. Expecting someone else to fulfill desires and needs in you that another can not fill. No one will ever be able to fulfill the expectations in another. Expectations destroy friendships, marriages and any relationship. Expectations set a person up for disappointments, ongoing ingratitude, anger and eventual bitterness. Expectations are desires, needs and standards that are ingrained in you because of your background, the way you were brought up, cultural expectations or from books or movies you have seen. Expectations are one of the major reasons for dissatisfaction in marriages. Satisfying marriages bring much happiness and less disappointment for both spouses.

Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, Nor are the eyes of man ever satisfied. Proverbs 27:20

Understanding What Brings Satisfaction in Marriages

Expectations are a lack of maturity. Nearly everyone when they get older and more mature will be honest with themselves and acknowledge that they had unrealistic expectations of their spouse when they were younger in their marriage. Happiness in marriage is dependent on satisfaction and satisfaction comes when our needs and desires are met. However, there is a difference between needs and desires. Fulfilled desires are gifts from God. Fulfilled needs are promises fulfilled by God. When a person learns to look to God for their needs and their desires to be fulfilled then they will find great satisfaction.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. Ecclesiastes 3:11-13

When a person understands that only God can give them satisfaction then they will learn to look to Him. He is the Creator and Giver of life and He loves to give to His children. He wants man to be satisfied in his marriage, his job and anything else that he undertakes.

The fear of the Lord leads to life, So that one may sleep satisfied, untouched by evil. Proverbs 19:23

And My people will be satisfied with My goodness,” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 31:14b

The Lord is man’s provider and He will never disappoint those who put their trust in Him. He will take care of their needs and they will never lack. The Christian life is a life of faith and a child of God will see God’s provision after he or she will trust God. Man will never be able to satisfy another. There will be eventual disappointment. When one learns to give their expectations to the Lord and leave them with Him then peace and satisfaction will be the outcome. When someone learns to be satisfied in God then they will be grateful for what the Lord gives and they will understand that no one can make them happy but the Lord.

Trust in the Lord and do good;
Dwell in the land and feed on His faithfulness.
Delight yourself in the Lord;
And He will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord,
Trust also in Him, and He will do it. Psalm 37:3-5

A Life that Is Clean Within

Whenever we sin we feel dirty on the inside. We can wash ourselves and clean the outside of our bodies but we can not clean the inside. Just as it is such a good feeling to be clean on the outside after we have become dirty even so it is even sweeter to be clean on the inside after we have sinned. All of us have sinned and need to be cleansed from within.

Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

However, the Lord offers cleansing to all who come to Him.

Ezekiel 36:25 Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.

After Jesus Christ cleanses us on the inside He then gives us a new heart that wants to obey and please Him.

Ezekiel 36:26-28 Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God.

Not only does He cleanse us and give us a new heart but He also saves us from our uncleanness and blesses us. He also removes our shame. The Bible says that sin is a shame to everyone who does it and the Lord removes our shame.

Ezekiel 36:29,30 Moreover, I will save you from all your uncleanness; and I will call for the grain and multiply it, and I will not bring a famine on you. I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, so that you will not receive again the disgrace of famine among the nations.

We will also loathe what we did earlier when we sinned against the Lord before we came into a relationship with Him.

Ezekiel 36:31 Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations.

Not only does He cleanse us completely from our sin and gives us a new heart but He continues to cleanse us when we sin again, which we will do, but now we will hate it when we sin. However, His Word has a cleansing effect and for this reason when you do sin then you need to get into His Word.

John 15:3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

When you sin you need to confess your sin and He will forgive you and cleanse you.

I John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

It is crucial that you spend time with the Lord after you sin so that you might be restored in your fellowship with Him. Your sin does not break your relationship with Him because once you become His child then you will always be His child. However, our sin breaks our fellowship with the Lord and we need to be restored.

Psalm 19:7a The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul;

When you are forgiven, cleansed and restored then you will once again see the Lord.

Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

When you see Him then you will see that He loves you and longs to bless you. You will long for Him.

Isaiah 30:18 Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you,
And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
How blessed are all those who long for Him.

You will also see Jesus in His beauty and you will get a glimpse of that sweet heavenly home that we will one day go to and be with Him forever.

Isaiah 33:17 Your eyes will see the King in His beauty;
They will behold a far-distant land.

 

 

 

 

 

A Life that Understands Meaning of “If only…”

Understanding the Meaning of “If only you had done this”

One of the aspects of getting older is seeing life in the past and seeing our mistakes. With the perspective of hindsight come regrets and pain. However, life does not have to be one of regrets. Not everyone has great regrets and the fewer regrets a person has the happier they will be. Life is made up of choices. Good choices bring happiness and bad choices bring pain. There is a book that tells us what the good choices are and how to avoid the pain of bad choices. Everyone should read this book before they make any choices and especially the very important choices. If a parent loves their child then they will teach their child what is in this book so that when the time comes they will make the right choices. The Lord is the One who wrote this book to help us and guide us through life. He loves us and gave us this book. However, He can not make us read and study it. We must make the decision that we will read, study and memorize it so that when the time comes to make decisions we will already know what to do.

“If only you had paid attention to My commandments! Then your well-being would have been like a river, And your righteousness like the waves of the sea. Isaiah 48:18

The Lord says to all of us, that if only we will pay attention to His commandments then our well being will never end, but flow continuously and our right decisions will be like the waves of the sea, which never stop. We will do what is right continually and our inner cup of joy and happiness will overflow. In other words, we will love life and live an incredible life. We will have the happiness that we long for and the love and respect that we need. This is the kind of life that the Lord wants for us. He has told us in His Word what we need to do in every area of life. If only…we will do it then we will thrive in life and we will be blessed in every area.

But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does. James 1:25

It is never too late to learn. If you have not been reading the Bible, God’s instruction manual for life, then begin today. Read it every morning when you get up and every evening before you go to bed. When a verse speaks to you then memorize it. If you will be faithful to do this and to do what it says then you will see changes in your life for the better. You will start to have great peace, quietness within and confidence when you make decisions. You will sleep better and not have so many doubts. You will truly be on the pathway of life.

And the work of righteousness will be peace,
And the service of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever.
Then my people will live in a peaceful habitation,
And in secure dwellings and in undisturbed resting places; Isaiah 32:17,18

A Life that Has Victory Over Temptation

Temptation is something that we all struggle with and we are sorry when we give into temptation. There is something within that tells us right from wrong. If we give into temptation then over time wrong will no longer seem wrong but will seem right and then we end up self destructing. We can see it clearly in others but the wrong that we ourselves do has blinded us to our own destruction.

James 1:14,15 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.

The word “lust” in the Greek in this verse literally means desire. A desire that is outside of God’s will and standards is a lust. It can be overeating, laziness, sex, drinking and anything else where we want to indulge our flesh and we know that it is wrong. When lust is conceived it gives birth to sin and when sin is accomplished it brings forth death. Do not be deceived. Sin brings forth death and with death comes defeat, guilt and regret.

James 1:16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.

The devil wants you to sin because he wants you to experience death and destruction. Sin brings destruction to soul and body. The devil came to destroy you. He is a thief. He wants to rob you of your worth, peace, joy, and everything else that is good.

John 10:10a The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;

The devil only uses one weapon to get you to sin and that is a lie. He is the father of lies and he continually tells you lies hoping that you will be deceived and believe one of his lies. He will want you to think that whatever that temptation is, that if you will do it then you will be happy. He will appeal to your flesh, your eyes and the boastful pride of life. He will also tempt you to take things into your own hands to even meet your own needs. If he can get you to compromise for any reason then he has won the battle. If you are a Christian then he has lost the war, for you belong to Jesus, but the devil can still cause you to lose the battles in your daily life so that you will live a defeated Christian life.

John 8:44b He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

If you want to have victory then you must have the truth to identify the lies. The Bible says to resist the devil and he will flee from you. You resist him through the truth of God’s Word.

James 4:7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

When you resist the devil through God’s word then you will see the escape that the Lord has provided for you so that you can flee from the temptation.

I Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

Flee from the temptation but don’t just flee from temptation but pursue righteousness with those who call on the Lord with a pure heart.

II Timothy 2:22 Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

Faithful is He who calls you to Himself and He also calls you to become like Christ. He sets you apart for Himself and will complete in you what He began when you first became a Christian and that is the amazing transformation into His image.

I Thessalonians 5:23,24 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.

 

 

 

 

A Life that Understands the Ripple Effect

The ripple effect is one of the most powerful forces for good and one of the most powerful forces for destruction. The ripple effect determines far more in your life than you realize. You are who you are in many ways due to the ripple effect but you also can change your destiny if you understand the ripple effect in your life and in the lives of others. The ripple effect is just what it says, “the action of others have a ripple effect in your life”. The closer you are to someone then the greater the ripple effect. If someone does what is right then you receive the good from their action but if someone does what is wrong then you receive the destruction from their action. The ripple effect goes on and on and reaches even those who are not even close to the person whose action begins the ripple effect, although the good or destruction lessens the further away from the good or bad decisions and actions. Just ask the children of broken homes and they fully understand the ripple effect. Broken homes not only destroy a family but they destroy a community, a city and even a nation. The strength of a nation is in the strength of its families. The strength of the family is in the strength of the father.

‘The Lord is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generations.’ Numbers 14:18

When men are weak in character then a nation is weak. A man becomes weak in character when he seeks to put his strength in himself or any other source other than the only true source of strength and that is in the only One who never changes and who is true and faithful.

How blessed is the man whose strength is in You, Psalm 84:5a

When a man puts his strength in the Lord and not in Himself then he becomes truly strong from within and it is expressed in his outward actions. A strong man will do what is right. He will not be swayed or influenced by weaker men and women. He will stand strong and his house will not be destroyed and his nation will be blessed. He learns to be strong in the Lord and in God’s strength he is able to stand firm and resist the forces of destruction. He learns to run from temptation rather than to give in. He becomes wise and is a guide to others. His children are protected and they feel loved and learn to trust and not be fearful. Those around him feel the ripple effect of his trust and strength in the Lord.

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord
And whose trust is the Lord. Jeremiah 17:7

The man whose strength is in anything but the Lord becomes weak. His life is destroyed in a matter of time. In the beginning he may seem to prosper but it is only a matter of time before he brings destruction upon himself and due to the ripple effect, he brings destruction on those closest to him and eventually to others.

Thus says the Lord,
“Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind
And makes flesh his strength,
And whose heart turns away from the Lord. Jeremiah 17:5

He does not flee from temptation but gives in. He does not recognize the bad influence of others. He is not wise in his choices but foolish. The Bible describes the fool as one who lives as if there is no God. He may believe that there is a God but he lives as if there is not a God and forgets that one day he will have to give an accounting for his words, actions and life.

“I, the Lord, search the heart,
I test the mind,
Even to give to each man according to his ways,
According to the results of his deeds.
“As a partridge that hatches eggs which it has not laid,
So is he who makes a fortune, but unjustly;
In the midst of his days it will forsake him,
And in the end he will be a fool.” Jeremiah 17:10,11

How easy it is to forget God. He can not be seen and in the pursuit of life we go our own way. We look for things that can be seen to put our trust in, whether it is money, power or people. We think that these will bring us security and deliver us in a day of trouble. They can not deliver us nor can they deliver those who we have hurt in our vain pursuits.

For deliverance by man is in vain. Psalm 60:11

The Lord is the only One who can deliver in time of trouble. If He is your strength and refuge then He will be your deliverer when you call upon Him in your time of trouble.

God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1

It is not a matter of if trouble comes but it is when trouble comes.

For man is born for trouble, As sparks fly upward. Job 5:7

When a person calls on the Lord then he is saved, not only from his present trouble but from the trouble that is to come. It is by faith that we call on the Lord Jesus Christ. The person who the Lord declares righteous is the one who calls on the Lord Jesus Christ to be their Lord and Savior. The righteous man lives by faith. He has not done what is right but he recognizes his need for the One who came and lived and did what was right and then died and rose again. The Lord Jesus Christ becomes the strength of the one who will put their trust in Him. He will be blessed and his children will be blessed. His community will be blessed and his nation will be blessed.

A righteous man who walks in his integrity— How blessed are his sons after him. Proverbs 20:7

God is not mocked. He says in His Word that if a man seeks Him and surrenders His life to Him and does what He says then that man will be blessed. He will reap what he has sown and those around him will experience the good that comes from doing what is right. However, if he seeks to go his own way and do what pleases himself, then he will bring destruction on those around him. He will be doing what is wrong and the fruit of doing what is wrong is pain. He will bring pain to himself and those whom he “loves”. Of course, he does not love anyone but himself and in the end he does not even love himself for he brings on his own destruction. This man is cursed and brings curses to others, first to himself, then to those closest to him and then eventually to his nation.

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Galatians 6:7,8

The result of doing what is wrong is death. It is first death to the soul and then it is death to the body. We are the ones who choose our destiny, whether it is life or death. Our experience on earth is a taste of what is to come, whether it is eternal life, peace and happiness or eternal destruction, grief and punishment.

These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Matthew 25:46

God is a just God as well as a loving God and He has given the choice to each one of us, to choose life or death. Love is a choice. We can love God and others or we can love ourselves, which in itself is not even self love but self destruction. We can bring good to others or we can bring pain to others. One day we will have to face the choices that we have made and we will see the pain that we brought to ourselves and others. Today we can make the choice to turn to the Lord or we can choose to ignore Him and turn away. No matter how many wrong choices we have made it is not too late to turn to Jesus Christ. The Lord says that He meets the one who wants to do what is right.

You meet him who rejoices in doing righteousness,
Who remembers You in Your ways. Isaiah 64:5

No matter how far from God a person has gotten, He still loves them and is still calling to them. Repent means to turn to God from our self and to put our trust in Him.

Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; Acts 3:19

He will save you, He will guide you, He will become your God and lead you in the way you should go. He is the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for you.

I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. John 10:11

He invites all to come to Him. His ways are pleasant and He is good. He will lead you in the good way. He loves you unconditionally. He calls to you, right where you are and He knows and loves you today. You don’t need to fix your life first. He wants you just the way you are today. His love is incomprehensible and it is perfect. You don’t have to become good, for you can not, and our good will never outweigh our bad. He takes our bad and gives us His goodness. We are forgiven of all of our sins and He makes us right with God. All we need to do is come to Him and tell Him that we need Him to be our Lord and our Savior.

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1

The Lord is the only One who can stop the ripple effect in our lives. Jesus Christ won the victory over sin and death at the cross. No matter how much destruction you have experienced, because of Jesus Christ, you do not have to bring destruction to others. Apart from Jesus Christ, you will bring pain and destruction to your self and others. When a person recognizes their desperation for the One who not only saves us from ourselves but can also restore us and heal us from the ripple effect of others then they will come to Him. Jesus Christ is gentle and humble. He does not condemn us but He heals and restores us. He bore our griefs and sorrows. He was pierced through and crushed for our sins. Each of us has gone our own way but all of our sins fell on Jesus on the cross. If you have experienced pain in your life then come to Him and you will experience His healing, His comfort, His love and His restoration.

Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him. Isaiah 53:4-6

A Life that Speaks Forever

The Bible says that those who listen to the truth will speak forever. After you are gone then what will be the legacy that you leave behind for others to follow? If you listen to the truth then your words will speak forever and bring life and light to those who hear. Listen to the truth so that the words you speak will be truth.

Proverbs 21:28 A false witness will perish, but the man who listens to the truth will speak forever.

Whatever you listen to is what you will speak. You can tell how a person spends their time and who they listen to by what they say. Let your words be truth and let them be said in love.

Luke 6:45 The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.

Let your speech be as it were the utterances of God and then the Lord will be glorified. Your words will give grace to those who hear and you will be more like your Lord, for He was full of grace and truth.

I Peter 4:11 Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

The Lord is made known to the world through our lives, words and actions. Let others behold the Lord in you and let you be a fragrant aroma of Him to the world. They will behold His glory.

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Guard what goes into your heart with all diligence. For from your heart flow the springs of life. Just as you guard what goes into your mouth knowing that it will either give life to your body or death. So also, what goes into your heart will give life and health to your whole body.

Proverbs 4:20-23 My son, give attention to my words;
Incline your ear to my sayings.
Do not let them depart from your sight;
Keep them in the midst of your heart.
For they are life to those who find them
And health to all their body.
Watch over your heart with all diligence,
For from it flow the springs of life.

Your words will feed your soul and will also bring life or death to those who hear what you say. You are the one who will eat the fruit of your words. Have you ever chastised yourself for what you said and wish that you could take your words back? That feeling of regret is death to your soul. Have you ever spoken kind and good words to someone and then you were the one who was blessed?

Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
And those who love it will eat its fruit.

How many times have you thought of the words that someone said to you years ago and they were just what you needed for that moment. A mother’s words will either bless her children or they will bring them grief. Let your words bring life to those who hear them even long after you are gone. Learn now God’s wisdom and fill your heart with His Words so that they will speak forever to the hearts of the listeners.

Proverbs 31:26 She opens her mouth in wisdom,
And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.

 

A Life that Understands Why a Man Respects a Woman

Understanding a Woman’s Need for Respect

Women long for respect but many do not receive it. Respect is an aspect of love that says, “you are of great worth and worthy of honor”. Everyone wants respect and honor but few understand how to receive it. Love and respect are two of a woman’s biggest needs. They are both expressions of the same value, and that is, the worth of a person. Love and respect make a woman feel of great worth. When a woman does not receive respect and love then she starts to feel worthless. When she feels of less worth, then she makes poor decisions with bad consequences. A woman needs love and respect. A woman who fears God, which means that she lives a life respecting and honoring the Lord and doing what He says, is a woman who will be honored and respected.

Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain,
But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. Proverbs 31:30

Understanding the Nature of Respect

It is not charm and it is not beauty that causes a man to respect a woman. He may want to be with her temporarily because of her beauty and charm but if she is not a woman of godly character then he will not respect her nor desire to make a life commitment of marriage to her. In fact, if he is not of a good character then he may be tempted to use her and she will be exploited. Men respect a woman who is virtuous. A woman of virtue is not exploited by men. A virtuous woman is one who does not compromise what is right. There is a sense of what is right in our conscience. We may feel guilty the first time we violate our conscience but if we continue to go against our conscience then our conscience becomes hardened and it no longer seems wrong to us. This pattern continues and before long we are living a compromised life. The outcome of a compromised life is that men will no longer show respect for the one who has compromised. Not only will men lose respect for women who compromise but they will soon walk all over them.

You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. Matthew 5:13

Understand How Respect and Honor Can Be Regained

A woman loses her freshness or saltiness when she compromises and violates her conscience. The word “violate” means to change. When a woman’s conscience is violated then she is changed. A man is not showing love and respect for any woman who he wants to become physically intimate with before marriage. He is loving himself and it is not love for her but it is lust for her. Any man who has sex with a woman before marriage is violating and using her. When a man uses and violates the woman then she is changed. She no longer feels worthy of the very honor, love and respect that she longs for and it now eludes her. She feels “worth-less”. Is she worth less than before? No, for she is of great worth to the Lord Jesus Christ. He loves her for who she is now and not merely for who she was or who she will become. Jesus Christ loves her for exactly who she is now, no matter how much she has compromised or been violated. If she will come to the Lord Jesus Christ and tell Him that she needs Him and that she wants to belong to Him then He will restore her worth. He is the only One who can change her into the beautiful woman she longs to be and give her the honor and respect that she longs for. He is God and He is able to restore her worth. She is worth so much to Him that He died for her. Come to Jesus Christ if you have compromised or been violated and let Him make you into a new creation of great value and worth.

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. II Corinthians 5:17

A Life that Has Forgiveness

There is one thing that we can not live with and that is guilt. We will do anything we can to get rid of the guilt. It is for this reason that people try to deny that there is a God because if there is no God then there can be no guilt, or at least this is one of their faulty reasonings. We hate guilt and man was not made to live with guilt. He was made to have fellowship with God, but his guilt caused him to hide from God and we have been hiding ever since. After Adam and Eve sinned the first thing they did was try to hide.

 

Genesis 3:8 They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

The Lord came looking for them and He has been seeking us out since then and planning a way to bring us back into fellowship with Him. He wants to forgive us and how sweet that forgiveness is when we receive it. God sent His Son to give us salvation by the forgiveness of our sins.

Luke 1:77-79 To give to His people the knowledge of salvation
By the forgiveness of their sins,
Because of the tender mercy of our God,
With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us,
To shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,
To guide our feet into the way of peace.”

When we receive the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of our sins then we realize that we will and can never be good enough to deserve it. It is a free gift from the Lord but we must receive the gift to experience the gift of forgiveness. If we do not receive the gift then we still have our guilt and will continue in our sin and the guilt will pile up more and more until we can not bear it. If we do not go to Him for forgiveness then we might do all sorts of things to block out the guilt, such as work, drugs, therapy, alcohol, religion and anything else we can think of that might cause us to forget our guilt or appease it. However, because guilt is of the conscience we can not rid ourselves of the guilt. Only the Lord can take it away and He does through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Jesus Christ came to save us from our sins and to remove our guilt.

I Timothy 1:15,16 It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.

There is no one who has done too much to be forgiven or who is too bad that He can not change. If you believe in Him for eternal life then you will find mercy. His mercy forgives and cleanses you from all of your sins, including the past, present and future sins.

I Timothy 4:10 For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.

Jesus Christ came into the world to be the Savior of all men but it is only those who believe in Him who will experience His salvation. Do you have guilt in your life? Is there anything that is troubling you? Come to Him and He will forgive those who repent and come to Him as sinners. He did not come for those who are righteous but He came for those who have messed up.

Mark 2:17 And hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”