Tag Archives: Jesus

Conquering Sin.

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The morgue in a abandoned hospital in Deventer...

Image via Wikipedia

“I can’t take it anymore!  I don’t care if I ever see your face again.”  These words were spoken by a husband to his wife, one gentle Spring evening.  He walked out the door vowing to himself to never speak to her again.  Three days later, he spoke to her.  But she didn’t answer.  The last conversation he had with her was as she lay on a slab in the coroner’s prep room.  He had to go identify what remained of her after a violent car accident.  His vow broken, along with his heart, was a vow that should never have been made.

Mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, friends, and enemies make vows of silence toward others every day.  And it is a rare thing when those vows can’t be broken.  But these situations are avoidable.   I could go into great detail about what to do to avoid using words you will surely regret.  But how useless would this post be?  Who would read a 10,000 word post?  Instead, I will go our relationship with God to make the point necessary.

The ultimate relationship anyone can have is that of himself and the Lord who made him.  How often this relationship is broken by the human alone.  We decide we will chase after a sinful path we knew well would not end in the pleasure of our God.  But we did it anyway.  And isn’t this what causes all human discord?  We want something the other doesn’t.  So we willingly break the bond of love and trust between us.

We can avoid every possible break in our relationship with God if we love Him more than those things which tear us apart.  It sounds simple when I type it here.  But in practise we find ourselves pulled into sin by a lack of love for His ways.  “. . . Do you love Me more than these?”

When was the last time you found yourself loving God more than the pleasures of sin?  Perhaps you’re stuck in a cycle of sin, confession, and restoration.  Retrospect tells us plainly how we define the word sin.  Hind sight is very clear when we find the relationship between God and ourselves broken.  We all have a weakness which we allow to trip us up and rip us from the loving and powerful prayer life.  This can be avoided if we train ourselves to love God.

We can’t conquer the sinful nature without a distinct and vibrant love for God.  What Jesus has done is to open the door for us into this relationship.  But He leaves it up to us to decide that this relationship with His Father is worth forsaking everything sinful.  My only hope is that those who read this will consider their love for God in a very deep manner.  There is a place where most will end up like that husband.  They will speak to God with a deep and overwhelming grief.  But it will be too late.

By His Grace.

Famous Bad Advice. Stupid is What Stupid Does.

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Thinking RFID
Image by @boetter via Flickr

CAUTION:

WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO READ MAY OFFEND YOUR SENSE OF SELF WORTH.

MY INTENT IN THIS POST WAS NOT TO CONSOLE THE MASS OF HUMANITY.  I’VE REALLY TRIED HARD TO OFFEND EVERYONE IN THIS POST.  IF YOU FIND YOURSELF UNOFFENDED AFTER READING THIS, PLEASE INFORM GOD.  PERHAPS HE WILL REMIND ME OF SOME OTHER STATEMENTS. 

“You’re not in a boat that is sinking.  You’re getting ready to go swimming.”

“You’re not about to drown.  You’re about to drink a whole lot of water.”

“You’re not going to be eaten by sharks.  You’re helping feed the earth.”

“The world isn’t corrupt.  It’s only doing what it can get away with.”

“You wouldn’t have done that if you knew what was going to happen.”

“You’re not sinning.  You’re only doing what comes natural.”

“Liberal thinking isn’t wrong.  It’s simply questioning the definition of the word truth.”

“You don’t have to work for a living.  If you look pathetic enough long enough, someone else will feed you.”

“Nobody owns anything they weren’t given by the government.”

“If you do enough good deeds God will accept you.”

“The state of the world is God’s fault.  After all, He’s the one who put the two trees in the Garden of Eden.”

“I am not a liar.  I just don’t tell the truth sometimes.”

“Just because somebody asks you to stop doing something doesn’t mean they really mean ‘stop’.”

“Sexual immorality isn’t sin.  It’s just testing the waters.”

“I know you didn’t mean to kill him.  After you stabbed him the first time you were just being merciful to stab him the other hundred times.”

“It’s only a yellow light.”

“The cops won’t give you a ticket for only breaking the speed limit by 5 miles an hour.  Besides, you’re in a hurry.”

“Jesus isn’t the only way to God.  God just thinks of Him as His Son.”

“God watches to see how you dress, what kind of car you drive, how much money you can make, and how popular you are.  He uses those things to determine how good of a person you are.”

“You can make up your own rules about God.  It’s ok.  There’s too many versions to be sure anyway.”

“It’s ok to believe God is just a myth.  After all, no one has seen Him.”

“Panic on my part is justified if you failed to plan your life.  After all, I am my brother’s keeper, right?”

“Marriage isn’t restricted to a man and woman.  It’s the union of really good friends.”

“It’s ok to take that paper clip from work.  They’ll never miss it, and you need it more than the company.”

“You didn’t kill anybody.  You just caused them to cry a little bit.”

“You were only late for work because you over slept.  It doesn’t mean you don’t care.”

“It’s ok to not read the Bible.  After all, it only makes you feel bad.  And there’s just too much bad feelings in the world already.”

“You’re not a bad man.  You just get a little violent once in a while.”

“It’s ok to look down on the stupid people.  After all, you know what’s right.”

“Prayer isn’t all that important.  (shrug shrug)  God knows everything anyway.”

“If you do what everyone else is doing, God will forgive you.  After all, you’re only human.”

“When you find someone who’s done something worse than you, it’s ok to hate them.”

“Jesus is willing to forgive everyone’s sins (even the most horrible).  But your sins are too much.”

“You’re not going to be judged by the Most High God.  You’re only going to get a chance to see what this ‘Hell’ thingy is all about.

Eternity isn’t that long.

Taught by Snakes

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A black and white icon of a teacher in front o...

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The number of those who teach evil are far more than those who teach the Truth of God.  For the mature in Christ, this is no worrisome statement.  For those who are young in Christ, this statement must find a place of resound within their hearts, or they will be lead astray.  For the youth of this world, I caution you to invest a heavy amount of your time in the Bible and prayer.  For you are being taught by snakes in this world.  Millions of wicked men and women have set themselves over the young of the world.  They teach lies in such a format that the young are easily slipped into embracing those lies.

The Threshold of the Second Coming

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greed [aka cost/benefit]

Image by the|G|™ via Flickr

How fast the world is deteriorating into evil.  The darkness covering the land today makes the 60’s look more pure.  While there was nothing holy about the rise of immorality of the 60’s, the embrace the world is giving to wickedness today has increased by folds.  And all indications are that this increase will explode.  Are you ready for absolute chaos?  It is coming.

 

Throughout the ages, since the resurrection of Jesus, men have proclaimed the return of the Lord of Glory.  I’ve often pondered, as have others, just what the signs will be when the Holy God of Israel has had enough.  Because, when the Lord God sends His Son, this world will endure all manner of horror.  Many thought their age was the one in which the Lord would surely return.  But wickedness had not run its course.  This observation has given birth to an understanding within me.

If the world has become increasingly wicked and the Lord has not yet returned, just how wicked must the world become before the Lord comes?  Personally, I believe anyone would not be far wrong to expect His return very soon.  But how much more violence, godlessness, and unholiness needs to come to maturity before God responds with His Holy Promise to do away with man’s rebellion?  If it’s this bad now, how much more horror must man manufacture?

God has given man over to the desires of his heart.  The central desire of man is to rid himself of the God who made him.  How long will man rebel?  How much destruction will he be willing to reap from the works of his own hand?  The answer is “A LOT”!  Murders, greed, anger, rapes, thefts, lies, corruption of every sort on every level, even within families, all these things are going to increase until there is no one left on the face of the entire earth who is willing to allow God to be the King of their life.  At this time, the Lord of Glory will appear with Great suddenness; when they least expect it.

May the Lord have mercy on those who read this post.  May He open their eyes to see.  Billions and billions of blind are, even now, awaiting their fate at the hands of the Living God.  Yet hell still has room.  Why would you seal your eternity as they have?  Why not humble yourself before the Most High God, through Jesus, and accept the testimony of His people?

By His Grace.

Awake! They Also Rise.

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“Early in the morning, while it was still dark, he [Jesus] rose up and went out, and departed into a deserted place, and prayed there.”

I rise at the call of the Spirit, “Enough sleep.  Rise and seek the God of your soul.  Search your heart before Him and ask the things which are life.  For the day is approaching, and the wicked stir in their beds.”

Soon, while the prayer ensues, the lights of houses from New York City to Los Angeles will shine.  The world around me begins to wake.  The wicked of the night stumble to their beds to sleep the sleep of thieves.  While the wicked of the day stumble to the bathroom to begin their assault on each other for the sake of “gain”. 

This was so in the very day when Jesus rose before sunrise to seek His Holy Father.  Frankly, it should be more so for those who love Him today.  I will say no more.

By His Grace.

The Slough of Dispond

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Slough

Image by born1945 via Flickr

The Lord has given me many words to the unsaved and the proud.  Yet there are many who will take heed from those words.  I write this post for them.

As we encounter the Truth of God regarding our sins, we often fall into a state of disrepair and despair (I take note of the similarity of those two words).   It will be expected that receiving Jesus’ gift of Life is going to become a heavy burden at first.  More weight will be pressed upon the one who receives His guidance.  For all we have done will surface for us to examine.  This is expected and will surely surprise the one who thought “The Way” would be an easy saunter, all the way to the Holy Throne of God.  “The Way” is both the hardest way for a man or woman to live and the easiest.  John Bunyan wrote of this in his book “Pilgrim’s Progress”.

“This miry Slough is such a place as cannot be mended; it is the descent whither the scum and filth that attends conviction for sin doth continually run, and therefore is it called the Slough of Despond: for still as the sinner is awakened about his lost condition, there ariseth in his soul many fears, and doubts, and discouraging apprehensions, which all of them get together, and settle in this place; and this is the reason of the badness of this ground.”

I do not want anyone to fall into hopelessness because of the burdens that will press upon them.  Keep your hope in Jesus and believe.  This place of horror will not last forever.  Yet it is a necessary part of accepting Jesus.

By His Grace.