Hebrews 11: 6
And 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 seek Him.
Some call themselves atheists or agnostics, claiming that there is no way to know for sure there is a God at all. And they are correct to a point.
There is no way for us to know God if He had not chosen to reveal Himself to us. But He has. When we choose to believe what He has told us, then we can learn to trust what He says. Our choice.
Believing that God exists is a good start, but only the first step. The demons also believe that God exists, because they've seen Him. But they don't trust Him.
God made Man with both, the ability to die and also to live forever, our choice. So when Adam willfully sinned, his DNA was changed to allow him to die. Had he ate instead of the Tree of Life, it would have changed his DNA to never die at all; that's why he was driven away from that Tree before he had a chance to sample it after first eating from the Tree of Knowledge.
Now, being subject to death, he can have a substitute to die in his place. The animals needed to die to provide clothing for Adam and Eve, showing that their sin would be covered by the blood of the animal.
Then He gave the sacrifical system to cover their sins until the Messiah (Savior) would come, and to show what He would accomplish for us as the Lamb of God, in not just covering, but actually washing away our sins without a stain or wrinkle by shedding God's own Blood on our behalf individually.
So, if you're searching for the Truth, His Name is Jesus, the Christ of God. He has promised that, if you seek the Lord your God you will find Him, if you look for Him with all your heart and with all your soul (Deuteronomy 4:29).
When I was seeking for the Truth, it didn't matter to me what that Truth would be, just that I could find it so I could believe it, and not be deceived. That's when God found me (I'm the one who was lost!) and I realized that Jesus is the Truth I'd been looking for.
And He will also be found by you. And reward you with His precious salvation and redemption He so graciously and freely gifts to us.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Thursday, November 16, 2017
Wednesday, November 15, 2017
Bold Humility
Job 38: 1
Then the Lord answered Job . . .
(Read Job 38 and 39)
God personally answered Job and talked to him out of the whirlwind. God is a Person, and a personal God to each of us, to me. He knew Job, and He knows me.
God confronts Job, asking him to describe all the parts we know of His Creation--the geological Earth, weather, the wild animal kingdom, the movement of the constellations--as though Job was present at Creation.
He wanted to show Job that, although he knew what he knew, he should not take pride in what he knew, because there was so much more he did not know.
I need to take care to not present myself as all-knowing. The more I learn of God's ways, according to His Word, I hope that I would realize how much more I don't know, and even what I will never know until He returns and glorifies me.
My I have my boldness in humility as I share with others.
Bold humility!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Then the Lord answered Job . . .
(Read Job 38 and 39)
God personally answered Job and talked to him out of the whirlwind. God is a Person, and a personal God to each of us, to me. He knew Job, and He knows me.
God confronts Job, asking him to describe all the parts we know of His Creation--the geological Earth, weather, the wild animal kingdom, the movement of the constellations--as though Job was present at Creation.
He wanted to show Job that, although he knew what he knew, he should not take pride in what he knew, because there was so much more he did not know.
I need to take care to not present myself as all-knowing. The more I learn of God's ways, according to His Word, I hope that I would realize how much more I don't know, and even what I will never know until He returns and glorifies me.
My I have my boldness in humility as I share with others.
Bold humility!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Tuesday, November 14, 2017
Do Not Add Or Subtract
Deuteronomy 12: 32
So be careful to obey all the commands I give you. You must not add anything to them or subtract anything from them.
This is not the only place God has told us not to add or subtract anything from either the Law or the Word of Scripture. God has given us everything we need to know to live our lives in this World pleasing to Him and in accord with how He designed and made this Earth to operate. The better we know God and His ways, and follow them, then the more He can bless us with both this World's goods and eternal wonderments.
O my Lord God Almighty, I praise You for Your greatness, and Your mighty power and wisdom. Thank You for revealing to us Yourself and Your ways through Your Word.
Help me, my Father, teach me to follow all Your commands in the pure simplicity in which You gave them. Teach me Your ways, because they are not my ways. Lead and guide me today in Your path for me, not adding anything to Your requirements or leaving any out, and to know You a little better and love You a little more each day.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
So be careful to obey all the commands I give you. You must not add anything to them or subtract anything from them.
This is not the only place God has told us not to add or subtract anything from either the Law or the Word of Scripture. God has given us everything we need to know to live our lives in this World pleasing to Him and in accord with how He designed and made this Earth to operate. The better we know God and His ways, and follow them, then the more He can bless us with both this World's goods and eternal wonderments.
O my Lord God Almighty, I praise You for Your greatness, and Your mighty power and wisdom. Thank You for revealing to us Yourself and Your ways through Your Word.
Help me, my Father, teach me to follow all Your commands in the pure simplicity in which You gave them. Teach me Your ways, because they are not my ways. Lead and guide me today in Your path for me, not adding anything to Your requirements or leaving any out, and to know You a little better and love You a little more each day.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Monday, November 13, 2017
Our Mighty And Awesome God
Deuteronomy 10: 16-17
Circumcise the foreskin of your hearts and stop being stubborn. For the Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords. He is the Great God, the Mighty and Awesome God, Who shows no partiality and cannot be bribed.
Deuteronomy 10: 13
You must always obey the Lord's commands and decrees ... for your own good.
We are to excise from our attitudes and thinking processes all our own ego. All our own selfishness and self-centeredness. God is God, we are not. We don't know better than God what is good, or good for us.
I don't have to understand all the theological ins and outs, all the deep mysteries of Who He really is. He is God. Period.
He is good: so whatever He says for me to do is good for me. All His Law, all His ways, are based on His Love for all He has made, including me. I am not to judge whether I think He means this or that when He says what He says. All I need to do is to decide to trust Him at His Word. That's my choice, to trust that He knows what He's talking about, and has the power and authority to keep mere men from changing or altering what He has had written. Even through the translation from the Hebrew or Greek into my native tongue.
I know He is Good, because He is Love. His Love put the Order into the chaos that was our Universe (Genesis 1:2), and true Science is the quest to understand that Order. The First Law of Thermodynamics, Conservation of Matter, is the Creation. The Second Law of Thermodynamics, Entropy, is the curse of death God placed on all Creation because of Man's sin.
O my Father, I know I do not understand fully Your ways, for Your ways are so far above my ways. But I also know that everything You do is right and righteous, and brings glory to Your Name. And everything that glorifies You is also the best for us.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Circumcise the foreskin of your hearts and stop being stubborn. For the Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords. He is the Great God, the Mighty and Awesome God, Who shows no partiality and cannot be bribed.
Deuteronomy 10: 13
You must always obey the Lord's commands and decrees ... for your own good.
We are to excise from our attitudes and thinking processes all our own ego. All our own selfishness and self-centeredness. God is God, we are not. We don't know better than God what is good, or good for us.
I don't have to understand all the theological ins and outs, all the deep mysteries of Who He really is. He is God. Period.
He is good: so whatever He says for me to do is good for me. All His Law, all His ways, are based on His Love for all He has made, including me. I am not to judge whether I think He means this or that when He says what He says. All I need to do is to decide to trust Him at His Word. That's my choice, to trust that He knows what He's talking about, and has the power and authority to keep mere men from changing or altering what He has had written. Even through the translation from the Hebrew or Greek into my native tongue.
I know He is Good, because He is Love. His Love put the Order into the chaos that was our Universe (Genesis 1:2), and true Science is the quest to understand that Order. The First Law of Thermodynamics, Conservation of Matter, is the Creation. The Second Law of Thermodynamics, Entropy, is the curse of death God placed on all Creation because of Man's sin.
O my Father, I know I do not understand fully Your ways, for Your ways are so far above my ways. But I also know that everything You do is right and righteous, and brings glory to Your Name. And everything that glorifies You is also the best for us.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Sunday, November 12, 2017
The Bread Of Life
Deuteronomy 8: 3
[God gave you manna] to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every Word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
Jesus quoted this passage when Satan tempted Him.
Matthew 4: 4
Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every Word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
John 1: 1-5 tells us that Jesus is the Word of God.
John 6: 32-33, 47-51, 53-58
Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who gave you the Bread from Heaven, but it is My Father Who gives you true Bread from Heaven. For the Bread of God is He Who comes down from Heaven and gives life to the World."
"I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the Bread of Life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the Bread that comes down from Heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living Bread that came down from Heaven. If anyone eats of this Bread, he will live forever. This Bread is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the World."
Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life and I will raise him up at the last Day. For My flesh is real food and My blood is real drink. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the Bread that came down from Heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this Bread will live forever."
Then Jesus explained this to His disciples:
John 6: 63
"The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The Words I have spoken to you are Spirit and they are life."
And Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the Words of eternal life." (John 6:68).
I was raised Catholic, so I was rather confused about this whole concept of Jesus flesh being bread, and His blood being drink.
So God showed me how Jesus explained it to His disciples, just a few verses later. And even then, many of His disciples turned back and didn't follow Him any more (v. 66). When Jesus asked the 12 if they would also leave, Peter gives his sterling answer. I doubt he understood it fully, but he chose to believe.
So the Word of God, our Bible, is spiritual food, to give us spiritual life, which engenders our physical life. Purely physical life is based on our spiritual parts being joined to our body, as when they leave, the body is dead. So, before we receive God's Spirit into our spirit, the life we have will end, we'll die; the flesh alone is worth nothing to God.
But when we realize that we deserve death, and Jesus came to take our death on the Cross for us individually, and let Him pay that eternal debt we each owe to God; then we come alive with true, real life, life that will last forever.
And this is how we are to feast on the Body and Blood of Jesus our Lord--by devouring His Word. True, real life is spiritual, and mere physical life flows from our spiritual life.
Just like the Psalmist hid His Word in his heart, so I ponder and think about His Word also, allowing it to lead and guide my thoughts and words into His love and righteousness.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
[God gave you manna] to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every Word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
Jesus quoted this passage when Satan tempted Him.
Matthew 4: 4
Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every Word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
John 1: 1-5 tells us that Jesus is the Word of God.
John 6: 32-33, 47-51, 53-58
Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who gave you the Bread from Heaven, but it is My Father Who gives you true Bread from Heaven. For the Bread of God is He Who comes down from Heaven and gives life to the World."
"I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the Bread of Life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the Bread that comes down from Heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living Bread that came down from Heaven. If anyone eats of this Bread, he will live forever. This Bread is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the World."
Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life and I will raise him up at the last Day. For My flesh is real food and My blood is real drink. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the Bread that came down from Heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this Bread will live forever."
Then Jesus explained this to His disciples:
John 6: 63
"The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The Words I have spoken to you are Spirit and they are life."
And Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the Words of eternal life." (John 6:68).
I was raised Catholic, so I was rather confused about this whole concept of Jesus flesh being bread, and His blood being drink.
So God showed me how Jesus explained it to His disciples, just a few verses later. And even then, many of His disciples turned back and didn't follow Him any more (v. 66). When Jesus asked the 12 if they would also leave, Peter gives his sterling answer. I doubt he understood it fully, but he chose to believe.
So the Word of God, our Bible, is spiritual food, to give us spiritual life, which engenders our physical life. Purely physical life is based on our spiritual parts being joined to our body, as when they leave, the body is dead. So, before we receive God's Spirit into our spirit, the life we have will end, we'll die; the flesh alone is worth nothing to God.
But when we realize that we deserve death, and Jesus came to take our death on the Cross for us individually, and let Him pay that eternal debt we each owe to God; then we come alive with true, real life, life that will last forever.
And this is how we are to feast on the Body and Blood of Jesus our Lord--by devouring His Word. True, real life is spiritual, and mere physical life flows from our spiritual life.
Just like the Psalmist hid His Word in his heart, so I ponder and think about His Word also, allowing it to lead and guide my thoughts and words into His love and righteousness.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Saturday, November 11, 2017
Search And Find God
Deuteronomy 4: 29
But from there (a foreign land) you will search again for the Lord your God. And if you search for Him with all your heart and soul, you will find Him.
This is a wonderful promise, not only for God's people, Israel, but also for us who are the Good Shepherd's sheep in another field. No matter who we are, where we are in this World, on this Earth, in the whole created Universe, whenever anyone will search for God sincerely and in earnest, He will allow Himself to be found by us, for He is never far from us.
When I was searching for the Truth, I didn't know what I would find, I just wanted to know the Truth so I could believe it, and not be deceived. When God found me (I'm the one that was lost), I realized that Jesus is Truth. He is the Way (the only Way), the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6).
God thought up everything, planned it out, and spoke it into existence. He is the only Self-Existent One, everything else comes from Him, He is the Source.
He is Almighty God, Who fills all spaces, Who is everywhere all the time; we live and move and have our being in Him (Acts 17:28). We are His imagination--if He wasn't thinking about us, we wouldn't exist!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
But from there (a foreign land) you will search again for the Lord your God. And if you search for Him with all your heart and soul, you will find Him.
This is a wonderful promise, not only for God's people, Israel, but also for us who are the Good Shepherd's sheep in another field. No matter who we are, where we are in this World, on this Earth, in the whole created Universe, whenever anyone will search for God sincerely and in earnest, He will allow Himself to be found by us, for He is never far from us.
When I was searching for the Truth, I didn't know what I would find, I just wanted to know the Truth so I could believe it, and not be deceived. When God found me (I'm the one that was lost), I realized that Jesus is Truth. He is the Way (the only Way), the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6).
God thought up everything, planned it out, and spoke it into existence. He is the only Self-Existent One, everything else comes from Him, He is the Source.
He is Almighty God, Who fills all spaces, Who is everywhere all the time; we live and move and have our being in Him (Acts 17:28). We are His imagination--if He wasn't thinking about us, we wouldn't exist!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Friday, November 10, 2017
Our Focus
Proverbs 11: 27
If you search for good, you will find favor; but if you search for evil, it will find you!
This describes our focus: if we just look at what we want to criticize, to find fault, then our life will be full of misery; but if our focus is on whatever is right, lovely, or deserving of praise, then our life will be cheerful, we will know the Joy of the Lord.
One way to see where our focus is, is to pay attention to our words. If we tend to compliment or criticize, that will show us where we're looking, and determine what kind of emotional life we are living.
Whatever I choose to focus on becomes larger, clearer, and more real in my life; and what I'm not focused on, the rest of what is going on around me, fades away into the background. So I choose to focus my thoughts and attention on whatever is good, lovely, positive, and right, so that what is troublesome or problematic or negative will fade into obscurity in my life.
I will fix my thoughts on what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and worthy of praise.
How about you?
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
If you search for good, you will find favor; but if you search for evil, it will find you!
This describes our focus: if we just look at what we want to criticize, to find fault, then our life will be full of misery; but if our focus is on whatever is right, lovely, or deserving of praise, then our life will be cheerful, we will know the Joy of the Lord.
One way to see where our focus is, is to pay attention to our words. If we tend to compliment or criticize, that will show us where we're looking, and determine what kind of emotional life we are living.
Whatever I choose to focus on becomes larger, clearer, and more real in my life; and what I'm not focused on, the rest of what is going on around me, fades away into the background. So I choose to focus my thoughts and attention on whatever is good, lovely, positive, and right, so that what is troublesome or problematic or negative will fade into obscurity in my life.
I will fix my thoughts on what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and worthy of praise.
How about you?
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
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