Powerful and Loving Warrior

Click here to listen to blog 

When we love others, we know we belong to the truth, and we feel at ease in the presence of God.  But even if we don't feel at ease, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything.  Dear friends, if we feel at ease in the presence of God, we will have the courage to come near him.  He will give us whatever we ask, because we obey him and do what pleases him.  God wants us to have faith in his Son Jesus Christ and to love each other. This is also what Jesus taught us to do. 

1 John 3:19-23 - CEV

The love of God extends to every man, woman and child ever born on planet earth!  As you grow to be more like Jesus, the greatest evidence is that you come to love even the unlovely!  The most despicable person on earth was created in the image of God Himself.  When you don't love others you are not living in the likeness of Jesus!

How does the persecuted Christian love the one who is meeting out his suffering?  The answer is simple.  When you come to know the "Big Picture" of God's love for all men and His desire that all would be saved, then you can look at even the most evil among us and see them as people who are loved by God.  As followers of Jesus, our job is not to condemn the lost.  They have already done that for themselves.  Our task is to bring them the life giving message of what Jesus did on the Cross, and what that single act means for all the lost!

Some have pondered the question of whether or not their "loved ones" will be lost.  The answer is this: If you love all the people created by God, and even one of them is lost, then your loved one will be lost!  

But God has placed in your heart the most powerful weapon that could ever be waged against Satan!  The Good News of Jesus Christ is able to rip out of the hands of the Devil anyone who hears it and turns his or her heart to Jesus!  

When you enlist in God's Army, you will be headed for the most amazing combat on the field of battle you can imagine.  And these verses in I John 3 tell us that we will feel at ease in the presence of God Himself.  You will indeed be a powerful and loving warrior!

"Lord Jesus, thank You for loving those who don't love You.  And thank You, Lord for enabling me to do that as well.  May Your Holy and Righteous Name be praised now and forever.  Amen." 

The Healing Kiss of Jesus

Click here to listen to blog

So Christ died only once to take away the sins of many people. But when he comes again, it will not be to take away sin. He will come to save everyone who is waiting for him. 

Hebrews 9:28

When I was a very small child I remember my mother responding to my crying after I might stumble and bump my knee or my elbow by saying "Let me kiss it and make it well!"  She would kiss me where it hurt and it did make it better.  

The love of a mother wants to make her child better in every way, and the love of Jesus wants to make you free from not only the consequences of sin, but free from sin itself!  

The Kiss of Jesus is the Cross and everything it does for your past, present and future!  Jesus makes you well again and as an old hymn says "heals the sin sick soul."  

Every man's heart is wounded and broken by the sin that floods the world around him and even in him.  Everyone needs Jesus to "Kiss it and make it well."  Open your heart and let Jesus see where it is broken and bruised and let Him touch your heart with the Eternal Kiss of Salvation.  

"Lord Jesus, You are the One who loves each one of us even more than a mother loves her child. May Your touch make us well for Eternity. May Your Holy and Righteous Name be praised now and forever.  Amen."

Dining With Jesus

Click here to listen to blog

When you give a feast, invite the poor, the paralyzed, the lame, and the blind. They cannot pay you back. But God will bless you and reward you when his people rise from death. After Jesus had finished speaking, one of the guests said, “The greatest blessing of all is to be at the banquet in God's kingdom!”

Luke 14:13-15

When will the “Feast” begin in Heaven? The Bible does not say, but here on earth when someone arrives at your home the first thing you do is to make sure they have something to eat! I think the “Feast” will be first in Heaven.

God designed our human bodies so that they need to regularly consume food and drink in order to stay alive. And He made it that those activities are very enjoyable and provide marvelous times of fellowship and sharing. I can’t imagine that our New Body will not enjoy an even more wonderful experience of eating Heavenly Food and Drink!

When we arrive in Heaven we will be able to dine with Jesus! That will be the most amazing time of fellowship with Him that anyone could imagine. But did you know that you can dine with Jesus today? When you open the Word of God and taste the morsels of Spiritual Food as they go deep inside your heart, you are dining with Jesus here on earth!

The Bible does not say, but Jesus must have also eaten some of the fish and bread that He used to feed the five thousand! Jesus shared a meal with His disciples the night before He was crucified. Jesus wants to share a meal with you today as you taste, chew and swallow food from His Word! It will make you strong and peaceful in these times where you see weakness and uncertainty all around you.

“Thank You Jesus, for providing all I need to stay strong and healthy in the world today! And thank You, Lord for the Hope of Heaven and the Glories of sharing Eternity with You there! May Your Name be praised now and forever. Amen.”

Joined to Jesus

Click here to listen to blog

Stay joined to me, and I will stay joined to you. Just as a branch cannot produce fruit unless it stays joined to the vine, you cannot produce fruit unless you stay joined to me. I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you stay joined to me, and I stay joined to you, then you will produce lots of fruit. But you cannot do anything without me.

John 15:4-5

Without Jesus you can do nothing! That is one of the most sobering truths in the Bible. What can you do for Jesus? The answer is quite clear. We as human beings can do “nothing” in and of ourselves. But when we are joined to Jesus we can do anything that needs to be done!

Trying to work for God without Jesus is the fruitless existence of the religious person. You may be continually busy and involved in all kinds of beneficial programs, but you cannot even touch the work that God would have you do without a complete partnership with Jesus! Being joined to Jesus means that His strength comes through your hands, His Words come out of your mouth, and His thoughts fill your mind! With Jesus you become the Real Super Man!

But when you are not joined to Jesus you are no more powerful than a Kid in a Cape who is playing like he has power!

The strategy of the Devil is to separate you from Jesus so that you stumble through life without the Power of God flowing through you. Remember, you can be polished, precise, cultured and highly educated without being joined to Jesus. Being able to work for God has nothing to do with your natural abilities or even your educational credentials. Working for God all depends on whether or not you are joined to Jesus!

So spend today, talking to Jesus, listening to Jesus, asking Him all the questions that come to your mind, searching the Scripture to learn more of His life here on earth, looking for evidence of Him in everything around you!

“Lord Jesus, I want to stay joined to You today. Help me to go only where You are comfortable going, hearing those things that please You, looking at only things that reflect Your Glory, and putting my hand to the tasks that You desire that I do. May Your Name, Lord Jesus be praised now and forever. Amen.”

Our Future Without Jesus

Click here to listen to blog 

The earth is under a curse; its people are dying out because of their sins.  Grapevines have dried up: wine is almost gone—mournful sounds are heard instead of joyful shouts.  No one plays tambourines or stringed instruments; all noisy celebrating has come to an end. They no longer sing as they drink their wine, and it tastes sour.  Towns are crushed and in chaos; houses are locked tight. Happy times have disappeared from the earth, and people shout in the streets, “We’re out of wine!” Cities are destroyed; their gates are torn down.

Isaiah 24:6-12 

Enough is enough!  Protests that started in one American city after the death of a man detained by the police have escalated into destructive riots and looting in dozens of other cities.  This is coming after three months of "sheltering in place" because of a virus pandemic!

Everyone is asking "How can we stop the rioting and destruction?"  The simple answer is that we can't stop it, but JESUS can!  You don't have to be a genius to recognize that the rise of "real" Christianity in the world has paralleled lifting of women to a place of honor, the freeing of slaves, and stopping the abuse of children!

What we are seeing now is our decline back into the days of rejecting God as a nation.  For more than a generation we have screamed about the need to keep God separate from our government.  I think God has, for now, turned and quietly stepped away taking His blessings of peace and prosperity with Him.  

What we are seeing on the television every day will be our future without Jesus!  The news report that we all want to see is what will happen when we all turn back to God!

"Lord Jesus, we have sinned and turned away from God as a nation and we are reaping the harvest of that rebellion.  May Your loving mercy convict us of our need for You and only You now and forever.  Amen."