Monthly Archives: June 2016

Blank Days

Luke 22:31-32 And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”

I sat down on the front porch to pray as the sun arose; so few words came…..I came into my secret place and prayed again for Him to guide me in his Word…..my mind just seemed blank this morning. In my heart I desired a powerful prayer, and the deep things of God, but my body is tired. This week has been a week that stretched my physically, and my mind and the pressures of business continue to work on me. My soul deep within wants the special times with God, but the pressures of the world win the battle, with thoughts of work flooding my head; I am simply tired, and thankful for the rest I found in the time searching scriptures, and stopping at the passage above; Jesus prayed for the zealous Peter, just as Jesus prays for my zealous self. Jesus, and the level of faith in him, are all a matter of your heart. Your heart is your gauge of your faith.

Jesus had just spent the incredible special time of the Last Supper with his disciples. He had told them of the days of persecution to come, of the betrayal to come, and even of Peter’s denial to come following this scripture above. Can you imagine the weight of the words of Christ that Peter heard? Peter was outspoken, quick to react, and a leader among leaders. Peter would fail in his flesh, but even in his failure, Jesus used the fall to strengthen Peter, and to further the kingdom. What a testimony built in the pillar of the church. God knows your heart; the motives before the actions, or even the acts of omission, the refusal to move because of the fear of the result; you can hide nothing from God. Psalm 44:21 Would not God search this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart.

If you claim to believe, you are a chosen child of God. The deep doctrinal arguments of election are throughout the Bible, but no one can come to God unless God chooses them, tugs at their hearts, and they respond in faith. John 6:44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. Just as Jesus prayed for Peter, he and the Holy Spirit are interceding for you before God right now. Jesus is reminding God of the price he paid for your sins, and the Spirit is telling God what is on your heart when you can’t find the words to say. Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Your life doesn’t have to be that of a religious Pharisee, but of one of a humble heart that seeks God with all of it. He knows the days you struggle, but he also knows the level of your heart for him.

Eternal Effects

John 3:16-18 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

You are going to Hell, if you don’t understand their is only one way to heaven. There, I said it. The truth that none of us want to talk about, the truth that so few preach about, the greatest deception of Satan at work in humanity of the idea that all paths eventually lead to God. Coexist is a lie if it causes you to believe that. Woven into the fabric of so many religions is the deception of earning out way into heaven, fed at the core of the sin we were born into at the Garden of Eden. So many just can’t grasp that sin is in our DNA, yet we can see the evidences of rebellion even in our youth. A basic, biblical understanding of humanity is that all, everyone, no exceptions since the beginning of time, we are all sinners by birth. God is a holy God, and accepts no unrighteous in his presence in heaven, so without being covered by the blood of the righteous sacrifice of Jesus, you will be punished for your unbelief in the Holy Son of God’s atonement for your sin. You must understand the bad news, in order to understand the Good News, the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In John 3, likely the most known verse in the Bible, Jesus was talking to a religious leader, Nicodemus, that had came to Jesus in secret to learn more about him. Jesus was speaking plainly to him, and yet he struggled with the understanding what Jesus said. You could almost feel Jesus pleading with God to open the doors of understanding in Nicodemus; Jesus knew the curiosity of his mind, was likely a curiosity of his soul. Do you want to know more about Jesus? Do you want to understand more about your Bible? You must understand that inquisitiveness is a gift from God. God pursues you first, placing that question in your soul. How you respond determines your eternity, what Jesus was speaking of to Nicodemus.

I consistently have pled for your hearts pursuits of God daily through this ministry for almost 1000 writings. The central theme of all my hearts sharing of my faith, is to plea for you to pursue him yourself. I am not a Biblical scholar, but just a simple man with a heart for God. I cannot quote verse upon verse, but I can point you where the Holy Spirit can. I can testify of a changed life by the daily pursuit of God through prayer and his Word. I can testify of a hearts knowledge of him, for a hearts enlightenment of some of the deep things, and some of the most basic things we overlook. This world needs you to pursue God, and to share what he lays on your heart to your circle of influence. Satan is peaking in power and influence, and God is challenging those who will stand up for truth. The only thing that matters in this life, is that which effects eternity.