It is God who arms me with strength 
   and keeps my way secure.

By doing this and showing my faith, I have two things working for me. First, I can proudly witness to people without saying a word, but also that everytime I think of it – I am reminded that it is GOD who does everything for us.

Sometimes we forget that God started it all. And in case you’ve forgotten, He will end it too, in a most miraculous way.

So, today as I sit in the airport, I log on to one of my favorite Scriptural reference websites and see the following verse:

“Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”” – John 6:29

I didn’t get it at first. WHAT is this supposed to mean?  I’ve challenged the youth to ask this type of question. So, what should one do when they don’t understand?  One solution is to go back and read the context of the passage. In this case, this passage follows the feeding of 5,000 and Jesus walking on water in the middle of the night to reach his disciples.  Many people went in search of Him, but didn’t understand how he left, because there was only 1 boat, and he didn’t leave with the disciples. 

However, the focus of the conversation was not about his miracles and about who He was. Jesus, however, brought attention to God’s work. The people asked:

John 6:28-  Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

In this case, Jesus was replying that there is NOTHING that a person can “DO” to earn God’s acceptance, EXCEPT:

Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”  – John 6:29

Therefore, if you want God to accept you as you are, you MUST believe in Jesus. There is NO other way to get to Heaven, but to believe. That’s all that God requires!  If you don’t believe, make a decision today to change your future, and believe in Him! 

But all these questions are really irrelavent. What’s past is over. There is no changing it. What will happen today and tomorrow are truly the same issue. There is no need to worry or think about any of it…IF we truly trust in God’s capable hands.  As we look forward to our future, we need to remember that God has a plan already laid out. In fact, that plan is much bigger than many of us think about daily. We continually focus on minor aspects of our life, the little things. What time is this event? What is for dinner tonight? Remember, though, these are really little aspects to a much bigger plan!

What is the bigger plan? John saw our future:

  ¹ Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. ² I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

 ⁵ He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” – Revelation 21

We know the future. We know it’s true. And we know that there will be no more tears and no more pain.

Don’t fret over the little things. Instead, praise God for the big things!

Shortly after Saul’s (Paul’s) conversion, we learn in Galatians 1:11-18 that he spent three years learning about Jesus. He didn’t learn about Jesus through Seminary or any similar teachers, but through a revelation directly from Jesus Christ.

I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin.  I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.- Galatians 1:11-12

Paul makes reference here to the fact that he is indeed preaching not just “religion” but truth – a truth taught by God: Jesus Christ personally. The last four years I have spent studying Scripture. During that time I spent many nights reading books by experts. However, despite what I have been “taught” from professors and other classmates, the single truth remains in the Bible given by God.

As we study the Bible, we find many commandments: from loving God to loving our neighbor – from not committing murder to obeying our parents. Each of these commandments are great and useful as guidelines for life. However, most of them truly don’t mean much by themselves. Scripture as a whole must be weaved together to fully understand what God is trying to tell us.

God is love. God created our planet. He created the environment…, the animals, and us. He also sent His Son to earth to be a living sacrifice for us. Jesus then died for us, because he loves us. As a way to forgive our sins, He did on the cross for us. As a way to fulfill the prophecy, He was buried, and three days later rose from the grave to live again. As a way to speak with God, Jesus is now our intercessor in prayer.

God gave us His Word (the Bible) in order that we may know of Him and come to Him. However, it isn’t merely enough that God loves us and that Jesus died for us. We must come to Him, accept Him as our Lord and Savior and obediently follow His ways. This is where the “love thy neighbor” comes in. Jesus tells us that when you do the least of these to others in love, then you do it upon Jesus (Matthew 25:40).

The best way to be obedient to God is to study the Scripture. You don’t have to go to Seminary or pay for a college degree in Biblical studies. We do, however, have to study the Word of God. After all, it is the instruction manual to life.

Because God is love, He gave His Son. The rest is up to us. Will you accept His gift of Heaven and eternal life? If you need more help understanding what this means, please go to……  http://whativaluemost.com/Gospel_main.aspx

Last time I explained in a similar proverb that “fear” doesn’t mean to be afraid of, or scared of God. I mentioned that “A healthy fear where we can maintain respect and reverence will help us….” It can help us rest peacefully.

Take time today to pray. Pray and thank God for being your Lord and Savior. Pray thanking Him for the many unseen blessings of protection that He affords you everyday.

Remember also that the “Fear of the Lord leads to life,” which may also be explaining that when we trust in the Lord, we will have everlasting life with God in Heaven. Not everything on earth may be as we desire, “safe in all things” – but… our spiritual life will not be harmed when we trust in God.

 “God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him. For he has set a day for judging the world” Acts 17:30-31

God has overlooked the things in the past. However, this is only but history. It is the future that God is concerned about. No matter what you may have done in your past, all is forgiven if you come to God and repent (meaning turn away from your past ways).

You see, God is not concerned about what you “did” do – He is concerned about what you ARE doing, and what you are going to do. Turn away from your past sins, turn toward God.

Remember – God reminds us many many times in the Bible, that a judgment day is coming in the future when all people must answer for their life. How do you want to be remembered? How do you want to spend eternity.  You see - life has many choices. However, eternity has only two: Heaven or Hell.  The only way to Heaven is through Jesus Christ – God’s only Son.  Come to Him today – pray for forgiveness, and ask Him to lead your life.

³As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” ⁴Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. ⁵For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. ⁶You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁷Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸All these are the beginning of birth pains.

 ⁹“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. ¹⁰At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, ¹¹and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. ¹²Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, ¹³but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. ¹⁴And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Some say that the current events are representative of the end of age. I don’t dispute or support this argument – I simply do not know. However, I do know that there is a limited amount of time that each of us spend here on earth. Therefore we have a responsibility to act NOW and when the end does come, we must STAND FIRM in our faith to the very end.

Start NOW – tell others today!
Finish FIRM – keep the faith to the end!

²⁹“Immediately after the distress of those days
   ” ‘the sun will be darkened,
      and the moon will not give its light;
   the stars will fall from the sky,
      and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’ 
³⁰“At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. ³¹And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

⁷ This is what the LORD Almighty says: “I will save my people from the countries of the east and the west. ⁸ I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem; they will be my people, and I will be faithful and righteous to them as their God.”

So when the Scripture says that God will save us and bring us back to Him, we can trust Him! God is returning! He will save His people. He won’t, however, save those who aren’t His. The first verse says “I will save MY people.”

Do you know anyone that doesn’t believe or trust in God? Don’t let another day go by without telling that friend or person about your faith and why it is important for them to believe and trust in God as their Savior. There is a day approaching that will be too late for anyone to open their hearts to Him.

For us, the children of God, we can rest in comfort – knowing He is preparing a place for us, and that we can dwell with Him for eternity.

A nurse on the pediatric ward, before listening to the little ones’ chests, would plug the stethoscope into their ears and let them listen to their own heart. Their eyes would always light up with awe, but she never got a response equal to four-year old David’s comment.
Gently she tucked the stethoscope into his ears and placed the disk over his heart.  ‘Listen’, she said…’What do you suppose that is?’
He drew his eyebrows together in a puzzled line and looked up as if lost in the mystery of the strange tap – tap -tapping deep in his chest. Then his face broke out in a wondrous grin and he asked, 
‘Is that Jesus knocking?’ 

I don’t know what you believe, but the Bible tells us:

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in – Revelation 3:20

Maybe, just maybe, that is Jesus knocking, every beat of the day, inside our bodies, reminding us that He is only a heart’s distance away. Are you willing to open the door to your heart and let Jesus come in?

The Lord’s team was at bat, the score was tied zero to zero, and it was the bottom of the 9th inning with two outs. They continued to watch as a batter stepped up to the plate named ‘Love.’

‘Love’ swung at the first pitch and hit a single, because ‘Love never fails.’

The next batter was named ‘Faith,’ who also got a single because Faith works
with Love.

The next batter up was named ‘Godly Wisdom.’ Satan wound up and threw
the first pitch.

Godly Wisdom looked it over and let it pass: Ball one. Three more pitches and Godly Wisdom walked because he never swings at what Satan throws.

The bases were now loaded. The Lord then turned to Freddy and told him He was now going to bring in His starplayer. Up to the plate stepped ‘Grace.’
Freddy said, ‘He sure doesn’t look like much!’

Satan’s whole team relaxed when they saw Grace.
Thinking he had won the game, Satan wound up and fired his first pitch.
To the shock of everyone, Grace hit the ball harder than anyone had ever seen!
But Satan was not worried; his center fielder let very few get by.

He went up for the ball, but it went right through his glove, hit him on the head and
sent him crashing on the ground; the roaring crowds went wild as the ball
continued over the fence . . . for a home run!

The Lord’s team won!

The Lord then asked Freddy if he knew why Love, Faith and Godly Wisdom
could get on base but couldn’t win the game. Freddy answered that
he didn’t know why.

The Lord explained, ‘If your love, faith and wisdom had won the game, you would think you had done it by yourself. Love, Faith and Wisdom will get you on base but only My Grace can get you Home!

We know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified. – Galatians 2:16

Some people say they don’t read the Bible, because it’s too confusing or hard to read. Well, the verse above is very clear when it comes to being justified and being made right with God. Whether someone claims they are going to Heaven or not, the answer lies in Jesus Christ. If you know Jesus as your personal Savior, you get a ticket to enter Heaven. If you live a “good” life, but don’t have Jesus, sorry – you “Do Not Enter” Heaven.

Other people say that Christians are too “strict.” People say we have too many rules and laws that we abide by. However, that’s simply not true. We follow the 10 Commandments, and we have Jesus as our Savior. All other “rules” are simply guided by these simple principles. The first and foremost of these, as Jesus taught was to “Love the Lord your God” which helps to reinforce the fact that we must allow Jesus to take control of our lives in everything we do. When we do this, it simply helps us to want to follow His other teachings.