Tag: Love

Lecrae is one of my favorite Christian artists!  He is bold and courageous in speaking the Truth of the Gospel and in tackling social issues of our time.  I even gave him a shout out at the end of my book!  I respect him for his strong stance in Christ!  His recording label “Reach Records” includes many talented Christian artists that make up the 116 crew (named after Romans 1:16).  This song called “The King” is a song that pumps me up every time I hear it!  It gets me up on my feet praising the True King!  It is from one of his older albums called “After the Music Stops.”  Now I know not everyone likes rap or hip-hop music.  I grew up with it and I love how God has broken through the darkness of the music industry with rap and hip-hop that glorifies His Name!  This is Holy Spirit anointed music right here!  Enjoy!

Yes, I bump this in my big black Chevy as I roll through town!  I’m not ashamed of Jesus!  So, turn this one up, and listen to the truth these men are preaching!  They rap quick, but it is smooth and they glorify Jesus all the way through!  This is for you Lord–you are the King of kings and Lord of lords and I willingly kneel before you and say, “Jesus is Lord!”

“Jesus Christ rule this thing!”

“Call Him the Messiah, Anointed One, the Savior, bro!”

-Quotes from “The King” by Lecrae (feat. Flame)

“I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True.  With justice he judges and makes war.  His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns.  He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself.  He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.  The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.  Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations.  “He will rule them with an iron scepter.”  He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.  On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:

KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.”

Revelation 19:11-16

Grace and peace to you all!

I love that verse in Romans and I think about it often!  It is famously known as the “more than conquerors” verse, and it is very important to know what you have conquered if you believe in Jesus!  These promises are for every believer in Jesus Christ and they are offered as a free gift to anyone in the whole world who will believe in Jesus, so let’s take a look at the encouraging things the Word of God has to say about it!

Here is the section of Scripture Romans 8:37 comes from for context:

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 8:35-39

That is a powerful description of many seemingly impossible challenges we have conquered in Christ!  Nothing is impossible for God and nothing can separate us from God’s love–not even death!  No spiritual warfare, trouble, hardship, or anything else in this whole world can ever overcome our victory in Jesus!

“I  have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world.”

Jesus speaking in John 16:33

So, because Jesus overcame the world, those who believe in Him also overcome the world!

“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.  This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands.  This is love for God: to obey his commands.  And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world.  This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.  Who is it that overcomes the world?  Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”

1 John 5:1-5

That is awesome!  What is “the world” exactly?  The world is satan’s kingdom.  It is a place filled with sin and death and we see this in the world every day!

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.  All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts.  Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.”

Ephesians 2:1-3

Did you know that?  Before you believe in Jesus, you are an object of wrath, which God will pour out on the earth in the end.  Take a look at what Jesus said in John 3:16 and pay attention to the two verses after that famous verse.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

Jesus speaking in John 3:16-18

When you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you escape that wrath and you are saved and made alive in Jesus!

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions–it is by grace you have been saved.  And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”

Ephesians 2:4-7

Did you catch that?!  Through Jesus Christ you overcome the world and God raises you up and seats you with Him in Heaven!  What a kind and gracious Creator we have!  We escape His wrath through Jesus and we are not condemned!  That is a mighty spiritual blessing and free gift from God!!!  Through Jesus you are no longer under the bondage of sin and death that satan enslaves people with in this world!  You are free!

“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death–that is, the devil–and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”

Hebrews 2:14-15

I was most definitely afraid of death before I knew Jesus, but through Jesus I conquered death, the devil, and this world and so did every other person who accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior!  You see, Jesus came to destroy what the devil has done to us!  He also came to crush him under our feet!  Talk about overcoming the world!

“He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning.  The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.”

1 John 3:8

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

Jesus speaking in John 10:10

“The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.  The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.”

Romans 16:20

 

Check out what happens to you when you believe in Jesus Christ!

“I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”

Jesus speaking in John 5:24

Do you want to cross over from death to life and be delivered from the bondage of satan?!  I sure hope so, and Jesus is the only One who can do that for you!  Receive that free gift of eternal life today!

“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”

John 14:6

“In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”

John 3:3

You are “born again” by the power of the Holy Spirit when you choose Jesus by faith!  The Holy Spirit is the “streams of living water” Jesus talked about and the Holy Spirit guarantees our salvation inheritance!

“Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”

Jesus speaking in John 7:38

“By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive…”

John 7:39

“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.  Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession–to the praise of his glory.”

Ephesians 1:13-14

“That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Romans 10:9

All of those amazing truths combined are the reasons the Apostle Paul wrote “…we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37)!  Through Jesus Christ you overcome the world, which means you overcome satan and all the trouble he causes, you overcome sin, and you overcome death!  The fear of death has no hold on those who are free in Jesus!  We are no longer slaves to the evil one!  We are more than conquerors!

“Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.”

Hebrews 9:27-28

Amen!  Come Lord Jesus!  Hallelujah!

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Jesus speaking in Revelation 1:8

“On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:

KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.”

Revelation 19:16

“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”

Hebrews 10:23

Hold onto your hope brothers and sisters!  Jesus is faithful and He will will remain faithful to the end!  The redeemed in Jesus are more than conquerors!

Grace and peace to you all in the Name that is above all names, the Name of Jesus!

 

 

The Book of Jude is a very short letter in the Bible right before Revelation.  It is only one chapter with 25 verses, but it is a beautiful letter of calling believers to perseverance in their faith.  It is also a warning regarding ungodly people, and Jude wasted no time getting right to the point.

Jude is warning the believers about certain ungodly men that had slipped in among them and were causing trouble for the Gospel and the church.  Here is how he started his letter:

“Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James,

To those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ:

Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.

Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.  For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you.  They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immortality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.”

Jude 1:1-4

Here is what he had to say about these trouble makers:

“Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”  These men are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.”

Jude 1:14-16

“But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold.  They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.”  These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.”

Jude 1:17-19

That is why Jude wrote what he did in verses 20-21.  Take another look at the Scripture pin.  He was encouraging the believers to stay strong in their faith and he gives them three practical ways to do this:

Build yourselves up in your faith!

Pray in the Holy Spirit!

Keep yourself in God’s love as you wait for Jesus to bring you home to Heaven!

There are many ways we can build our faith up and the biggest one is to read God’s Word!  Jesus is the vine and we are the branches, and our faith is rooted in Him!

“I am the vine; you are the branches.  If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

Jesus speaking in John 15:5

So, be in God’s Word every day!  That will also help you stay in God’s love.  Fellowship and serving others are also great ways to build your faith up.  Jesus came to save us and He also came to serve in love, so when you enter into the same kind of work that He did, your faith will be built up!

“On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’  For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Matthew 9:12-13

Praying in the Holy spirit is a big one and that will most definitely build up your faith and keep you in God’s love until the day we see Jesus in all His glory!  The Holy Spirit is powerful and God’s Spirit is our direct link to conversation with Him!

“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.  With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.”

Ephesians 6:18

God wants a deep relationship with each one of us, so build up your faith, pray in the Spirit’s power, and rest in God’s love!  This world is going to throw all kinds of problems and challenges at us, even people within our churches that wish us harm at times, but we can overcome them all through Jesus!

Check out how Jude ends his short Holy Spirit power packed letter!  It is God who will see us through and He will be faithful to the very end!  The Gospel has been entrusted to us and He will empower us to contend for the faith as we stand up for Jesus in our time!

“To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy–to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore!  Amen.”

Jude 1:24-25

Jesus will usher us into the presence of God where we will stand before Him without fault and with great joy!  Jesus is Lord!!!  Give Him praise!!!  Hallelujah!!!

Grace and peace to you all!

 

 

 

 

I love the truth TobyMac preaches in this song from his new album!  Following Jesus is awesome!  God bless you all!  Be at peace in Jesus!

“You are opening my eyes Lord to brand new possibilities!”

-TMac, Edge Of My Seat

Keep your hope flowin’ brothers and sisters!  My Dad tells me, “God has your back,” and he is right!  God has it all taken care of and He most definitely has us in His hands and nothing can snatch us out of them!

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 8:38-39

I can testify to the absolute truth of that verse!  Jesus is Lord!  Grace and peace to you all!

This verse in Ephesians is intense!  We are to live our lives wisely and make every opportunity count.  Why?  Because the days are evil!  That gives me serious pause to stop, reflect, and pray whenever I read this!  May the Lord give us wisdom and empower us to make the most of every opportunity that He gives us!  Amen!

I was doing some research this morning on the ancient Roman amphitheater you see above.  It resides in Caesarea, Israel right off the Mediterranean coast.  It is still being used today for concerts.  I would not want to see a concert there though because I know what kinds of evil things were done in that place.  Caesarea was King Herod’s city!

Consider this history lesson from Touryourway.com (Israeli Tour Company):

“Caesarea is the ancient Roman capital of Judaea, housing impressive ruins on a fully-fledged Roman town.  And no Roman town would be complete without an amphitheatre in which to enjoy the sadistic spectacles that were so popular at the time.  The city was built by King Herod in 22 BC, and with it the amphitheatre that served as a venue for a mass execution of Jews who had revolted against the Romans between 66 and 70 AD.  The thousands of captives were taken from Jerusalem where they had unsuccessfully defended the city, and killed en masse in Caesarea for the crowd’s entertainment.  65 years later, 10 sages who had been taken during the famous Bar Kochba revolt were tortured center stage, to the public’s delight.

Every five years, Herod’s port city hosted the gladiatorial games, sporting competitions, and performances.  The amphitheater was the foremost venue of entertainment, and going to see people fight to the death was the equivalent of going to see a movie.

This is the oldest Roman amphitheater still standing east of the Mediterranean.  It measures 100 meters across and seats 4,000 spectators, a huge number for the time.  It is situated by the sea in pride of place in the south of the city.  For 500 years, the amphitheater was the center of entertainment in the region.  It was home to classic Greek & Roman theatre, and later the genre of pantomime developed, and mime plays were performed which made jokes about the local Jews.”

So, that amphitheater was a place of sin, violence, death, arrogance, and mockery.  Yes, the days were indeed evil in their time and they are just as evil in our time!  Have you been on Twitter lately?  It is nuts!  There is so much violence and sin in the world right now most of us believe we are in the end times!  By reading the Scriptures in the Word of God and witnessing so many signs of the times, we might just be!  I don’t know the times or the dates of the end, but I am keeping watch brothers and sisters!

So, the Apostle Paul warns us in his letter to the Ephesians that we need to make the most of every opportunity.  Sometimes opportunities only come once and we never see them again.  When those God given opportunities show up, we should take it and give it everything we’ve got in the Lord!  Of course we always pray about all things and submit to God’s will in everything.  The Lord makes it clear when we are to move and we are to move forward in faith.  When the Lord opens doors it is exciting!

That brings me to something I want to share!  There is a Christian radio station I listen to here in Denver called WAY-FM.  The morning show helped me so much during my suffering with Celiac!  The host Brant Hansen is hilarious and witty and it was always very encouraging to listen to him.  He also has a co-host named Sherri who is also hilarious and their conversations were always uplifting to listen to when I was hurting so badly.

Two years ago in October of 2016 I emailed Brant regarding a question he talked about on his show.  This was back during the political madness of the big Presidential election (that madness is still going on).  He had asked about how people deal with the stress from it at work.  I had seen a funny bumper sticker on a mini van at church, so I bought the same one online.  I had it on my truck leading up to the election.  The photo below is what I emailed to Brant.  I am really not that cynical.  I was just tired of it all back then and I wanted to make people laugh and ease the stress.  I did see a guy laughing one day in my rear view mirror as he leaned forward to read it.  He was laughing hard too!  So funny!  Welcome to my sense of humor.

I never heard back from Brant…until a few days ago!  Yes, he emailed me back exactly two years later!  It was funny because when I got his email it was like I had just emailed him and I remembered the whole thing.  I am really encouraged that he wrote back and what he said was encouraging!  He apologized about the delay and joked about how he had finally gotten help getting organized.  Funny dude!

I did not have a published book or a blog back in 2016, so I told Brant about it in my reply.  Through that, I met his assistant who was a very nice and very helpful sister in Christ!  She was excited to hear about the book and the blog and she also said encouraging words.  I offered to send free copies of my book (you know me, I always do).  She accepted the free offer and gave me the station address where they broadcast out of Florida, so I mailed it this morning!

I don’t know what the Lord is going to do with this.  He has opened a door and created an opportunity out of an email I sent two years ago!  Amazing!  I have been praying daily for the Lord to deliver me from this disease and bless me to be able to provide for my family.  I have asked Him to allow me to earn an income somehow with my writing.  Not through this blog, this will always be free, but somehow.  Maybe the book is just for Brant to encourage and strengthen his faith, or maybe he will talk about it on his show.  I don’t know.  Either way, I am blessed and encouraged right now for just having the opportunity to send it!  Please brothers and sisters pray for me and pray over this opportunity in the power of the Holy Spirit!  May the Lord’s will be done with it!

I want to be even more open with all of you.  The days are evil and I am working for Jesus!  I have prayed that the Lord would use my book (which is my testimony) for His glory!  I have prayed that it would go out into the world and bear fruit!  I will always give away my book for free to anyone who wants one and my purpose in writing it was not to make money.  I hate money and I hate talking about it.  I wrote it and published it on Amazon because that is what the Lord told me to do.  If the Lord wants it talked about on a nationwide radio station and a bunch of people end up buying it, then I will accept that blessing, praise Him for it, and tithe it accordingly.  Then I’m paying some bills and taking my kids out for ice cream!  The most important thing is that people hear the truth God wrote through me!  I preached the truth of the Gospel in love in my book and I testified to the supernatural things God has done in my life with joy!  Again, may His will be done!  Thank you for your prayers and encouragement!

What opportunities has God brought your way?  Let me know if I can pray about anything for you too!  I pray for all of us that whatever the Lord might be doing in our lives, we would be faithful and make the most of every single opportunity He blesses us with!

Grace and peace to you all!

 

I have been reading the Word this morning, as I do every morning, and this is the single verse that the Lord had me focus on.  He gave me the nudge to make a Scripture pin, so I prayed and asked which picture I should use.  That zoom shot of the moon I took last year in June is the one He led me too.  Check that out!  Anything is possible for God!  How does He do that?!  How does the moon just hang there?  Sure all the scientists can give their answers, but it is God who holds the moon in place!  All things are possible with God!

It is God who holds everything in place!  When I look up to where my help comes from, I see a mighty God who can do all things!  Nothing is impossible for God!  He can save any soul and He can perform countless wonders and miracles!  He can send angels to help us, which I have experienced twice!  He can drive out demons, which I have done once through His powerful Holy Spirit!  He can even prevent you from dying and give you your breath back after it has stopped, which I also experienced once!

He is the God of all creation and nothing is too hard for him!  Remember that today!  No matter what you are facing in your life, God is so much bigger and more powerful than anything in this world and He can deliver you from it all!  He has given us access to great love, power, joy, and healing through Jesus Christ!  His Holy Spirit is real on earth and the Lord is moving in power every day!  Jesus is alive and the promise of salvation through Him still exists as much in our time as it did back in Bible times!

“Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: “I am the Lord, the God of all mankind.  Is anything too hard for me?”

Jeremiah 32:26-27

No Lord, nothing is too hard for You and You have proven that to me many times and I will testify!  Jesus Christ is Lord!  God has not given us any other name that can save us.  Only Jesus died for us, so we could be reconciled back into a holy relationship with God!

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

Acts 4:12

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men–the testimony given in its proper time.”

1 Timothy 2:5-6

Wherever you live in this world, go outside and look up today!  You can know the God who made all of this and have a deep personal relationship with Him!  This has been accomplished by God through Jesus Christ.  When you receive Jesus by faith, you enter into a reconciled relationship with your Creator who loves you deeply!  There is nothing you could do to earn this free gift from God.  It is something you must individually choose on your own as an act of your free will.

The God of all creation is offering you grace, mercy, and forgiveness through Jesus!  Will you accept that free gift or reject it?  The choice is yours!  I pray you choose Heaven and turn away from the sin, idolatry, and wickedness of this world!  There are no other gods or lords.  Jesus Christ is God in human form and He is the only One who died to forgive our sins.  Every other religion on earth is based on works and keeps people in bondage to their sin.  Jesus Christ is the only One who can set you free!  There is power in the Name of Jesus and I have witnessed it with my own eyes and experienced it in my very soul!  I hope and pray that the Lord will reveal Himself to you all in mighty and personal ways that are undeniable to your hearts!  The God who created the moon, which hangs in the sky by His great power, knows you intimately and He wants to spend eternity with you in Heaven!  Take that free gift of salvation while you still have breath and let God’s peace wash over your soul!

Grace and peace to you all in the Name above all names, Jesus Christ our Lord!

 

 

That is the very last verse in the book of John and it is incredible to think about!  After everything we know about Jesus from the Bible, there are many other things He did that were never written down.  How many more people did He heal?  How many more demons did He drive out?  How many more people did He raise from the dead?  What other kinds of miracles did He do?  I don’t know, but I know it must have been awesome!  From the time Jesus started His ministry at the age of 30 in 30 A.D. to the time He was crucified in 33 A.D. He accomplished so much that there would not be enough room in the whole world for the books about all of it!  That’s cool!

Here are just a few of the many amazing things that Jesus did!

Jesus changed water into wine (John 2:1-11), which was His first miracle!

Jesus healed the son of a royal official (John 4:43-54), which was His second miracle!

Jesus healed a man who had been unable to walk for 38 years! (John 5:1-15)

Jesus walked on water after performing a miracle of feeding 5,000 people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 small fish! (John 6:1-24)

Jesus healed a man who was born blind! (John 9:1-12)

Jesus raised a man named Lazarus from the dead! (John 11:1-44)

Most of all, Jesus died for all of us for the forgiveness of our sins and He rose back to life three days later defeating sin and death as the King of kings and Lord of lords! (John 19 and 20)

After Jesus rose from the dead and before He ascended into Heaven, He appeared to many of His followers over a period of 40 days!  He even cooked breakfast for them!  Can you imagine having the risen Lord cooking you breakfast just shortly after He was crucified?!  Amazing!  Read John chapter 21 for that.  The Apostle Peter’s reaction to seeing Jesus is great!  May we all run (and even swim) to Jesus just like that!

Check out Acts chapter 1, Mark 16:19, and Luke 24:50-53 to read about Jesus being taken up into Heaven!  Then read about what it was like when Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to earth in Acts chapter 2!  It is incredible!

Jesus did many amazing miracles, but the most amazing miracle of all is that He saved our souls!  That is a free gift from God, so accept it with joy!  God has provided a way out of sin and death and that Way is through faith in Jesus!

“That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Romans 10:9

Grace and peace to you all!

 

 

 

 

I am really lovin’ TobyMac’s new album!  Here is another great Holy Spirit filled song from “The Elements” called “It’s You.”  This song is beautiful and this is exactly how I feel about Jesus!  I love Him with all my heart and I pray you do too!  This life doesn’t make any sense without Jesus!  I know, I have lived both ways and I am never going back!  Like TMac says, Lord Jesus, “It’s You, It’s You, then everything else just falls in line and You will always hold this heart of mine!”  Amen!!!  Thank You Jesus!!!

Love you all!  Whatever you are fighting today, run to Jesus!  He will fight for you!  He will protect you!  He will deliver you!  He will save you!  He rescued me from the darkest darkness from the pit of hell and I know with absolutely no doubt in my heart that He can rescue you too!  He loves you and He does not want you to perish!

May He pour out His grace and peace on you always!

Grace and peace friends, flowing from Jesus every day for all eternity!  Amen!!!

 

 

 

 

Good morning everyone!  I had to go to the store this morning, and this was the view of the Rockies as I left our neighborhood!  I took these photos with my Android phone from my truck.  The mountains are covered in a perfect sugar coating of powder!  Not a big snow, but just enough to start the season off right.  It was snowing yesterday and it was 19 degrees all day!  Bye bye summer!

On my way back home, I saw the sunlight shining through the frozen tips of a couple trees.  Check this out!  It looks like they are lit up for Christmas!

God is so cool!  Speaking of Christmas, let’s just skip Halloween and go straight to celebrating Jesus!  I celebrate Christmas in my heart 365 days per year!  How about you?

“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
Philippians 1:21

I am praying we all have a blessed and peaceful Monday as we start this new week full of new opportunities and new possibilities!

Grace and peace to you all!

 

 

 

These are two very important verses that I quote often.  22 years ago I came to a point in my life where I understood that life was all about Jesus and what He did for me.  That realization changed everything for me!  My life is still all about Jesus and it will continue to be all about Him until my very last breath!  Even then His Name will be on my lips as I transition to glory in the power of the Holy Spirit!  Amen!

Wherever you are at in life, please consider these two verses in Romans.  Jesus Christ is the only One who ever died to forgive all of your sins!  No other faith claims such a thing.  That makes a lot of people mad, but it shouldn’t!  Jesus Christ died to save your soul!  There is nothing you could do to earn that free gift from God.  That is great news, so rejoice, don’t be mad!  No amount of meditation or burning of incense or good works or any other religious ceremony is ever going to save your soul.  You might become enlightened in some worldly way from such things, but it does nothing for your soul.  Meditating all day might be great for blood pressure, but it does not get you to Heaven.

Every other faith in the world puts a direct emphasis on what YOU have to do to earn your salvation, and that is not from God.  Salvation is a free gift from God.  It is all about what HE did for us.  There is nothing we can do to get to Heaven on our own.  Christianity is about trusting in Jesus Christ for our salvation through faith.  It is also about making Him Lord of our lives as we follow Him and obey His Word.  He is our Lord and He is our Savior, and there is no other.

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

Acts 4:12

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Ephesians 2:8-9

I gave my life to Jesus because I was coming out of a horrifying supernatural experience that lasted 4 years.  I know most of you who believe did not come to Jesus that way.  I hope and pray that my testimony will help people come to Jesus.  People need to know the spiritual realm is real and they need to know how serious the choice is regarding their eternal souls!  Believers, we need to warn them, so don’t give up!  Keep preaching using the gifts God gave you and in the style and manner He does through you!  Your labor in the Lord is never in vain!  His Word always bears fruit when it is sent out into the world!  Amen Lord Jesus!

“For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile–the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in?  And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?  And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?  And how can they preach unless they are sent?  As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

Romans 10:12-15

“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.”

Romans 10:17

I was having a very hard day today folks.  I have been getting hit with everything from discouragement to depressing thoughts to anxiety, so I did everything I could today to dig in and focus my mind, heart, and soul on Jesus!  After spending the day in prayer and reading His Word, I am doing just fine and I am strong in Him!  Now I am writing this!

I really wish I could convey to every unbeliever just how awesome the Holy Spirit is, but it is something that needs to be experienced to be fully understood!  When you give your life to Jesus, He fills you with His Holy Spirit, which guarantees your inheritance in Heaven!  This is not an analogy or a metaphor.  The Holy Spirit of God is real and God exists on earth by His Spirit, which is inside every believer in Jesus Christ.  It is the Holy Spirit that gives us power to live righteous and holy lives before God!  God also gives us spiritual gifts in the Holy Spirit, which are to be used for His glory as we share the gospel and help people.  The Holy Spirit is the “streams of living water” flowing inside of us that Jesus talked about in John 7:38!

“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.  Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession–to the praise of his glory.”

Ephesians 1:13-14

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Acts 1:8

“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.  There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.  There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.  Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.”

1 Corinthians 12:4-7

All these things are offered to you for free from God!  He is not asking you to do a certain number of chants, or burn incense, or sacrifice animals, and He definitely does not want you doing those things to idols.  Accepting Jesus Christ is a choice of your free will and you must believe in Him to be saved!

“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.”

John 14:6

I love you all!  You know I lived in a real haunted house in high school and Jesus saved my family from that demon!  I have told you about God’s mighty and beautiful angels and what God did for me not once, but twice with them!  You also know that the Lord saved me from death in 2012 and that if He had not done that, I would not be here telling you these things!

God gave me my breath back and I am going to use that breath to glorify His Name!  Jesus is still saving souls!  He is alive!  I can testify to that!  He was right there with me when I stopped breathing and He never left my side!  I will never forget the immense love, peace, and painlessness that was all around me and through me!  Please repent and turn to Jesus!  Repent just means change your mind.  Change your mind about living life your own way as if you know better than God.  Turn from your sins and turn to your Creator, be forgiven through Jesus, and live!  He wants to save you from death, which we live in the shadow of every day and which will come for all of us someday!

Let me tell you something!  I already died once and it is beautiful in Jesus and you are going to want to know Him and have a deep relationship with Him at your last breath!  Please trust me in this, I am not messing with you.  The only reason I was safe when I stopped breathing is because of Jesus Christ!  The Holy Spirit of God is powerful and my wife and I were blessed to experience the full measure of that power when the Lord brought me back!  Jesus is the resurrection and the life!

Many people are ashamed of Jesus and they mock Him and His followers.  I am not ashamed!  I love Jesus Christ!  I know Him and He is a close personal friend of mine!  He is still right here with me and He never leaves me!  He is also my Lord and Savior!  I spend my days introducing people to Him because He delivered me from darkness and death and He saved my soul!

He will forgive all of your sins and save your soul too!  He is the only One who can!

Grace and peace to you all!