Do you struggle with fear and anxiety? Are you feeling crippled by the thought that you aren’t enough and you are unworthy? Does Heaven feel far away while Hell seems certain? Let me help you now. You are safe. You are loved. You are worthy in Christ. He has not given you the spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind.

Jesus is your hope and security. Through His perfect work of atonement on that cross, you have nothing to fear. God is not mad at you, nor is He against you. Those sins you think will pull you from God’s embrace, He Himself carried as far as the east is from the west. The only feeling God has for you is Love, and joy, and pleasure.

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.”
‭‭John‬ ‭10:27-30‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

When you placed your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as both Lord and Savior, you became one of His sheep, and He your Shepherd. Listen to His voice. Listen deep in your heart. Hear the words of Christ saying, “Fear Not, You are mine, and nothing will ever pluck you from My Hand. Rest my Child. Rest in my Love. Rest in My grace. Rest in My mercy. I have given you My Righteousness, and as I am, so are you in this world.

What is the goal of walking with Christ? Where are you trying to go? Many Christians are treating their faith walk like a walk on the treadmill. The walk and walk and walk. They get quite tired, yet they never get anywhere, nor do they move forward. Why is this?

This is because faith is a race with a specific goal in mind. God has a reason He called you, and He wants to do great things with your life. What is the great thing God is wanting you to accomplish?  Is God giving you a bunch of rules to keep so that you can earn heaven? Is God trying to help you be good enough to finally be righteous so that you can be blessed. Is God trying to get you to run your race so that one day you might become holy, or rather holy enough for Him to be happy with? If your answers to these questions are yes, you are treating your faith like a treadmill, you are running in place. Don’t light the torches and get out the pitchforks. I can explain and I will. My teaching is biblical, and perhaps the best teaching you will ever hear. It is the essence of the Gospel.

Many Christians are seeking the wrong finish line. These well meaning people are treating holiness, righteousness, and even salvation, as the finish line. They work and work and work, walk and walk and walk, run and run and run; all to be good enough for God. The only problem is they are never good enough. Perfection is a hard standard. One breaking of the law makes you guilty of all( James 2:10). Make these things your finish line and you will only end up tired, bitter, and exhausted. Mad at yourself and even more angry with such a strict, mean God. Let me show you a better way, the best way.

This is the Gospel in a nutshell. God knew that you and I could never never reach that finish line of holiness, righteousness, or salvation. He had mercy for us. So God did what we could not. He became a man. He entered creation in the person of the Son of God. Jesus Christ lived a perfect and sinless life for you. He perfectly kept all The Law, and earned perfect righteousness. He lived perfect holiness. He is the only one who truly merited and deserved heaven. He chose to go to the cross before He sat on the throne.  He paid the wages of our sin through His death on the cross. He rose from the dead, having conquered, sin, death, hell, and the grave. He did all that so that he could give you His righteousness as a gift. He makes you Holy simply by you believing the Gospel and receiving the gift for yourself. He saves you by grace through faith.

This will set you free, if you will believe it. Christ saved you through His works. He translated you from the kingdom of darkness into His kingdom. He now puts you in a new race. He puts you in the faith race. The starting point is now the finish line you were trying to reach. You begin from victory. Before you take your first step in the race, you are already the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ( Romans 5:1, 2 Corinthians 5:17-21). You start running as Holy because Christ has made you Holy( 1 Corinthians 1:30). You are saved because of Him. You are a child of God.

Don’t waste your life trying to achieve what God has already done in Christ. Just rest in it. Believe the Gospel. From that place of victory you can really run your faith race. You can actually do God’s will and be the force for good in the earth He has called you to be. You can be a living manifestation of God’s kingdom, always loving God and loving people; with no guilt or shame or condemnation. So get off the treadmill of performance and run the race God has for you.

⁵ Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, ⁷ but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. ⁹ Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. – Philippians 2:5-11

Jesus did it for you. He lived for you. He died for you. You were on the very mind of God when He set the intention to purchase your salvation. He did not have to do anything for you but He chose to give you everything.

Consider Jesus…the One through whom everything that was made was made. God Himself. The King of glory. He chose to humble Himself and leave Heaven. He chose to be born as a baby in the dirt, in a dark cave in the middle east. He lived a life of poverty and suffering for you. He became poor so that we might become rich.

He lived a life that you never could, so that He could give you an eternity you do not deserve. He died a sinner’s death on the cross, so that you can have abundant life. He traded His righteousness for your condemnation. He gives you joy for the ashes of your life.

Therefore trust Him. Follow Him. Worship Him. He humbled Himself for you. Will you live for Him?

Grace. God’s riches at Christ’s expense. Unmerited favor. God giving you what you don’t deserve. The whole Christian life and experience is all of grace.

You are saved by grace. You are kept by grace. You are saved by grace through faith in Christ and His works. Healing comes by grace through faith. Abundance comes by grace through faith. Salvation comes by grace through faith. In the same way come forgiveness, righteousness, and holiness.

Stop trying to be good enough. Don’t try to earn it. Get off the treadmill of good works. Every good and perfect gift comes from God and is received by grace through faith. Therefore rest in Jesus and His finished work.

It is a sure thing to understand that we are saved through faith. The one who exercises faith in Christ is saved from sin, death, hell, and countless other woes. The scripture says that we are saved by grace through faith in Christ. His works are what saves us. We are credited righteousness through Him. Our own works cannot save us.

            Faith that saves produces good works, but faith is not a work. If you are worried that your faith is not enough, stop treating faith like a work. Faith is simple trust. So simply trust Christ, who loved you and gave Himself for you.

            Faith that saves does not have to be great faith, because just a little faith will do the trick. Faith is not a work but trusting. So how great our faith is doesn’t determine whether we are saved or not. It does not take big faith to save, nor does it take a strong faith. A little weak faith is all it takes to receive the grace of the Gracious God. 

            Faith that saves is not faith of the highest quality or purity, because faith that saves has little to do with the person using it. You can believe very strongly that you can fly, but the believing does not give you the ability. Faith produces nothing in us, but simply receives from another. Saving faith is saving faith because of the worthiness of the object of faith not the one using it. Christ does the saving, not us. That is why faith in Him works.

            The faith that saves is faith in the right place. It is not the worthiness of your faith that saves you, but placing your faith in the worthy one. We must trust in Jesus. It only takes a mustard seed of faith to move mountains. It takes less to embrace the arms of the Savior. The faith that saves is the faith the hopes in Christ alone.

What is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit? This is a question I have heard many times, and here is my take on it. The blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is an event that takes place over a long period of time as an individual continues to reject the work of the Holy Spirit in his or her life, and in doing so rejects the forgiveness that is only available in Christ.

            One of the main passages the idea is pulled from is Matthew 12:30-32. The passage reads,

 “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. For this reason I tell you, people will be forgiven for every sin and blasphemy, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.(NET)

            I would point the readers attention to verse 30. This event is relational in nature, to commit the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit one must be opposed to Christ. The one that is against Christ scatters. I believe this is a part of the unforgivable sin; rejecting Christ and His work by the power of the Holy Spirit. The blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is manifested in continued unbelief in the face of true knowledge of Jesus. The verses preceding this passage set the ground work for this idea.

            “Then they brought to him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute. Jesus healed him so that he could speak and see. All the crowds were amazed and said, “Could this one be the Son of David?” But when the Pharisees heard this they said, “He does not cast out demons except by the power of Beelzebul, the ruler of demons!” Now when Jesus realized what they were thinking, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is destroyed, and no town or house divided against itself will stand. So if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason they will be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has already overtaken you. How else can someone enter a strong man’s house and steal his property, unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can thoroughly plunder the house.”

Matthew 12:22-29 

This passage that builds the context for the idea of the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, reveals a crowd of people seeing Jesus work miracles by Holy Spirit  power. Jesus says He is casting out demons by the Spirit of God and therefore the Kingdom of God has overtaken you. Some of the crowd immediately believes that Jesus is the Christ; the promised one which brings salvation. But the Pharisees reject Jesus as Lord and Christ, and they call the work of God here the work of Satan. They are hard-hearted and cemented in their intentional unbelief. They are in the process of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. They are rejecting God’s work through the Spirit-filled Christ. In so doing they are rejecting the only means of forgiveness and salvation that exists.

            The reason the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is unforgivable is because in committing it you are in active unbelief against Christ. “Jesus replied, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me(John 14:6).” To reject Christ is to reject the only way to be saved, and would definitionally be unforgivable. You can’t be forgiven by rejecting the only avenue of forgiveness. I would encourage the reader to read Hebrews 6 which I believe to be a passage that parallels this one, because both deal with the fruit bearing illustration which follows verse 32 in Matthew chapter 12. The one who commits the unforgivable sin does not do it once on accident. This occurs over a lifetime of rejection of Christ. One who has experienced life and knows the Gospel is the only one that can commit this sin( see Hebrews 6). 

            If you are concerned that you have committed it, you have not. There is still hope for you. The same group of people that were in the process of committing the unforgivable sin( The Pharisees) produces the unlikely convert of the Apostle Paul. If you have breath in your lungs it is not too late. Trust Christ today and live. He is salvation, and through His work all can be forgiven. 

            Everyday brings fresh battles, but with a new battle comes the prospect of a new victory. Christ promises us victory, because He causes us to triumph. The battles we face come at the hands of the enemy.  “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (1Peter 5:8 NKJV).” He is resilient in the sense that he doesn’t quit easily. He brings attacks to stop you in your mission and calling. His desire is to “ steal, kill, and destroy you.” But you have been given armor for the battle. To walk and maintain victory you must remain fully armored.

            God has given you spiritual armor to protect from spiritual assaults from the enemy. He attacks the mind because he lacks the power or authority to attack anything else. His only hope is use your power and authority against you. You have the power of faith as a new creation of Jesus Christ. The only only one that can touch you and bring you harm spiritually is yourself. So the devil attacks your mind in hopes that you will steal, kill, and destroy from yourself. When you stay fully armored no attacks can even land because your mind is protected, and every thought is brought captive to the obedience of Christ.

            “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.(Ephesians 6:10-18 NKJV)”

The armor of God mentioned in the passage is put on when you believe in Christ and Christ alone for your salvation. You utilize the armor as you keep your mind on the truth presented with each piece. The armor is not something you take off and put on, but is used simply by resting by faith in Christ. Let’s look at each piece of the armor.

                                                The Belt of Truth

The belt of truth keeps you centered. Jesus is the truth(John 14:6), and He is the truth that sets you free(John 8:32). Jesus is the belt of truth, because He holds you together and keeps all the armor of God in the right place.

                                    Breastplate of Righteousness 

The breastplate of righteousness protects your heart. Jesus is this piece of armor because He is the one who has made you righteous. “Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.(Romans 5:1 NET)” There is no room for fear or guilt or shame or condemnation, because Christ has carried your sin as far as the East is from the West, and has given you His perfect righteousness. In Christ there is nothing left to separate you from God. Only perfect righteousness to keep you close to the Father is left. Rejoice in this, that, “God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God.(2 Corinthians 5:21 NET)” Knowing and resting in this truly protects your heart.

                                                Gospel Shoes

Jesus has delivered you from sin and your old life. He has given you a mission to share The good news of a happy gracious God, who entered history to redeem His creation. Jesus plants your feet firmly in the foundation of the peace He has given you with the Father. He gives the traction to always be about the Father’s business of heralding good news.

                                                Shield of Faith

Your faith is a shield to protect you from the enemy’s attacks. Your faith is a gift from God. He has dealt to each person the measure of faith (Romans 12:3). Your part is using the faith God has given you. Simply grip this shield and hold it firm, and no flaming arrow will get through. This faith is essential because your shield is armor for your armor. It protects you and the other armor you wear. 

                                                Helmet of Salvation

The helmet protects your mind. Satan schemes to twist your mind. Wicked comes from the same root word that we get wicker from, like wicker chairs. Satan wants your mind filled with wickedness, which means simple to twist it. Christ has a better will for you. He wants you to cover and fill your mind with the truth that you are saved by His grace through His perfect works. This helmet of salvation does just that. And the icing on the cake is that not only has Christ totally saved you and your mind, He has also given you His mind, if you will use it.

                                                Sword of the Spirit

The final piece is the sword of the spirit which is the Word of God. Jesus is the Word of God made flesh. Not only does he speak to you through the Bible, but also through His Holy Spirit. This is your weapon. Christ’s word to you is how you fight. Believe what He says and speak what He says. When you do that Satan crumbles like the weakling He really is.

Focus on Christ and stay fully armored. This is the formula for living in Victory.

The popular and cool thing to do in our times is to say Black Lives Matter; loudly, vocally, and repeatedly. We mustn’t forget the hashtag. It isn’t cool without the hashtag. And cool is the new true in certain circles, so we must be cool.

The scope of this writing is not to be cool( sorry), or political(sorry again), or anything else of the sort( Sorry, I can’t stop apologizing since it’s the newest spiritual gift and badge of all virtue). The purpose of this post is to get to the truth of things, the bottom of it, if you will. This is a lesson in fundamental foundations.

Do black lives matter? Yes, yes, and again I say yes. The fundamental and most important question is this: why do black lives matter? Ideas have consequences and shaky foundations produce buildings that are death traps. If someone does not value the life of a person with a black skin suit( which he/she was given by the Creator for His good and glory), the root of that lack of value will not be uncovered, cut down, and thrown into the fire, by shouting #BLACK LIVES MATTER! Nor will one shame anyone into caring by making character statements about them like racist, bigot, or any other term that is the favorite these days. To change minds we must change hearts, and to change hearts, we must get to the root of the problem- SIN.

Sin cannot be fixed with education. Sin cannot be terminated by making excuses for it. Sin is not an ignorance problem, but a problem of wickedness. Sin can also not be dealt with by committing more sin in an attempt to show how one sin was more sinful than another. You cannot fight fire with fire. A burning building does not stop burning because you set the building beside it on fire with gasoline instead of kerosene.

Sin can only be extinguished through Christ. Only He can change the human heart that is desperately sick and wicked. “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked.”(Jeremiah‬ ‭17:9‬ ‭NKJV‬‬) Christ promises to change the heart.

“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.”
‭‭Ezekiel‬ ‭36:25-28‬ ‭

Only Christ can change the heart. When Christ changes the heart, He changes the mind.

For racism to be dealt with effectively and definitely we must call it what it is. Racism is tribal hatred. One tribe of humanity hates another tribe of humanity for whatever reason that pleases their sinful heart at the time. One tribe of the human race fancies themselves superior to another tribe because of skin-suit color, money, customs, or a plethora of other reasons. Sin is stupid and makes people stupid. That is known as the noetic effect of sin. It is quite stupid to carry tribal hatred when God made everyone ,and we share the same source and ancestry. But I digress.

Racism is tribal hatred and hatred must be recognized for what it is, and be repented of. No one with this hatred has eternal life. “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”(I John‬ ‭3:14-15‬) The whole world must repent of this tribal hatred and believe the Gospel. Therefore we must preach the Gospel to the whole world.

Now let’s return to the question posed at the beginning. Why do black lives matter? Did they just start mattering in the year of our Lord 2020? Absolutely not! Black lives have always mattered and will continue to do so for all eternity. Do black lives matter because a large consensus of the population decided that they do? No! Public consensus does not determine truth. Do black lives matter because a gang of politicians like to say so, and be seen saying so? Or do they matter because anyone says so? No! Truth is absolute and not based on subjective things like opinion and group-think. Do black lives matter because centuries of evil and injustice committed against those humans with black skin-suits suddenly is a problem ? No! The injustice was evil, wicked, and wretched the whole time. It has nothing to do with opinion. Sin was sin, and exceedingly sinful at that.

Black lives really matter. Black lives matter because foundationally, God says so. Black lives are the lives of people created in the image of God. “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”(Genesis‬ ‭1:27‬) Black lives were created to glorify God in the world and reflect His glory. So to say that black lives don’t matter would be to say that God is a liar and that is quite a dangerous and idiotic place to dwell. Black lives matter because Jesus chose to shed His blood to redeem them. The greatest sacrifice that could be given was given for black lives. It’s pretty plain in the Bible and quite hard to miss.

“Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.”
‭‭Revelation‬ ‭5:8-10‬

Black lives matter because God has ordained it to be so. If the foundation of your belief that black lives matter is anything else besides the God of the Bible having revealed Himself and He says so, you have built your house on sand. The storms of rampant secularism and mob justice can quickly change direction and will destroy your house built on sand. So build your house on the Rock of the Living God who reveals Himself and makes truth plain to undeserving sinners. Black lives matter because God says so. Anyone who disagrees needs to repent and believe the Gospel.

Let us go a logical step further. If black lives matter, then all black lives matter. All black lives matter from the pre-born to the elderly and everyone in between. All black lives matter, not just the ones that make the news, or the ones that politicians like to exploit to get elected, or the ones that corporate America likes to showboat about to make money. All black lives matter, and the only true solution to fighting for these lives and ending wickedness perpetrated against them is Christ.

The Gospel preached brings salvation. Nothing else saves. Not politicians, not slogans, not mobs, not governments, and not education. If you are resting in a nice slogan to change the world, you are being foolish and faithless. Slogans don’t change hearts and heal lands, but Christ does. If your salvation is resting in a political movement led by parties that rhyme with memocrat and depublican, then flee your idolatry. The false gods of government, big brother, and happy-cushy-feely-fun-time sentiments are dead and they cannot bring deliverance.

Jesus said, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.(John‬ ‭8:32‬)” Embrace the truth that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but by Him(John 14:6). His Word is the foundation of everything that is true. Salvation in all its forms only comes through faith in Christ, and Christ alone.

Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father, ruling and reigning in the midst of His enemies, and all His enemies will be made His footstool( read Psalm 110). Racism is tribal hatred. Hatred is the enemy of God. All God’s enemies will be defeated. The people’s may plot a vain thing and want to cast the cords of God’s rule off them(Psalm 2:1-3), but Christ is ruling, reigning, and winning. Racism must bow before the mighty name of Jesus.

“Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
‭‭Philippians‬ ‭2:9-11‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

My encouragement is to repent. Flee tribal hatred. Be cleansed from your sin by the blood of Christ. Lay your idols down and trust God. “For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭11:36‬ ‭

Do you feel surrounded by enemies? Do you feel belittled, and counted out? Read this and be blessed. All God’s Word has a solution and a blessing for you, in whatever season you are in, or whatever you might be going through. God has answer for you. He knows what you are feeling and experiencing. Let’s dig in to Psalm 3 together.

“O Lord, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me; many are saying of my soul, “There is no salvation for him in God.” Selah”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭3:1-2‬ ‭ESV‬‬

This is a Psalm of David. He knew what it was like to struggle. He spent his youth and many years, being looked down on, counted out, and even trying to be murdered by his boss. Maybe you can relate with that feeling. God delivered David from all his troubles, and God will deliver you too. There was a process for David to endure as grew into the man and the King that he would become. God used those hard seasons to develop him. And God is using the hard seasons in your life for good as well.

David chose to leave the trials and tribulations in God’s hands, and He trusted God to deliver him. He had every opportunity to kill and destroy his enemies, but David chose faith. David chose to believe the promises of God. Though that worked out for him in the end, imagine the ridicule he endured, both to his face, and behind his back. He chose to trust God. That will get you mocked and ridiculed. Selah means to stop and think about that. Stop and think about what Davids endured. Now take a moment to consider your troubles and struggles. Will you quit? Or will you trust God?

“But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭3:3‬ ‭ESV‬‬

God is like a shield. He may not prevent the battle, but He protects you through it. You may feel jarred when the hard blow comes, but God takes most of the impact. The enemy may fire flaming arrows at you from all directions, but God blocks them from doing any real damage. God is your glory and the lifter of your head. God is the place to glory in. God is the one to take pride in. He is the one you trust in. In the war, God is the safe place. He is the base for battle. God lifts your head. With God on your side, you have nothing to fear, and nothing to be ashamed of. Jesus has removed through His blood, all your sin, guilt, and shame. You can hold your head high, and face your enemies head on, believing for victory. If the Eternal Victor is with you, how could you ever really lose?

“I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭3:4‬ ‭ESV‬‬

When you pray, God answers. God sends help and victory not just from anywhere, but straight out of His throne room in heaven. He is the sovereign Lord of all. He has an innumerable company of angels at His command. Cry out to Him, and He will answer.

“I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around.”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭3:5-6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

The Psalmist is relishing in the idea of God’s providential care. Because he is alive, it is for a purpose. God knows exactly what He is doing. Every fiber of your being is permeated with purpose. If you are breathing, a grand destiny awaits. If you will rest in the everlasting arms of your Heavenly Father, He will tenderly guard you from destruction. If you will trust Him, and work together with His plan and purpose He will get you where you need to go. Your life matters. If it didn’t, you would not be alive, and living in a gracious God’s universe. You have nothing to fear, when you fear God. God is in control, so trust Him to carry you through.

“Arise, O Lord! Save me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked. Salvation belongs to the Lord; your blessing be on your people! Selah”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭3:7-8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Salvation belongs to God, and His blessing is on His people. Are you one of His people today? Have you been born again. Do you know and believe the Gospel? If so, you can fully rely on God to carry you through. Jesus lived a perfect sinless life for you. He died on the cross to bear the wrath of God and pay the price for your sin. He rose from the dead in total victory. In the safe place of Jesus there is nothing for God to punish you for, but everything in Christ for God to bless you for. Rest in Jesus. He will carry though.

You are loved. Maybe you don’t feel it, but you are. You are loved completely, with everything the Creator of the universe has. You are loved now. You were loved before the foundation of the world. You will be loved forever. There is no greater love than the love that has been set upon you.

“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.”
‭‭John‬ ‭3:16‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

God so loved you that He gave Jesus to pay for your sins and bring you near to Him. John 3:16 has been called the greatest verse in the Bible. That is because the greatest being, set the greatest love, upon the greatest creation, to offer the greatest sacrifice, to cancel the greatest sins, to cause the greatest salvation. You are loved with the greatest love. The greatest love was demonstrated by the greatest sacrifice of Jesus.

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭5:8‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

God loved you with the greatest love, when you were at your absolute worst. In your deepest sin , Jesus died for you. He died as the greatest gift God could give. Jesus died so that you could live in the greatest relationship that is possible. There is no greater love than that.

“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” John 15:13
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Jesus laid down His life for you. He left heaven to be born in this fallen world as a baby. He lived a perfect sinless life for you. Jesus kept all the laws of God the Father, and earned a perfect righteousness for you. Jesus was beaten for you. Jesus died on the cross in the most horrible way imaginable to bear the wrath of God and pay the price for all your sins. Jesus rose from the dead for your justification. And Jesus ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father, ruling and reigning, living forever, to make intercession for you.

There is no greater love than this, and some good news is that this greater love is everlasting love. This love that has been given to you lasts for the greatest amount of time: forever.

“The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.”
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭31:3‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

With God’s loving kindness He has drawn you to Jesus. You can be born again and live in His salvation. You can live in the reality forever, that there is no greater love than this.

If you don’t know Jesus, I want to give you the opportunity to trust Him for your salvation and receive His finished work by faith. If you want to make Jesus the Lord of your life, simply pray this in your heart, as a way to put your faith in Him. Say, “ Jesus, I make you the Lord of my life. I know I’m a sinner, but I believe. I believe that You are the Son of God. I believe You died on the cross for my sins, and I believe that You rose on the third day for my justification. I ask you to save me now. I receive you by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen”

This is an open call to kill racism in you and others. John Owen said this, “Do you mortify; do you make it your daily work; be always at it whilst you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you.” 

In this article I will be writing some statements that until recently I honestly did not believe would need to be written. There are some things that are so plain, that they should not need to be spelled out in our day and age. I have lived in an apparent bubble. One that was swiftly popped.

A young man was murdered recently. Guilty of no apparent crime but the color of his skin. The takers of his life were nothing but cowards, who took a life that they had no right to take. A father and son duo who thought another humans life so cheap, that it could be stolen. These men are robbers. They have robbed a young man of life. They have robbed a family of a son, and a brother. A community has lost a citizen. He might have changed the world. But like a candle snuffed out too soon, the light of his life was extinguished, and only the Almighty knows what was possible for him.

The murderers are guilty. Justice needs to come swiftly. The state beareth not the sword in vain, and it is this author’s belief that the sword of swift justice should be unsheathed. This might have been prevented, if the sin in these murderers hearts had been mortified. If the sin of racism had been purged from their souls, there would be at least three lives drastically changed for the better and perhaps many more.

I never knew that in the year of our Lord 2020, that racism was so alive and well. In my insulated world, I believed that particular sin to be nearly dead, hanging on to the last moments of life support, by no more than some crazy fringe fanatics. But recent events have showed me that we must offer a response. As Christians we need to mortify racism. We must preach the gospel. We must say what shouldn’t need to be said, yet so obviously does. The following words will be just that.

Racism is evil and wrong. Hatred for any reason makes you a murderer.

“We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”
‭‭I John‬ ‭3:14-15‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Here is some bad news to get you to the good news. If you hate anyone, especially because they are different from you, you don’t yet know the Lord. Love is the proof of eternal life abiding in your soul. Hate is the opposite of love. Would hate not be the evidence then, of eternal death in the soul?

God is the God of the whole world. He is Lord over all nations, and He made all people in His image. All human life has deeply significant value. From pre-born to last breath, the human race matters, and life should be honored and protected. Jesus died and rose again so that God would redeem Himself a people from every tribe, tongue, and nation in the world. Therefore the sin of racism is the most anti-God sentiment you can have. If you hate people, you hate God. You cannot be close to the Father and hate his children.

I write these next statements as a white man. Many who read this will not know me or what I look like. I have always been happy to be a white man because God is God and he knows what He is doing. And I believe this gives me particular insight and authority to say what I’m saying next. If you believe that the Bible is a book about white people, you are sadly mistaken. The Bible is full of many different races, colors, and ethnicities. White people came very late in the game. So fellow white person who may or may not be struggling with racism, you can’t use the Bible to justify racism.

If you feel yourself to be superior to others based on your race, it is high time for you to repent. The kingdom has no room for pride. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Mortify that racism by humbling yourself under God’s mighty hand. You need grace.

It is time to flee that racism. Is does not matter if grandpa, or the person you deeply respected was racist. It’s time for you to let it go. Perhaps in previous generations that could be overlooked, but no longer,

“Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.””
‭‭Acts‬ ‭17:29-31‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

The time has come to lay down the idol of racism, and return to God. It is time to repent, or change your mind, and embrace the love of God. Jesus died for the whole world. It’s time for you to embrace that. Leave the hate, receive the Gospel. If you have sin in your heart, there is only one hope for you. That hope is Jesus. Through His perfect life lived for you, and His death on the cross to pay for your sins, and His resurrection to give you justification, you can be changed and transformed. God can give you a new heart.

“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.”
‭‭Ezekiel‬ ‭36:25-27‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

My hope and prayer is that if you struggle with inner hatred and racism, that you will lay it down at the foot of the cross. Let God remove that sin from your heart. God will give you a new heart. A heart of love and compassion for others. When God puts His Spirit within you, you will love other people, even the ones who are different from you. It is time to let that sin go and embrace the transformation by grace.

Remember Christian, it is up to you to speak now. I have not had adequate words, but I sincerely hope this is something that will help someone. Mortify that racism. Let it die. Kill the racism before it kills you, or even worse before you kill someone else.

#mortifythatracism

If you don’t know Jesus, I want to give you the opportunity to trust Him for your salvation and receive His finished work by faith. If you want to make Jesus the Lord of your life, simply pray this in your heart, as a way to put your faith in Him. Say, “ Jesus, I make you the Lord of my life. I know I’m a sinner, but I believe. I believe that You are the Son of God. I believe You died on the cross for my sins, and I believe that You rose on the third day for my justification. I ask you to save me now. I receive you by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen”

This is the next installment in the Exploring The Psalms series. Psalm 2 is not easily understood, but we will dig in together. God is the King of the world, and anything apart from serving and living under His rule will bring destruction. There is good news in this Psalm, just like in the rest of the Bible. God wins, and if you are on His team you win too. If you aren’t on His team, you should consider joining it.

Psalm 2 starts like this,

“Why do the nations rebel? Why are the countries devising plots that will fail? The kings of the earth form a united front; the rulers collaborate against the LORD and his anointed king.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭2:1-2‬ ‭NET‬‬

The world has plenty of people that are against God, and against the anointed King Jesus. They work to try to get their own way, and not submit to Him. This is a strategy that will never work. You cannot beat your Creator, when He is the one that made everything, including you. He is all powerful, and He is in absolute control. How futile of a strategy it is, to be against God, and expect good to come.

The old saying goes that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Nations and governments that hate God are willing to put differences aside to oppose Christ. In over 52 countries in the world the Bible is illegal. Why are so many willing to work together, and work so hard, to oppose the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Jesus sets people free. To be in union with Him is to find yourself. When one is born again, one learns of the great value of humanity. If God would sacrifice the greatest gift of His Son, how much does He value people? You cannot be controlled by anyone, if God is your sovereign, and Jesus is your King. You aren’t easy to herd like a sheep, if you are free from sin, shame, and guilt. Corrupt governments composed of corrupt people want to control people. You can’t control someone who is set free by God, and filled with power and strength.

“They say, “Let’s tear off the shackles they’ve put on us! Let’s free ourselves from their ropes!” The one enthroned in heaven laughs in disgust; the Lord taunts them.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭2:3-4‬ ‭NET‬‬

The slave to sin sees righteousness as shackles. But it’s in relationship with God that true freedom is found. It is ironic that in running from The Kingdom of God, one is enslaved further. Only Jesus sets free. He can free you from your sin, both it’s power over you, and the penalty of it, before a just and Holy God. The lost world does not wish to go that route, because to be saved by God, one must acknowledge that she needs saving. It is hard to be humble enough to admit that you are a sinner and need a Savior. It is a laughable thing, to believe that your way is better than God’s way, or that the One who loves you wishes to enslave you through freedom and goodness.

“Then he angrily speaks to them and terrifies them in his rage, saying, “I myself have installed my king on Zion, my holy hill.” The king says, “I will announce the LORD’S decree. He said to me: ‘You are my son! This very day I have become your father!”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭2:5-7‬ ‭NET‬‬

Jesus is the King that has been set on the Throne. God has given Him the name that is above every name. At His name every knee will bow, and every tongue confess that He is God. Jesus is Lord. He is ruling and reigning now. Of the increase of His government and peace will never end. He is seated at the right hand of the Father, and He will be there until all His enemies are made His footstool.

“Ask me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the ends of the earth as your personal property. You will break them with an iron scepter; you will smash them like a potter’s jar!”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭2:8-9‬ ‭NET‬‬

The nations are the Lord’s, and it is just a matter of time until every one of them are made disciples of Christ. In the Great Commission, Jesus sent us out to make disciples of nations. We are commanded to teach everything Jesus commanded and immerse the nations in His name. Jesus has baptized us in The Holy Spirit, and anointed us with power. Victory is guaranteed. Because God has promised it.

There are many non-Christianized places in the world today. But that will be short lived. Jesus will break the rebellion of those who hate Him. The whole world will know the salvation of God. The Kingdom of Heaven is here and increasing.

“So now, you kings, do what is wise; you rulers of the earth, submit to correction! Serve the LORD in fear! Repent in terror! Give sincere homage! Otherwise he will be angry, and you will die because of your behavior, when his anger quickly ignites. How blessed are all who take shelter in him!”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭2:10-12‬ ‭NET‬‬

Take shelter in God today. He offers life freely through the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus for you. Understand that apart from Him, there is no life, and no hope for the future. If you face eternity without Jesus, you should be terrified, because you are rejecting life and choosing death. Sin brings death, both in this life, and eternally. To reject Christ, is to choose death. Don’t choose the behavior that will destroy you. Choose life. Choose Jesus.

If you don’t know Jesus, I want to give you the opportunity to trust Him for your salvation and receive His finished work by faith. If you want to make Jesus the Lord of your life, simply pray this in your heart, as a way to put your faith in Him. Say, “ Jesus, I make you the Lord of my life. I know I’m a sinner, but I believe. I believe that You are the Son of God. I believe You died on the cross for my sins, and I believe that You rose on the third day for my justification. I ask you to save me now. I receive you by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen”

Peace is very needed in the world today. Peace is one of the most important things you can have. Jesus sacrifice was the greatest gift God could give, but the gift of peace came with Him. Peace is a gift that only God can give you. Peace isn’t something you can create, but it is something you can steward. Peace is a gift from God, but it is up to you to receive it. And it is up to you to keep receiving peace. Jesus gives perfect peace.

“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
‭‭John‬ ‭14:27‬ ‭NKJV‬‬
Jesus doesn’t just give peace, He gives His peace. Read the Gospels. Not a single time will you find Jesus stressed out. When He calms the storm, He is calm. When He works miracles, you won’t find any anxiety in Him. He is peace. Jesus gives perfect peace, because He is in complete control. His peace is a gift and it is your choice to rest in it. It can be as simple as reading this verse out loud. Or saying, “I have peace. His peace is given to me. Not like the world gives. I always have peace, and never lose it.” That builds faith, and helps you to walk in what’s yours by grace.

The peace of God that Jesus gives is a constant. This peace is not tied to your circumstances, or anything happening around you. In the same way that Jesus calmed the storm with a whisper of, “peace be still,” He gently whispers to your heart through that still , small voice, and calms the storm in you. Imagine Him saying to you, “peace, be still.” All your fear, stress, and anxiety just fades away, when you hear the sweet, loving voice of your Savior.

Peace is part of the fruit of the Spirit. Peace is a natural out flowing of the presence of God in your life. When you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you have all the peace you could ever need inside you. You just have to walk in it. God has given you His Spirit for a reason. God dwelling inside you means that everything God has is yours, including His peace. Fear has to flee when God shows up. Stress melts away in the presence of an eternal, sovereign God. Anxiety has no place beside Jesus. God lives in you. Just believe it. Receive it. A simple prayer of “God help me,”goes a long way. Be filled with Holy Spirit. He is the Spirit of Peace and Comfort. Just thank Him for it.

Colossians 3:15 says, “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.” If you are born again, the peace of God is already in your heart. It is up to you to submit to that peace. Let the peace rule. Make a decision that you will never water the seed of fear in you heart. Resolve to never let worry live in you. Let peace rule. Is Jesus Lord of your life? If He is, then you have nothing to fear in life or death. So let the Prince of Peace bring peace to your heart. When you feel scared or overwhelmed, just start thanking God for the blessings in your life. When you cultivate gratitude, your focus shifts onto God and His goodness, and away from you and any negative circumstances. Being thankful fosters peace.

When you see a good God, nothing but expectation of good can remain. Fear is expecting bad things to happen. Worry is meditating on the bad that is possible. Stress is being overwhelmed because you feel out of control and not enough. Believing God is good removes fear, because a good God does good things. Faith in the goodness of God removes worry, because faith meditates on what’s real, and God causes all things to work Togetherfor your good. You can’t stay stressed in the presence of God, because He declares you more than a conqueror. You are a child of the King, and all the power of God is yours. You aren’t enough. You are more than enough. You are equipped by God for anything you face. Knowing this calms the soul. Perfect peace is yours.

We have this gift of peace because Jesus is alive. He has conquered death, so He is always able to help. The salvation that He brings, and the peace with God He has supplied lasts forever.

If you don’t know Jesus, I want to give you the opportunity to trust Him for your salvation and receive His finished work by faith. If you want to make Jesus the Lord of your life, simply pray this in your heart, as a way to put your faith in Him. Say, “ Jesus, I make you the Lord of my life. I know I’m a sinner, but I believe. I believe that You are the Son of God. I believe You died on the cross for my sins, and I believe that You rose on the third day for my justification. I ask you to save me now. I receive you by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen”

Are you under a spell? Do you feel compelled by an outside force? Do you feel like you have to be perfect or else? Are you only happy on the days you have it all together? Do you try to look great on the outside, when you are hurting on the inside? Perhaps you have been bewitched by works.

For many people it is like an addiction to perform perfectly in life. Everything has to be just right, or it’s the end of the world. Maybe if you think you are good enough, and do enough, everything will be perfect. But that is a never ending cycle. When you are bewitched by works you are always trying to do better and be better, but you can’t. You always fail. And then when you fail, you hate yourself. This is right where the enemy wants you. The enemy is the happiest and most successful, when you are discouraged, depressed, and hating yourself.

Good works can never satisfy, because you can never be good enough on your own. You may lie to yourself and create a self righteous attitude. You may act like you have it all together, but deep down you know the truth. The truth is you are a sinful, broken person that needs help. You need grace.

Once you were born again, all your sins were forgiven. Jesus made you new, and gave you the Holy Spirit. You became a new creation. Salvation was not a reset, but a whole new life. You didn’t start over with a clean slate, Jesus created a whole new type of person in you. You can’t improve upon what Jesus has done by trying hard, or being super religious. You were saved by grace through faith, and you continue in the faith, by grace, through faith. Jesus didn’t help you enough for you to save yourself. Jesus saved you completely. Grace saves and keeps. Your works can’t save you at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end. Paul said this about works,

“O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?”
‭‭Galatians‬ ‭3:1-4‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

These Galatians received the Holy Spirit by faith. They were saved by believing the truth of the Gospel. But they had become bewitched by the lie of performance. They were entranced by good works. It can make a prideful person feel good about themselves, to perform well. But performing well doesn’t increase you or even help you when it comes to pleasing God. Jesus gave you His righteousness as a gift. You don’t have to work for that gift. You just receive it and keep it, freely by grace. Paul continues,

“Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?— just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.”
‭‭Galatians‬ ‭3:5-9‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

God will work miracles in your life, but not because you keep the law. God does it because of you believing His Word. Abraham believed God and God credited it to Him as righteousness. You come to God the same way. You are blessed by God the same way also. God is not happy with you, because you are good enough. God is happy with you, because of Jesus and His works. God is pleased with you because you believe Him, and you receive the righteousness of Christ as a gift. You are justified by faith and not works. If you are in Christ, God is totally pleased with you, and nothing you can do can make Him more pleased. In the same way, nothing you do, or fail to do, can make God disappointed or angry with you, because when God sees you He sees The blood of Jesus shed for you, and His perfection lived out for you. You cannot be cursed or punished because of your failures.

“For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.” Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.” Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”
‭‭Galatians‬ ‭3:10-14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Don’t live under the law, because you can’t keep it. Don’t expect God to deal with you based on what you deserve. God is the God of grace, therefore He does not give you what you deserve, He gives you infinitely more than you deserve. God gives you what Jesus deserves. That is grace. God doesn’t need you to be perfect. Jesus already did that. God isn’t going to punish you for not being good enough, because Jesus was good enough in your place. You can never be made right with God by the law. But Jesus makes you right with God, through faith. Christ took all the curse you deserve. He paid for all your sins. He was the atoning sacrifice for your sins. God burned His wrath out on Jesus, so much so that He has none left for you. If you want to be Holy and right with God, just receive Jesus and His works. Don’t let religion lie to you. God doesn’t need you to climb the mountain of good works to reach Him. God came down to rescue you. So rest in His grace. Rest in the Gospel. That is refreshing.

In the midst of chaotic and tumultuous times, peace can be known. When the whole world is in the dark grips of fear, light can spring forth and bring liberty. Are you bound by anxiety and fear? Are you paralyzed by a sense of dread? There is a solution to these problems. There is hope. You don’t have to be scared. You do not need to live in fear. Peace is available for anyone and everyone who will receive it. Perfect peace can be yours if you will receive it. Look at what the scripture says.

“You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭26:3‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

God promises perfect peace to the one who will focus on Him, in faith and trust. When you set your mind firmly on God and the truth of His Word, you will dwell in perfect peace. No fear or anxiety can live in the presence of God. Faith and fear are not friends. Faith only works if your focus is on God how He really is, not focusing on what someone has told you about God, or on what religion, or experience says.

What the Bible says about God more than anything else is that God is good. The revelation of His goodness is the key to peace. If you believe God is good, there can be no doubt about His will or intentions. If God is good, then He will help, He will save, and He will deliver. Maybe you have asked yourself if God sent this Covid-19 epidemic. Maybe you are giving God the benefit of the doubt, that He had some great purpose for it. Let me free you with some truth. God did not send this virus. He doesn’t give sickness. His name is the Lord our Healer, not the Lord our diseaser. It’s the enemy that gives sickness because he has come to steal, kill, and destroy. But Jesus came for us to have abundant life(John 10:10). God is the giver of life, not the taker. Death is an enemy of God, not a friend. You can have faith in God and His desire to heal and protect you, when you realize that God is against sickness. It’s God’s will to protect and help you, not to destroy you.

God must be experienced to be fully known. Press in to God and experience Him. That’s what He desires. When you get in the presence of God, all the enemies of God will flee. Fear is an enemy to the Kingdom of Heaven. Anxiety, depression, death, and disease are too. Learn to pray the Lord’s Prayer over your life. Believe God for His heavenly will to be done on earth. God wants you well. And He wants you safe and prospered, not destroyed by a virus. Believe that. Focus on the truth of the good God who loves you.

God gives perfect peace. That means peace in your heart, peace with others, and peace with Him. He has provided everything you need for peace. The Good News of Jesus brings peace when it is combined with faith.

God provides peace with Him first. Romans 5:1-2 says,

“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭5:1-2‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

When you believe that Jesus lived for you, died to pay the price for your sins on the cross, and rose again for you, and you trust in that fact for your salvation, you are justified by God. That means He declares you perfectly righteous and right with Him. You receive the benefit of Christ’s atonement for you. All your sins are gone forever, and you have total access to God. God himself provides for your salvation. Your part is simply to repent(change your mind), and believe this truth. That is all faith really is. You can know for certain that God is for you, and He is with you. He will never be angry at you, nor punish you for your sins, because Jesus already took all the punishment you deserve.

Understanding that you have peace with God can lead you into other dimensions of peace. You can begin to have peace with other people, because you find strength to give grace to others in the way God has given grace to you. You can forgive. You learn to not be prideful, but walk in humility. You learn to truly love other people, because God has given you perfect love. This creates relational peace. Once you understand that you are right with God, you can be right with everyone else.

Knowing that you are at peace with God Almighty creates peace in your heart. You realize that God is never in the mood to punish you or harm you. He is too God for that, and you are too forgiven. Because of what God has given you in your salvation, you can pray and believe for good. You can believe for protection, healing, and deliverance from all evil. This virus is evil. Trust your good God to protect you, and deliver you from all evil. Believe God, and experience His perfect peace in everything.

Live in Perfect Peace. Rest in God. Keep your mind focused on Him. Who He is and what He has done for you. He is a good God, and He freely gives Perfect Peace.

Have you ever experienced God’s protection? Have you ever witnessed a miracle? God’s protection is available to you. Jesus died and rose again to cover you with His blood and destroy all the works of the devil. If it’s an evil work, you can trust God to protect and cover you against it. God is good, not bad. God does good things and not bad things. If it’s bad, it is not God’s will. 1 John 5:14 says,

“This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”‭(NASB‬‬)

When you pray according to God’s will, He hears you, and answers you. God’s will is protection. God’s will is to cover you through the finished work of Jesus. Jesus lived, died, and rose again, to pay for and remove all your sin. If your sin is forgiven through Christ, then you can trust God to protect you from all the work of the enemy. Sin is Satan’s only way in. If your sin is gone, Satan has no right to hurt you, but that doesn’t mean He won’t try. He is the ultimate lawbreaker. So it is your job, Christian, to pray the will of God, and enforce God’s will in the earth.

In this reading we will examine Psalm 91. This scripture is full of truth and promises from God. Psalm 91 is one of the best scriptures to memorize and pray. Remember, if you pray according to God’s will, He will do it. The Word of God is the will of God. So if you pray the Word, you are praying God’s will, and you can believe for results. Psalm 91 starts this way,

“Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭91:1‬ ‭NLT‬‬

There is rest in God’s shadow. This is a picture of closeness. Do you know the Lord? Have you been born again, and brought near by the blood of Jesus? If you want to be in the shelter of the Most High, and rest in His shadow, it starts with being saved by believing the Gospel. After that it is a choice on your part. You choose to say, “yes God, hold me close. Yes God, You are my shelter. Keep me in Your shadow.”

“This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭91:2‬ ‭NLT‬‬
The key to living in the reality of this Psalm is in this verse. I declare. I declare. Friend you must declare the Lord to be your shelter and place of safety. God can offer it all day long, but just like salvation, it is a gift. You must receive the blessing of protection and covering by faith, and you must say that it is yours. God offers many things, but it is our responsibility to believe it, and walk in it. We must trust God’s Word, and pray it. That is faith. To live a Psalm 91 life, you need to believe the Word, and trust the Word giver.

“For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭91:3-4‬ ‭NLT‬‬
What a great promise. Read that verse again. At the time of writing we are in the Covid-19 pandemic. You need this promise. God will protect you from every deadly disease, because He’s your shelter. His promises are like armor and protection. They are strong. You just have to wear them. You wear the armor of God’s promises by faith, prayer, and declaration.

“Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day. Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭91:5-6‬ ‭NLT‬‬
It’s not God’s will for you to fear. God does not call you to live in fear, or dread any disease. The coronavirus is like a disease that stalks in darkness. You can’t see it. It is invisible until symptoms come. But God promises protection and help. Brothers and sisters, fear not, only believe.

“Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday. Though a thousand fall at your side, though ten thousand are dying around you, these evils will not touch you. Just open your eyes, and see how the wicked are punished.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭91:6-8‬ ‭NLT‬‬
Faith does not believe at the level of experience. Faith does not rely on what happens to everyone else. To be in faith, you must believe the promises of God for you. It doesn’t matter what you see. Every other person may get this disease but I won’t. God is faithful to me. He is good to me. That is the way to speak faith. Friend, believe God’s protection for you. Pray this Psalm. Know that God is your healer and protector. Don’t believe according to what you see, believe according to God’s Word. That’s faith. That’s how the miracle happens. We must walk by faith, not by sight. Walking by sight will rob you of all the good things God offers His children, because by faith we receive from God.

“If you make the Lord your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your home. For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go. They will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone. You will trample upon lions and cobras; you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭91:9-13‬ ‭NLT‬‬
This is what I’m praying and believing. Total protection. No plague comes near my dwelling. No evil conquers me. But notice the first word in verse 9. IF. IF. That is a big IF. If you make the Lord your shelter. Beloved I urge you to make the Lord your shelter. Believe Him. Pray this Psalm. Declare it over your life, over your family’s life. Speak this over your home, and church, and business. If you will believe, you will walk in everything God promises.

“The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me. I will protect those who trust in my name. When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue and honor them. I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation.””
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭91:14-16‬ ‭NLT‬‬
Psalm 91 is good news. This is what we need right now. Read this Psalm everyday. Speak it. Pray it. Declare it. God is good. This Psalm is not too good to be true, because God is not too good to be true. He is better than too good to be true. God loves you, and He has many great and precious promises for you.

If you don’t know Jesus, I want to give you the opportunity to trust Him for your salvation and receive His finished work by faith. If you want to make Jesus the Lord of your life, simply pray this in your heart, as a way to put your faith in Him. Say, “ Jesus, I make you the Lord of my life. I know I’m a sinner, but I believe. I believe that You are the Son of God. I believe You died on the cross for my sins, and I believe that You rose on the third day for my justification. I ask you to save me now. I receive you by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen”

The world has slowed down, or at least that is the way it feels. At the date of this writing, the United States is in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, as it has been called. Many people are scared and confused. Our lives changed over night. The social distancing has opened the door for a lot of introspection, and self examination. The bigger questions are being asked, and many are at a crossroads. This is the perfect time to explore our passage in Psalm 1.

For context sake, we just saw in the previous installments, what a blessed person looks like. How a lifestyle of devotion and focus on God can create a strong and resilient life. If you want more detail, go back on the blog and read the previous Exploring The Psalms posts. This passage contrasts the culmination of a lifestyle of righteousness versus the lifestyle of the wicked. A godly person, rooted in Christ, can look forward to a long life, and even an eternity, of joy, and the good life, with God. But the life of the wicked is very temporary, and leaves nothing of lasting value. Just a down in the dumps life, always seeking happiness, and never finding it. The end of this kind of life is an eternity of worthless nothingness. Hell isn’t terrible just because it’s hot. Hell is terrible, because God gives you what you want. An eternity without Him. That eternity is just as empty and painful as the life you hated on earth. Being without God is against creation, and how God made everything good. You are created to worship, and be in God’s presence. Without that, you can never be happy and fulfilled, nor can you do anything of lasting value, not in life, or in death.

Let us dig into the passage together. Psalm 1:4-6 says,

“But not the wicked! They are like worthless chaff, scattered by the wind. They will be condemned at the time of judgment. Sinners will have no place among the godly. For the Lord watches over the path of the godly, but the path of the wicked leads to destruction.”(‭NLT‬‬)

To understand this passage, we must define what it means to be the wicked person. The wicked person doesn’t just mean sinner in the general sense. Every person born, has been born a sinner, and that sin nature is why all are called sinners. The sin nature is what makes you desire wrong, bad things, instead of good, right things. All are born sinners, but not all stay that way, nor do they express the inner desires though external action. The wicked in this passage are the people, who choose to live a life of self focus, and self gratifying through sin. They are people who do what they want and what they feel, instead of being born again, and living with God, and by His standards. The wicked, time after time choose selfish choices(aka sin), and eventually that is what defines them. If you are wicked, you have chosen a lifetime of compounded choices to sin. The good news is you don’t have to stay that way. There is grace in Jesus. He died and rose again, so that you can be saved, healed, and delivered from your wickedness. You can move categories, from wicked to righteous. From cursed, to blessed. The key is Jesus, and trusting Him, and His work for your salvation.

The blessed person prospers in all they do( verse 3), but the wicked prospers in nothing in the ultimate sense. Even short term success doesn’t last for the wicked. They end up alone and forgotten. Money doesn’t last. Wealth doesn’t matter in eternity. Being popular fades. Few are remembered more than a generation after their death. But the godly last forever. The Christian has an eternity to be in truly loving fellowship with other people and God. An eternity in community to remember the good that was done in life, and glorify God for His grace and empowerment to do it. Hell on the other hand, is a group of people, together, but alone. People who get to be eternally as selfish as they want to be, which means no one else cares about you in hell, and you rejected the loving God who wanted to be with you from everlasting to everlasting. God doesn’t send people to hell as much as people choose hell because they don’t want God.

The Lord watches over the path of the Godly. That means that He is involved. He is active. God’s hand is working in your life. God watches, guides, and protects. God loves the godly, and is near to the godly. Why is God near to the godly but not the wicked? Does God love one more than the other? No, the godly have come to Christ, and been made righteous by the blood of Christ. Jesus made the way to be close to God, because He removed all sin, and all barriers between man and God. If you draw near to God, He draws near to you. If you seek God, you find Him, because God wants to have union and communion with you. The godly desires God and His presence, so God gives it. God gives people what they want. If they want God, He is near. If they don’t want God, he is distant. God doesn’t force His way into your heart and life.

The path of the wicked leads to destruction. This path leads to destruction because the wages of sin is death( Romans 3:23). Sin kills and destroys. Sin doesn’t just send you to hell. Sin brings hell to your life. The path of the wicked brings destruction, because a lifestyle of sin always produces the experience of hell. If your life is like a literal hell on earth, perhaps you should change your path. Move from sin to God. Repent and give your life to God. Abandon sin, so that you can abandon death and destruction in life. The path of the wicked leads to destruction because it leads to hell. Sin hardens the heart, and reproduces in your life. What used to bother you, no longer does. Your conscience is numb. You destroy all the relationships in your life, whether friends, family, or significant others. And eventually you reject, and keep on rejecting, your Creator. You harden yourself to God, and don’t want Him either. That leads to hell. God made you for heaven. Heaven is only heaven because God is there and His will is done. If you don’t want God, there is nothing left, but hell. So if you are on the wrong path, get on the right one by receiving Christ and what He has done for you. Here are some scriptures to leave you with.

“Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
‭‭John‬ ‭3:3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
‭‭John‬ ‭3:16‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Jesus said,

“Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures. The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”
‭‭John‬ ‭10:9-10‬ ‭NLT‬‬

If you don’t know Jesus, I want to give you the opportunity to trust Him for your salvation and receive His finished work by faith. If you want to make Jesus the Lord of your life, simply pray this in your heart, as a way to put your faith in Him. Say, “ Jesus, I make you the Lord of my life. I know I’m a sinner, but I believe. I believe that You are the Son of God. I believe You died on the cross for my sins, and I believe that You rose on the third day for my justification. I ask you to save me now. I receive you by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen”

Fear is everywhere. People are terrified right now. There is fear of disease. Fear of death. Fear of shortage. Fear of lack. Some people are scared, and they aren’t sure why, exactly. Fear is the spirit of our time.

But God calls us to more. All this fear is not God’s will. He calls us to live in peace, hope, and faith. How is that possible? So much in the worlds seems to be going wrong. How can you ever be fearless. The answer is simple. The answer is God.
Get to know God. Learn that He is good and has good things for you. All this sin and destruction is temporary. But God and His people are eternal. Jesus died for you. He rose again so that you might be made new. Get to know Him in this time of fear. What do you have to lose? Fear, worry, anxiety, and depression is what you’ll lose. But you will gain faith, confidence, security, joy, and strength in your Creator. This is what God says,

“Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭41:10‬ ‭NLT‬‬

God says don’t be afraid. He is with you. He is your God. If you don’t know Him, get to know Him. Give Him your life. Believe the Good News of Jesus and be born again. It is very simple.

“If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭10:9-10‬ ‭

Believe Jesus in your heart and confess Him with your mouth. That’s pretty easy. It’s easy because Jesus did all the work, and you just receive by faith. Salvation is a gift. It would be wise to take it. That is what makes God, your God.

God will hold you up with His victorious hand. He has already won the victory. God is above all, and He rules over all creation. I’ve read the Bible. I know how all this ends, Spoiler alert! God WINS! And because God wins, you win. You are His, rest in Him. God has overcome, and with Him, you can overcome. So live fearless. Here are some parting words of Jesus.

God promises to strengthen you and help you. He is everything you need. He is your healer. He is your provider. God is your source. God is your helper. And friend, He is more than willing to be close and help you. God loves you. Believe that love and be fearless. Perfect love casts out all fear. You are perfectly loved, by a perfect, good God. Rest in Him. Rest in His love.

“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
‭‭John‬ ‭16:33‬ ‭

If you don’t know Jesus, I want to give you the opportunity to trust Him for your salvation and receive His finished work by faith. If you want to make Jesus the Lord of your life, simply pray this in your heart, as a way to put your faith in Him. Say, “ Jesus, I make you the Lord of my life. I know I’m a sinner, but I believe. I believe that You are the Son of God. I believe You died on the cross for my sins, and I believe that You rose on the third day for my justification. I ask you to save me now. I receive you by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen”

In this writing, we will continue in our exploration of the Psalms. We are going to see how to be fruitful in life, and how to prosper. This Psalm teaches us how to be blessed by God, and how to live in the blessing. The scripture promises strength and resilience. There is a definite key to the good life here. To grasp the context of verse 3, we must visit verse 2. Let’s see the key to the great promises contained in this Psalm. Verse 2 says,

“But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.”(NASB‬‬)

The key that unlocks the door to God’s promises for the blessed life is delight in God. When you delight in God, you delight in His Word. To meditate on God’s Word, it must be a part of you. You must put God’s thoughts deep on the inside of you. When you are delighting in God, you are dwelling on Him. This teaches you who God is, and what He is like. This teaches you how to live, and how to live righteously. Others might believe it’s impossible to meditate on God day and night. That’s not true. Your mind is always on, always working. You are always meditating on something. Fear is meditating on the negative. Worry is meditating on your problems, whether real or imagined. Day dreaming is meditating on what could be, or might have been. You are always thinking about something, so learn to think about God, and His goodness. Train your mind to meditate on God, and Psalm 1:3 will be your reality. Flip the switch in your mind from negative to positive, from ungodly to Godly, from doom to hope.

Psalm 1:3 says,

“He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.”( ‭NASB‬‬)

When your focus is God, you are abundantly supplied in every way, just like the tree planted by streams. In the same way that the tree has more water than it could ever need, you have more of everything God has than you could ever need. Thinking about God brings connection to him. Dwelling on His Word builds faith. As your connection to God grows, you grow. God is the source of everything you need. He is the fountain of life. As you look at Him and His truth always, you begin to see the world through the lens of the Good News.

Jesus died to forgive you. He rose for your justification. He lives to intercede for you. He rules and reigns over the universe. He removed all hindrances between you and God the Father. There is nothing to block the flow of God’s living water to you, but you, choosing to not receive it. Jesus has blessed you with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Everything you need is found in Him. Focus on Him and be like a tree planted by streams of water.

As you do this you start to bear good fruit. The more you behold Jesus(The Word made flesh), the more you are transformed into His image from glory to glory(2 Corinthians 3:18). This makes you fruitful. Delighting in Him, and meditating in His goodness, keeps the connection flowing. Without that you can do nothing(John 15), but with the life giving sustenance of Jesus, you are a tree of life. The fruit of the Spirit starts to become who you are. People start coming to Jesus, just because you are in their vicinity. You start to change things.

This key of biblical meditation gives you endurance and staying power. Your leaf doesn’t wither. Jesus baptizes and fills you with the Holy Spirit. The power of God starts to overwhelm you. God’s Word teaches you what is yours in Christ. Mediation helps faith to grow, until you live in the manifestation of God’s promises. Through this you learn that healing is yours. Wholeness is yours. Power is yours. You are a child of God, not a slave. The joy of the Lord is your strength. You can live well, in body and soul. You don’t have to give up, because God is working in you.

Brothers and sisters, when you bring all this together, everything you do will prosper. Jesus brings prosperity in ever area of your life. Just focus on Him. Listen to Him. Do what He says, and you will succeed.

There is more depth that can be gone into in this verse. If you want a part two on this verse, let me know, and I will make it happen. Thank you for reading, and may God bless you.

God is good. A good God does good things. God loves you, and His desire is to reveal His goodness to you. Most people don’t really believe that God is good. Much less that God would do good things. God is better than you think.
If something bad happens, people call it an act of God. Hurricane? Act of God. Cancer? Act of God. Poverty? Act of God. Somebody dies? God took them. Do you see a theme? All the bad things that happen get swept under the mysterious rug of God’s will. But what about when something good happens? Many Christians will give the devil the credit. When somebody gets healed, you might hear, “be careful, it might be the devil trying to deceive you.” Or if someone gets blessed financially, “be careful, Satan loves to tempt people, money is the root of all evil( which isn’t in the Bible by the way).” So many people give Satan the credit for good things, and blame God for all the bad things. It ought not to be so.

God is good, not bad. God does good things, not bad things. Seems pretty simple right? Did you know that because God does loves you, He does good in your life. Believe for that. Believe in God’s goodness. The Psalmist said it like this,

“I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭27:13‬ ‭NASB‬‬

God is not just good off in the distance. God won’t be good later, but for now you are on your own. God doesn’t change, when you get to heaven. Maybe you should start praying and believing for some heaven on earth(Consider the Lord’s Prayer). The Eternal God is eternally good. He is good right now, and because of that, He is good to you. Blessing comes from God, not curses. Don’t wait to trust God. Trust Him Now. Believe to see the goodness now, in the land of the living. Don’t despair, but believe. Do you need healing? Receive it by faith. Are you broke? Know that God promises to supply all your needs according to His riches in glory. Are you depressed? The joy of the Lord is your strength. Don’t believe the enemy’s lie, that life will never get any better. Expect to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Jesus lived, died, and rose again, to make you a child of God. If you have received Jesus and His works by faith, you are God’s son or daughter. And let me tell you some great news. God is a good dad. He richly blesses. He is not a strict or mean guy. He is a joyful, generous Father. He is not frugal. He is not stingy with good gifts. God has given you the greatest gift in Jesus. If God spared not His own Son, will He not also with Him freely give you all things? God loves His children, and He does good things for them, because He is a good daddy.
Stop expecting God to be bad. Start expecting God to be good to you. Let this scripture be your reality,

“O taste and see that the LORD is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭34:8‬ ‭NASB‬‬

The goodness of God is not an abstract idea, but a present reality. Taste and see means for you to experience God in His goodness. You taste delicious food. You see beautiful things. Taste and see that God is good. Expect good things in you life. Expect to say, “O goodness,” every day. Walk in God’s goodness everyday. Expect it. It’s gonna get better, because God is a good God, and a good God, does good things.

If you don’t know Jesus, I want to give you the opportunity to trust Him for your salvation and receive His finished work by faith. If you want to make Jesus the Lord of your life, simply pray this in your heart, as a way to put your faith in Him. Say, “ Jesus, I make you the Lord of my life. I know I’m a sinner, but I believe. I believe that You are the Son of God. I believe You died on the cross for my sins, and I believe that You rose on the third day for my justification. I ask you to save me now. I receive you by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen”

The Psalms are one of my favorite parts of scripture. It has been a habit of mine to read through all of them several times a year. I believe the Psalms to be rich scriptures, that build up the soul. The Psalms teach you how to pray, how to worship, and how to believe God. This is the first of a recurring series, where I will be exploring the Psalms with you. We will go in order through the Psalms, and pull out the treasures within. The Psalms start with the promise of blessing. The person who lives according to the truth found in Psalm 1 will be blessed and prosperous.
What does it mean to be blessed? To be blessed in the most simple form, is to be happy and joyful. Blessing is being filled with the pleasure of God in your heart. To be blessed is to have God’s tangible presence in your life, for His hand to be on you, and to be in His will. To be blessed by God also means that God empowers you to succeed in every area of your life. To be blessed means that you will have a fruitful harvest on every type of seed you sow. Blessing can be explained through prosperity. When you have God’s blessing, He makes you prosperous internally in your inner man, and that soul prosperity flows outward into every part of life. God’s blessing is visible on the outside, because it is overflowing from the inside. Psalm 1 starts like this,

“How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭1:1‬ ‭NASB‬‬

The person who wants to walk in God’s blessing must be very careful about the company they keep. Remember this, Jesus was a friend of sinners, but He had a close inner circle. Be good and kind to everyone, but be careful about who gets into your inner circle. You become like the people you spend the most time with. So be close with godly people.
Don’t walk in the counsel of the wicked. That means be careful with the advice you listen to. Don’t take advice from ungodly sources and expect godly results. God results require godly advice. To walk in blessing, it’s wise to diligently guard the voices you heed in your life. Listen to the people who are like what you want to become. Don’t believe everything you hear, but learn to trust the voice of the Holy Spirit.
You are blessed when you avoid evil in every way possible. That is why the scripture says not to stand in the path of sinners. Maybe you have no intention of living a destructive lifestyle. But if your closest associates are destroying their life, they will almost certainly bring you down with them. A fire spreads quickly in the right environment. So does foolishness and the destruction it brings. If you are on the path of sinners, it won’t be long until you are headed in the same direction. A sinking ship drowns everyone on it, so be careful about whose boat you are on. Jesus died and rose again to set you free from sin, not for you to wallow in it. You are the light of the world. You can’t be a good light if you are constantly walking in darkness. Consider that no one becomes a Christian because of the friend that is just like them, but because of the Christian, who by God’s Grace demonstrates love, holiness, and power. Based on this passage you can be blessed or cursed by the people closest to you, so be wise about who you fellowship with. Guard who you give your heart to.

To be blessed, don’t sit in the seat of scoffers. Notice the progression in the passage. You start off walking according to terrible advice. Before long you are standing still with sinners. You are complacent and coasting, slowly fading from being like Christ, and gradually looking like the lost. Then when you least expect it, you are sitting down. You are in the seat of the scoffer. This negative progression ends up with you doing nothing of value or worth and only living to make fun of, and scoff at those who are walking with God on the blessed path. If you find yourself mocking people who are serving God, it’s a guarantee you aren’t. Brothers and sisters, walk on the blessed path. Go with God, and do His works. Verse 2 shows us where to start.

“But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭1:2‬ ‭

Verse 1 showed us what not to do. Verse 2 shows the core of how to be blessed. The key to being blessed is to delight in God’s word, and to meditate in it all the time. Don’t get distracted by the word law. The Bible isn’t saying to focus on everything you have to do right to please God. That would be impossible for you to do. Jesus is your perfection. He kept the law for you so that by faith you can be pleasing to God. When you understand the Gospel, you know that the Son of God became a man. Jesus lived a perfect sinless life for you. He kept all of God’s law perfectly and with failure. He died on the cross as the perfect sacrifice to pay for your sins. And He rose from the dead for your justification. So the law of the Lord in your heart is not about your law keeping, but about your focus on the Lawgiver. As you delight in God’s total revelation, you delight in Him. As you delight in God and see who He is, and what He is like, you become like Him. You are blessed, because you become more like God. He is your friend, and in fellowship with Him, you are transformed. The greatest gift you can receive is the gift of God Himself. Walking with God is the key to blessing and prosperity, because you are delighting in Him, and being filled up on the inside with everything you need. Beloved reader delight in God’s word and be blessed.

Are you carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders? Are you exhausted from serving God? Do you feel tired of the pressure? Are you being crushed by stress? It’s not supposed to be this way. Let me repeat myself, it is not supposed to be this way. God does not want you to feel the burden of all your problems. He especially doesn’t want you to carry the weight of everyone else’s. God wants you to be happy . He wants you to be free from worry and anxiety. Perhaps you are so tired, because you are doing something different than what God called you to do. When you feel overwhelmed, maybe it’s because you are doing what God hasn’t told you to do. Pride can be a dangerous thing. The biggest problem with pride is that you don’t realize you have it. Pride destroys you while you are focused on everything else. If you think it’s your responsibility to worry over everything, it’s not. It’s God’s job to run the universe, not yours. Only God can carry the weight of the world, and solve everyone’s problems. I would suggest listening to the advice of Peter in the following scripture.

“GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”
‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭5:5b-7‬ ‭NASB‬‬

If you are feeling dry and run down, maybe it’s because you are trying to do it all yourself. Humble yourself under God’s hand, and hand Him your struggles. Anxiety is not God’s will for you. Faith is God’s will for you. God wants you to trust Him with everything, not to bear the burdens yourself. So if you want relief, give it to God and stop grabbing it back.

When you are feeling burned out in your working for God, stop it. God doesn’t want you to work for Him. God wants you to work with Him. If you think serving God is hard, you are wrong. Serving God is easy, if you are doing it with Jesus. Jesus said this,

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭11:28-30‬ ‭NASB‬‬

Jesus yoke is easy and His burden is light. Jesus does not want you to be weary in His service. He wants you to be at rest in Him. The reason you are so exhausted and burned out working for God, is because you are doing it without God. God doesn’t need you to do it for Him. God wants you to do it with Him, in fellowship, and in love. When Jesus says to take His yoke upon you, that implies partnership. He isn’t looking for slaves, He is looking for partners. A yoke is put on two oxen, not one. If you are yoked to Jesus, it’s easy. He does all the work, because He is way stronger than you. You just get to go along for the ride. Your work with God is a gift, by His grace. If what you are doing for God is a burden, you are cutting yourself off from the source. Don’t stay in your own performance and self effort, rest in Jesus. He loves you and gives good gifts, not curses. Believe that today. Dwell in His presence and be restored and refreshed. And as my pastor Michael Gragg likes to say,” If it’s not good, it’s not God, and if it’s not good, God’s not done.” Work with Jesus, not for Him. Let Him love you in the process.

If you don’t know Jesus, I want to give you the opportunity to trust Him for your salvation and receive His finished work by faith. If you want to make Jesus the Lord of your life, simply pray this in your heart, as a way to put your faith in Him. Say, “ Jesus, I make you the Lord of my life. I know I’m a sinner, but I believe. I believe that You are the Son of God. I believe You died on the cross for my sins, and I believe that You rose on the third day for my justification. I ask you to save me now. I receive you by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen”

What has God promised you? Have you been waiting for a while? It’s hard when you know that you have heard from God, and yet you still don’t have the answer. It’s not easy, in the middle, when you have latched on to a promise in the Word of God, and you don’t see it in your life. Maybe you start to doubt. Maybe you start to doubt yourself. You feel like you are doing something wrong, or maybe you just aren’t worthy enough to receive. Or you doubt God. Maybe you think God doesn’t care about you. Or God doesn’t really love you. Or even worse, maybe you entertain the idea that God isn’t real, even though you have experienced God in the past. Perhaps you start to doubt that the promises in God’s Word are really His will for you.
Let me tell you this, and listen closely, God’s will is to bless you. God loves you and cares about you deeply. If God has promised it, He will do it. The answer is yes in Christ.

“For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silvanus and Timothy—was not yes and no, but is yes in Him. For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us. Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.”
‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭1:19-22‬ ‭NASB‬‬

In Christ all the promises of God are yes and amen. Jesus is your yes with God, because He has done all the work. If you are born again and redeemed by Christ, all His good works are credited to you. All the good that you don’t deserve is given to you, on Christ’s account. Only Jesus deserves everything good. But if you are in Christ, that goodness, that deserving, is given to you. God blesses you with everything that Christ earned. So that promise you are believing for, is already yours in Christ. God is not deciding if He will grant you the good thing He has promised, He is working in your life now to bring it to pass. Your part is to receive by faith, and trust Him. The author of Hebrews has something to say on this topic.

“And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, “I WILL SURELY BLESS YOU AND I WILL SURELY MULTIPLY YOU.” And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise.”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭6:11-15‬ ‭NASB‬‬

Abraham waited many years on a son. He waited a long time. He had faith, He believed God. And because of that faith, He had patience. That is the key for you; faith and patience. Believe what God has promised, and rest in that. God has never let anyone down. And He will never let you down. Trust God. Have patience in the waiting. Patience is just as important as faith in regards to receiving. Patience in the waiting also allows you to have contentment and joy while you wait. God’s will is not for you to be down and out because you are not holding the fulfillment to His promise. God’s will is for you to have peace, love, and joy the whole time, even when that doesn’t make sense. Never give up your faith. Be patient in the waiting, because God can’t lie.

God is a suddenly God, and the God of the process. God works both ways. Most of the time if you experience a suddenly in your life, it is in fact the culmination of a long process. God loves process. Learn to embrace process with faith and patience. Just when you think it’s all over, and God’s not working, you step into the suddenly, and see that God was working the whole time in the process. God loves process because God loves you. Life is not just about you getting something from God, even though that matters. Life is about God molding you into who He has created you to be, in the process. All the manifestations of God’s blessings are just a bonus. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, have faith and patience in the waiting. God loves you, and when you reach your suddenly answer, you will see that.

Have you ever felt ashamed? Were you so guilty that you just couldn’t face anyone?The thought creeps into your mind that no one could love you, if they knew how messed up you are deep down inside. You believe that you are trash, worth nothing more than throwing away. Then you think about God. You feel like you are so unworthy that God could never care about you. The weight of your past is holding you down. There is good news to help with all of that.

God knows everything you have ever done wrong, or ever will do wrong. He knows all your quirks, and failings. He sees you how you really are. But God doesn’t run away. He doesn’t even look away. He looks deep into your eyes, gazing into your broken soul, and He feels love. God’s attitude towards you is the opposite of anything you have ever expected. He sees all your sin and brokenness, and it drives Him into a ferocious act of love. God loves you so much that He sent Jesus, His only begotten Son, fully God and Fully man, to die for you.

“For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭5:6-8‬ ‭NASB‬‬
At your worst God loves you the most. Jesus died and rose again for you. He payed for all your sin, and failure. He took it as far away as the east is from the west. Jesus removed all the negative things that you feel guilty over. All the past mistakes that you are ashamed of, God Himself remembers no more. Not only did Jesus remove all your bad, He gives you all His good.

Jesus never sinned. Jesus never made a mistake. Jesus never even had a bad thought. He always did the right thing. He perfectly kept God’s law, so that He is perfect before the Father. When you stop believing your own bad news, and start believing God’s good news, you receive this righteousness. When you change your mindset( repentance) and trust in Jesus, and what He has done for you(faith), you are credited with all the righteousness of Jesus. By faith you trade your sin and baggage, for the perfection of Jesus. This is called being justified. If you try to justify yourself, that is a dead work. You don’t have the power or tools to be right with God by your efforts, but by faith, God makes you His perfect, holy, child.

“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭5:1-2‬ ‭NASB‬‬

This is what justification means; that God Himself declares you ,not only not guilty, but perfectly righteous. If the Creator of the universe, who upholds all things by the Word of His power, and in Whom all things consist, calls you righteous, you most definitely are. Don’t trust your feelings. Trust God’s declaration. Jesus did all the work. Just rest in it by faith.
You are no failure. You are not trash. You are loved. You are special. You are God’s masterpiece. You are justified.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭2:8-10‬ ‭NASB‬‬
Live like you believe all this. Live like you know the truth that sets you free. Live justified.

If you don’t know Jesus, I want to give you the opportunity to trust Him for your salvation and receive His finished work by faith. If you want to make Jesus the Lord of your life, simply pray this in your heart, as a way to put your faith in Him. Say, “ Jesus, I make you the Lord of my life. I know I’m a sinner, but I believe. I believe that You are the Son of God. I believe You died on the cross for my sins, and I believe that You rose on the third day for my justification. I ask you to save me now. I receive you by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen”

I don’t know what you are going through, but God does. God’s will for you is victory. God’s desire for you is to overcome. Jesus is the way. He has conquered, and He leads us into victory. Victory in Christ is not temporary, but lasts forever.
Jesus has earned you freedom from sin and death.

“And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.”
‭‭Colossians‬ ‭2:13-15‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Christ triumphed over all. He perfectly kept the law for you, so that you can be righteous. He earned you perfection before God, so that you can be totally justified by faith. Condemnation and guilt has no place for the one who is born again, because Christ conquered. Christ publicly beat sin, death, and the devil, through His life, death on the cross, and resurrection. Satan’s head is crushed. If you have a relationship with Christ, you have eternal victory.

“But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.”
‭‭I Corinthians‬ ‭2:9-10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

For the believer in Jesus, there is unimaginably good things ahead. There is victory, upon victory for you. Just trust in Him, and look forward to what God has in store.

“Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8:37‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Whatever you are going through right now is temporary. You struggles won’t last forever. The trial you are in is not eternal. You are eternal. Through Jesus you have been given life and victory. This verse in Romans does not mean a small victory. You don’t barely win. You conquer in an overwhelming fashion. Jesus is your source, therefore your victory is assured. Rest in Him, and be refreshed.

If you don’t know Jesus, I want to give you the opportunity to trust Him for your salvation and receive His finished work by faith. If you want to make Jesus the Lord of your life, simply pray this in your heart, as a way to put your faith in Him. Say, “ Jesus, I make you the Lord of my life. I know I’m a sinner, but I believe. I believe that You are the Son of God. I believe You died on the cross for my sins, and I believe that You rose on the third day for my justification. I ask you to save me now. I receive you by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen”

With the start of a new year comes new opportunity. You have a chance to do what you have never done before. You can be the person you want to be, and take the steps you need to take. What is God calling you to? What is the dream He has placed on your heart?

As we step into this new year, let us set our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith( Hebrews 12:1-2). Let’s gaze upon His glory and be transformed into the same image(2 Corinthians 3:18). Start this year off right by being in fellowship with Him. The dreams you have, and the satisfaction you desire is only found in intimacy with God.

“You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭16:11‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

This is the perfect time to let the pain, struggle, and failure of last year die. Leave the past in the past, and focus on this present moment with Jesus. Move forward with Him, and press in to the good will He has for you.

“Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
‭‭Philippians‬ ‭3:13-14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

God has a good plan for you, and as you journey with Him this year, you will find more. More of Him. More of His blessings. More healing. More grace. All God requires from you is faith, and He will even supply that.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭2:8-9‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Live this year free. Live in faith. Live in fellowship with the Holy Spirit, and everything else will work out. This can be your year, if you keep first things first. So seek the kingdom first, and watch God work.

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6:33‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

If you have read this far, and you realize you don’t know Jesus, don’t go any longer on your own. Jesus is God. He became a man for you. He lived a perfect life, so He could give you perfect right standing with God. He died a criminal’s death on the cross to pay for all your sins, and He rose from the dead for your justification. When you repent and believe Him, He saves you. He takes away your sin, and makes you righteous. You become a child of God, and He’ll is no longer a possibility. When you come to Christ, you will be in the presence of God forever. Don’t wait. Come to Him and be saved.

If you don’t know Jesus, I want to give you the opportunity to trust Him for your salvation and receive His finished work by faith. If you want to make Jesus the Lord of your life, simply pray this in your heart, as a way to put your faith in Him. Say, “ Jesus, I make you the Lord of my life. I know I’m a sinner, but I believe. I believe that You are the Son of God. I believe You died on the cross for my sins, and I believe that You rose on the third day for my justification. I ask you to save me now. I receive you by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen”

A nobody. Maybe that’s how you feel, like you are a nobody. Perhaps you feel unloved, and worthless, like you don’t matter, and no one cares about you. Are you at the bottom of life? Is it like you are invisible, and no one notices you? In this advent season, let me share a story with you that is very encouraging. This story demonstrates that God is the God for the nobody.
At just the right time in history, when God’s voice had not been heard in centuries, God manifested in the world. The Savior Jesus is born. The hope of all time, the coming King who would establish a never-ending kingdom had come. The hope of all the prophets appeared, as the Word of God made flesh.

“For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭9:6-7‬ ‭NKJV‬‬
The King of kings and Lord of lords entered history, and do you know who God told first? Did God send angels to tell Cesar? Or the religious leader? Or the wealthy? Or those with position in life? No. The angels announced Jesus to shepherds.

“Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: ‘Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!’”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭2:8-14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

The multitude of angels was sent to shepherds. Now don’t picture nicely dressed, regal sort of folks. Imagine the roughneck type of crowd. Maybe they have beards that are a little too long, and a few too many tattoos. These are not the soft and cushy type of men, these are the types you might find in the bar on a Friday night, that will get into a scrap or two. Hardly model citizens by society’s standards. And definitely not the ones who live in a synagogue. Being a shepherd was dirty, tough, frowned upon work, that required dirty, tough, frowned upon people. Nobodies. Ignored and generally looked down on members of society. These are the last people the world would have picked to tell. The establishment would not have told them at all, and surely the would not care. Right?

No, God saw it differently. God is the God for the nobody. These nobodies were somebody special to Him. The Shepherds were the first outside people to see Jesus, and worship Him. Are you a nobody? It’s possible, but not to God. The lower you are to the world, the closer to receiving Grace you might be.

“But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.””
‭‭James‬ ‭4:6‬ ‭NKJV‬‬
Jesus is both Lord and Christ. Humble yourself, and set Him apart in your heart, as Lord. If you are at the bottom, He came for you. Through His perfect life, horrific death, and glorious resurrection, He offers redemption, forgiveness, and transformation, to all who will come to Him in repentance and faith. Will you come to Him. Let Him change you from nobody, to a child of God.

If you don’t know Jesus, I want to give you the opportunity to trust Him for your salvation and receive His finished work by faith. If you want to make Jesus the Lord of your life, simply pray this in your heart, as a way to put your faith in Him. Say, “ Jesus, I make you the Lord of my life. I know I’m a sinner, but I believe. I believe that You are the Son of God. I believe You died on the cross for my sins, and I believe that You rose on the third day for my justification. I ask you to save me now. I receive you by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen”

Jesus is the reason for every season. He is both Lord and Christ. Jesus is the king over all creation, and He is worthy of all praise.  Even though He is to be celebrated all year long, Advent is the season where we celebrate Him in a very special way. In Jesus, God became a man. The God of everything knew us, and He also knew this truth, 

“As a father pities his children, So the LORD pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, And its place remembers it no more. But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting On those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children’s children,”‭‭Psalms‬ ‭103:13-14, 16-17‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

God knew that we could never be good enough, or do good enough to merit Him, or spend eternity with Him. So God did what we could not, as sinful, broken people. God Himself became a man, and that God-man is named Jesus. God identified with you as much as possible, by humbling Himself, and taking on humanity. He entered creation to redeem His beloved creation; You. Jesus perfectly kept the law in your place. He was perfectly righteous. And being perfect, the only one who deserved heaven, He went to the cross for you. He paid for all your sins; past, present, and future. And after paying for all your sins, and experiencing the death you deserve on the cross, He rose again for your justification. This is the Gospel. The Gospel is the Rock. This is the Rock of Jesus Christ; The Rock the church is built upon, and the Rock we build our lives on. Stand firm on the Rock this Advent season, and nothing from hell or earth can prevail against you.

“He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭16:15-18‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭4:14-16‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

If you don’t know Jesus, I want to give you the opportunity to trust Him for your salvation and receive His finished work by faith. If you want to make Jesus the Lord of your life, simply pray this in your heart, as a way to put your faith in Him. Say, “ Jesus, I make you the Lord of my life. I know I’m a sinner, but I believe. I believe that You are the Son of God. I believe You died on the cross for my sins, and I believe that You rose on the third day for my justification. I ask you to save me now. I receive you by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen”

I have witnessed many wonderful things in my Christian life. I have been saved, rescued, and redeemed. I have experienced transformation in my own life. I have seen supernatural protection of family, friends, and even myself. I have seen people get saved. Many people. I have been graced to visit several different places, all around the globe. Every place has reminded me that God is everywhere, and loves people everywhere, and the whole earth shouts His glory. I have seen miracles so amazing and numerous, that I am blown away by God’s goodness and mercy. Miracles so powerful, and awesome, that if I had not witnessed them, I probably wouldn’t believe them. I have felt the peace that surpasses all understanding, during times of extreme trial, when everything seemed to be falling apart, and destruction loomed certain.

Do you know what the best part of my relationship with God is, and has been? Do you know what I enjoy most?
I enjoy most, those sweet moments, when the world seems quiet, and the distractions of life, fade into the distance, and it’s just my Heavenly Father and me. The lover of my soul and the object of His love. His presence is so sweet that every empty part of me is filled, and the broken parts don’t feel broken anymore. In this moment, there is nothing but God, and His glorious presence. The greatest reality of all comes into focus: that nothing but God, is everything I need, and ever will need. He is the answer to all my prayers, and the actualization of all my hopes and dreams. God is love, and He has set the fullness of His love, the fullness of Him, on me. The majestic flow of the river of His sweet presence is wonderful. Heaven itself could not be sweeter. God’s kingdom has come into my heart, and heaven invaded my soul. These are my favorite moments. This My inheritance, both now and forevermore.

“Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust. O my soul, you have said to the LORD, “You are my Lord, My goodness is nothing apart from You.” As for the saints who are on the earth, “They are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.” Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another god; Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer, Nor take up their names on my lips. O LORD, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Yes, I have a good inheritance. I will bless the LORD who has given me counsel; My heart also instructs me in the night seasons. I have set the LORD always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope. For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭16:1-11‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

If you don’t know Jesus, I want to give you the opportunity to trust Him for your salvation and receive His finished work by faith. If you want to make Jesus the Lord of your life, simply pray this in your heart, as a way to put your faith in Him. Say, “ Jesus, I make you the Lord of my life. I know I’m a sinner, but I believe. I believe that You are the Son of God. I believe You died on the cross for my sins, and I believe that You rose on the third day for my justification. I ask you to save me now. I receive you by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen”

God is the God of the unexpected. He doesn’t do what you think He would, but He does exceedingly abundantly more than you ask or think. And God does His mighty works in unexpected ways. In the season of advent, when we celebrate Jesus, we see in Him the unexpected. 

Before Christ came, everyone was looking for the Messiah. The Messiah was expected to be a lot of different things. A King. A Warrior. A conqueror. One who would destroy all the enemies of God’s people. When Jesus came, He was the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords. But He didn’t set up just an earthly kingdom. His kingdom is beyond this world. Throughout this world, redeeming everything it touches. His kingdom is in your heart, if you will worship Him. The Jews looked for a national king, but Jesus is the ruler of the universe. The Jews looked for a great man to be close to God. But in Jesus, God came down to be close to man. Israel wanted Him to conquer nations, but He conquered sin. They were looking for a messiah to fix all their problems in the natural. But Jesus came to fix you. To make you whole, and complete. Jesus came to make you new. 

People expect God to deal with them based on performance.A performance mindset works like this; if you do good, you will get good, and if you do bad, you will get bad. Jesus came to do the unexpected. He came to make you righteous, and Holy before God. You don’t have to bring your good deeds to God to be right. Jesus made you right through His perfect life, suffering and death in your place, and His resurrection from the dead. People expected God to require from them perfect sacrifices, but God became the sacrifice you need. So rest, receive, and believe this advent season.

“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

‭‭II Corinthians‬ ‭5:21‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭5:1-2‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

If you don’t know Jesus, I want to give you the opportunity to trust Him for your salvation and receive His finished work by faith. If you want to make Jesus the Lord of your life, simply pray this in your heart, as a way to put your faith in Him. Say, “ Jesus, I make you the Lord of my life. I know I’m a sinner, but I believe. I believe that You are the Son of God. I believe You died on the cross for my sins, and I believe that You rose on the third day for my justification. I ask you to save me now. I receive you by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen”

What does God want from you? What is God’s will? Many people want to know what God’s will is for their life. They seek God for that elusive perfect career, or for the right mate. But what if knowing God’s will is more simple than that? What if, you knew something practical, that could always keep you in the will of God. The scripture I want to share with you today, shows exactly that. Read, and let the Holy Spirit show you the attitude that is pleasing to God.

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
‭‭I Thessalonians‬ ‭5:16-18‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

This is the mindset that pleases God; joy, relationship, and gratitude. God wants you to rejoice always. That means no matter what, all the time, you are to cultivate joy. God wants you to joy-again. Re-joy all the time. You want to be in the will of God, then have joy, and do it again. Joy always is what God wants for you. Joy comes from the presence of God in you. Joy is a choice. Make it.

Pray without ceasing, is not about religious exertion, but about relationship. God just wants you. He wants to talk to you, and for you to talk to Him. Pray without ceasing, means to acknowledge God all the time. Set your thoughts on Him, and be aware of His presence. Talk to Him. Let Him be your best friend, and your loving Daddy. He is always with you, so set your heart on Him, and communicate with Him. Just be, in His presence. He already knows what you are going to say, but He loves to hear you say it, and He loves to talk to you about it.

God wants you to give thanks, always. That means have an attitude of gratitude. God is on the throne. He is in control. Be thankful for all the grace in your life. Be grateful for all the good, because it is from His hands. Even when it’s hard, be thankful, and thank God. Because God is working everything for your good, and He loves you. God has written your story, and He is bringing it to pass in real time. So the adversity, the struggles, and the trials, are all for a purpose. So you can even thank God for the bad.

Be a doer of God’s will by living in joy all the time, staying in close relationship with Him, and always being thankful and grateful, in every circumstance.

If you don’t know Jesus, I want to give you the opportunity to trust Him for your salvation and receive His finished work by faith. If you want to make Jesus the Lord of your life simply prayer this in your heart, as a way to put your faith in Him. Say, “ Jesus, I make you the Lord of my life. I know I’m a sinner, but I believe. I believe that You are the Son of God. I believe You died on the cross for my sins, and I believe that You rose on the third day for my justification. I ask you to save me now. I receive you by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen”

Are you thirsty? Is your life missing something? Do you feel empty, or broken? Have you been seeking satisfaction and fulfillment in every way that you can? I have good news. You can be healed, and you can be whole. Your life matters, and whether you see it right now, or not, God has a good purpose for your life. Let’s discover the Thirsty Gospel.

Maybe your life feels dry. It may feel like you have been walking through a desert, with no water in sight. Your parched, and all you can think about is having your thirst quenched. You see no end in sight to the struggle you are facing, and every time you think you see a way out, it’s actually just a mirage. What you need is breakthrough. What you need, is God. Here is your word to grab hold of.

“Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭43:19‬ ‭ESV‬‬
God can meet you right where you are, and meet your deepest needs. Only God can fill you, and fulfill you. The dry parts of your life will be flooded by the goodness of God. God makes rivers in the desert. Not streams, or puddles, or a little trickle of water, but a river. When God moves, He brings water out of the spiritual Rock called Jesus(1 Corinthians 10:4), and Jesus gushes living water. The River of God overflows everything. There is no limits in what God supplies.

“”Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭55:1-2‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Only Jesus can satisfy you. He is the bread of life, and He is the source of living water. He comes into your heart, and gives you the joy of the Lord. You don’t have to live dried out. You don’t have to stay depressed, anxious, or empty. You are not powerless. There is a fountain of living water. His name is Jesus.

“On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'””
‭‭John‬ ‭7:37-38‬ ‭ESV‬‬
What a promise. If anyone thirsts, Christ will satisfy them. Maybe you believe you are too far gone. Too broken. Too messed up. No, Jesus said, “anyone”. That means you qualify. If you are a person, you can be filled. How? It’s simple, come to Christ and drink. Believe in Him. Get to know Him. Experience Him. Drink from that Spiritual Rock.
Here is the good news for the thirsty.

“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭15:1-4‬ ‭ESV‬‬

God became a man, and His name is Jesus. He lived a perfect life for you, and He died a horrific death for you. He did all the good that can be done, and by faith, credits it to you. That’s called righteousness. He took all your sins and paid the price. He died the death you deserve, so you don’t have to. He took your hell on Himself, so you don’t have to go there. He rose again so that you can rise again. He lives resurrected, so you can walk in newness of life. All you have to do is repent and believe. That means change your mind. Stop believing in you and start trusting in Him. When you do this, not only does He save you. But He fills you. He quenches the deepest thirst of your heart, and he satisfies the greatest longings of your soul. He puts His Spirit inside you, so that you are never alone.
Then when you are whole, He makes you a spring of living water for others. You become a catalyst for God’s kingdom. You become a refreshing beacon to a world that is thirsting to death. You become God’s person to change lives. God doesn’t want you to be thirsty, He wants you satisfied. Maybe you think Jesus isn’t for you. But let me tell you, He is the only way, and the only source of true fulfillment. How is your way working for you? Why don’t you try Jesus? Give Him your life, and never be thirsty again. Walk with Him, and live in His fullness. All God wants from you is relationship. You were created to be loved, lavished, and complete in God alone. The hole in you, that nothing fills, and the thirst that nothing can quench, is there because you are made in God’s image. The presence of God is all you need, and everything you need. If you are thirsty, come to Christ, and drink.

If you don’t know Jesus, I want to give you the opportunity to trust Him for your salvation and receive His finished work by faith. If you want to make Jesus the Lord of your life simply prayer this in your heart, as a way to put your faith in Him. Say, “ Jesus, I make you the Lord of my life. I know I’m a sinner, but I believe. I believe that You are the Son of God. I believe You died on the cross for my sins, and I believe that You rose on the third day for my justification. I ask you to save me now. I receive you by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen”

Faith, hope, and love, are three pillars of the Christian faith. When you understand faith, hope, and love, that understanding can guide you into personal victory, and deep joy. Many Christians use these words, but they don’t have deep understanding of what they actually mean, and how that applies to their journey. Let’s continue on and grow in this knowledge together.

“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
‭‭I Corinthians‬ ‭13:13‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Think for a moment about why love is the greatest. What is it about love, that makes it greater than faith and hope? Love is the greatest, because love is the foundation of our entire walk with God. Faith and hope do not exist, or operate without love. God is love, so whatever is from God, has to be love too. If it’s not love it’s not God.
Hope is the confident expectation of good. Hope believes for good in the future. Hope is a resolve, that no matter what the situation looks like right now, it will get better. God will keep His promises, and because of that you can be optimistic about the future. If you know God, you know the eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, creator and sustainer of the universe. He dwells outside of time, because He created it. He knows the end from the beginning, because He is the beginning and the end, the first and the last, the alpha, and the omega. I’ve read Revelation. God wins. We win. Christ has won the everlasting victory. If you are in Him, that makes you a victor. That causes hope. But without love, there is no hope. Let me explain. If you do not deeply believe the love of God, and the love God has for you, you can’t believe in good for the future. Not consistently anyway. When you believe that God is love, and that He loves you, you will never fear the future. Hope springs forth from the knowledge that you are loved by an infinitely powerful and involved God. If God is in control and He loves you, it’s going to be ok. No matter what, good is headed your way.

“The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.”
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭31:3‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

God’s love for you never stops. Because God is eternal, His love is eternal. Nothing can change that. Nothing can make God stop loving you. Your mistakes are gone. Your sins are paid for by Christ. He took your punishment on Himself. Therefore, you can hope. You can believe again. You can expect good in your future. Hope doesn’t disappoint.

“Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭5:5‬ ‭NKJV‬‬
God’s love is poured out in your heart. That causes you to hope. You rest assured in the Father’s hands; that He is bringing you to a good land, without scarceness and lack.

“And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.”
‭‭I John‬ ‭4:16‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Love is necessary for faith to work. And faith is necessary to receive and walk in the things of God. What is faith? Faith is trusting and believing what God has said. Faith is believing God’s truth above what we see and feel. Faith is how we take hold of spiritual things. Faith is how we receive all that God has given to us by grace. Faith is not just agreement with, but total trust in God. Faith manifests the spiritual into the natural.

“Now faith brings our hopes into reality and becomes the foundation needed to acquire the things we long for. It is all the evidence required to prove what is still unseen.”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭11:1‬ ‭TPT‬‬

You can’t receive from God, or act in faith, without love . Love is the key. God doesn’t heal you because of your goodness, but because He loves you. Jesus didn’t die for you because He thought of some great work you might perform, but because He loves you. God won’t speak to you because of some religious pride you have, but purely because He loves you.

“You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.”
‭‭Galatians‬ ‭5:4-6‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Every promise of God comes to pass in your life through faith. From salvation to healing, from deliverance to provision. It’s much easier to believe God when you know that He really is good, and that He really loves you with everything He has. Faith believes God for now, because God loves you.

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8:31-32‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

God loved you enough to die for you. Won’t He do anything, and everything, that He has promised? Believe God to do what you are believing for, now. Live in hope, because you have a good, loving God. And rest in His love for you. If you will do this, you will live in victory, and abide in joy. You will dwell in mountain-moving faith, and do mighty exploits for God. That is refreshing grace.

If you don’t know Jesus, I want to give you the opportunity to trust Him for your salvation and receive His finished work by faith. If you want to make Jesus the Lord of your life simply prayer this in your heart, as a way to put your faith in Him. Say, “ Jesus, I make you the Lord of my life. I know I’m a sinner, but I believe. I believe that You are the Son of God. I believe You died on the cross for my sins, and I believe that You rose on the third day for my justification. I ask you to save me now. I receive you by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen”

Love. It gets a hold of you. Love colors everything you do. Love changes everything. When you love someone, you will sacrifice anything, give anything, do anything, for them. When love comes, everything else fades into the background. Love can be consuming. Love permeates everything it touches. Solomon spoke about love when he wrote,

“Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as enduring as the grave. Love flashes like fire, the brightest kind of flame. Many waters cannot quench love, nor can rivers drown it. If a man tried to buy love with all his wealth, his offer would be utterly scorned.”
‭‭Song of Songs‬ ‭8:6-7‬ ‭NLT‬‬
Love is unquenchable. Love burns brighter and brighter, going to the deepest part of you. Love illuminates your soul. When you love, it is visible. It is tangible. It is able to be felt. Love changes the atmosphere around you. Others can see it, in your face, your attitude, and your mannerisms. Did you know that there is someone that is in love with you?

The One who loves you has many names. Yahweh, El Shaddai, Elohim, Jesus, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and many more. The most common is God. Think about what it feels like to be in love. Jesus feels infinitely more of that towards you. He loves you passionately and intensely. He always has and He always will. He thinks about you all the time. Hear me again. Think on this. GOD IS IN LOVE WITH YOU! You are loved. You are chosen. You are valued. You have dignity and worth. The value of anything is determined by the price that the buyer is willing to pay. God paid the highest possible price for you, so you have the highest possible value of any created thing.

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭5:8-9 NKJV
You had the highest price paid for you. Jesus Himself, God in the flesh, died for your sins, and rose again for your justification. God gave Himself for you. The source of all life and creation experienced suffering, pain, and death for you. Jesus bore all your sins, sickness, griefs, pain, death, and hell. He removed every barrier between you and God, so that you might have an unhindered, unstoppable relationship of passionate, overwhelming love.
When you let Him love you, and receive it for yourself, you can’t stay the same. There is a terrible myth in our culture, that love is tolerant. No, true love is transforming. True love never gives up on you. True love gets involved. Love gets its hands dirty and nurtures you to health. Love will never leave you alone, but He will always pour out affection on you, till you are whole, in spirit, soul, and body.

Look at what the scripture say about God.

“For our God is a consuming fire.”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭12:29‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
‭‭I John‬ ‭4:8‬ ‭NKJV‬‬
God is love, and God is a consuming fire. That makes God a consuming fire of love. If you will yield yourself to Him, His love will consume you. The fire of love will burn off all the bad, damaged, sick, broken parts of you. This hurricane of fire-love will consume your whole being until there is nothing left, but a holy, sanctified person, that looks like God, and carries the presence of God with them everywhere. Your Creator is an all-consuming fire of love, who makes all things new. This Fire does not only disintegrate the bad, but creates you as a new and living powerhouse called, “saint, holy, righteous, king, queen, elect, and new creation.”

As you spend time in the love-fire of God’s presence and experience a holy metamorphosis, you become a love-fire too. God makes His servants a flame, in His image.

“And of the angels He says: “Who makes His angels spirits And His ministers a flame of fire.””
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭1:7‬ ‭NKJV‬‬
*If you don’t like my interpretation of this verse, take it up with Hudson Taylor when you get to heaven.
God makes you a consuming love-fire too. God’s love in your heart makes you an agent of revival, healing, and renewal in the earth. Be that love for others. Be the love of God manifested to them. Become a consuming love-fire that burns away pain, sickness, depression, emptiness, and struggle; creating restoration, healing, redemption and purpose. You are loved. Let yourself be loved. Let that love catch you on fire. Set the world ablaze with all-consuming love.

If you don’t know Jesus, I want to give you the opportunity to trust Him for your salvation and receive His finished work by faith. If you want to make Jesus the Lord of your life simply prayer this in your heart, as a way to put your faith in Him. Say, “ Jesus, I make you the Lord of my life. I know I’m a sinner, but I believe. I believe that You are the Son of God. I believe You died on the cross for my sins, and I believe that You rose on the third day for my justification. I ask you to save me now. I receive you by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen”