Are you willing to give up your position, your name, everything that you have worked to be, and to be hated by the world for the name of Jesus Christ? With our hearts, we boldly say “yes” with certainty, but I urge you to continue to pray that our flesh can become as strong as our hearts. After giving our lives over to the Lord Jesus Christ, He is in control of our hearts; we say “God knows our hearts,” which yes He does, but if we do not pray and develop our flesh to walk in the light that God has shined on our hearts, how will God knowing our hearts benefit His will? God sees our hearts, but the world sees our flesh, so we must train our our flesh to perform the tasks and duties God commands our hearts to fulfill. How do we do this? We can’t! However, we can do all things through the Lord Jesus Christ whom strengthens us!

With the certainty that Jesus gives us, and the love that He has for us, those who truly believe and completely trust in Him have no limitations to sharing the gospel. Many people reject it, but some do accept Christ into their lives after hearing the love that Christ has for them. As Paul expresses he becomes all things to all men with the hope of winning a few for Christ Jesus. At times, we will be persecuted, ridiculed, even attempts to hurt us because we share the love of Christ to the world. Let us share the same assurance and confidence that Paul has in Christ and live without fear or limitations. It is a beautiful love story how Christ died for our sins while we were still sinning; we should be honored to live without limitations, even including death, for His name, His life, and for the fact that He still lives today!

Many people and/or some particular religions believe that they can balance their sins and their good works to make it heaven. They try to keep a scorecard or a tally system to see if they sin this much, and if they do this much amount of good works, hopefully God will over look their sins. However, what we fail to understand is we are dead to God when we sin. We are born sinners, so when we are born in the flesh, our spirits die in the eyes of God, until we repent and are born again. As Jesus said, we MUST be born again! Due to the fact that we are dead in our sins, we can do 99.9% of good in our lives and 0.1% of sin in our lives, and we will still be condemned to eternal damnation. You wonder, “I thought this God you speak of is merciful, graceful, loving, and caring.” My friends, HE IS! That’s why He sent His ONLY begotten SON to so that all who believe in Him can have everlasting life. What more can we ask for? Our sins will always outweigh any good that we do in our lives. Just the fact we are born sinners outweighs any good that we can ever do. If we look forward to judgment day to be judged for our works, and we haven’t asked Christ Jesus to cover our sins with His precious blood, in all honesty God will not even know of your good works. The same way we are blinded by sin, God is blinded by our sins and is unable to see our good works. That is why we cannot work for salvation or save ourselves. If we could, then we did not to be saved and God made a mistake by allowing His Only Son to die on a cross for our sins. Our sins will never disappear, but surely they will be covered with the blood of Christ, God’s sacrifice for us. God will always know we sinned, but He will not be able to see them because it is covered by the precious blood of His Son. For those who stop reading the Bible at the gospel of John, please keep reading as it clearly and explicitly describes why our good works mean nothing to God until we accept Christ. Amen.

In Luke 13:2-5 it states ² And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things?³ I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. ⁴ Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? ⁵ I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”

The earthquake in Haiti was not God’s judgment on Haiti or because they turned away from God. It was a wake up call to the entire world. There are some truly devoted Christians in Haiti whose sole purpose is to share God’s love with the people there. Some believers fell asleep and some non believers died. Some believers still live, and some non-believers still have their life, but aren’t really alive. To say it was God’s judgment or because they turned away from God would also be condemning the believers to feel the same wrath of God the non-believers face. That would mean the believers lost their salvation which is NOT AT ALL possible. Henceforth it was a very extremely small example by God showing that the end of the world can come at ANY time and believers will be lifted up to heaven and non-believers will perish.

To those who saw the priest say he doesn’t know where God was during the earthquake. I will tell you exactly where God was. He was right there with each and every believer who has a relationship with His son Jesus Christ. Right before His children left the world, He told them well done good and faithful servant, it’s time to go home. To those who rejected Christ, they judged themselves already. God is always here and always there, and is ALWAYS good and ALWAYS righteous. I know as well as all other believers know exactly where God was, where He is, and where will always be. Thank you God for your mercy and love through your Son Jesus Christ, we will always praise you and glorify your name until the whole world hears! Amen!

One thing is for sure, all though we once were blind as well, all those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and have a personal, intimate relationship with him, we are now able to see. No matter what people say against Christ, with various methods to make Him seem that all He has done is not true, or the Bible full of errors amazes me by the amount of ignorance possessed by ‘man‘. We are so quick to accept a history book with information (which constantly proves what the Bible said thousands of years ago), but we reject the true History book that tells us about all creation. It amazes me how the book that is not a history book has so much history in it, and a book that is a history book has barely any history in it. Regardless of the fact, we once were blind and followed the ways of the world. Christ Jesus provided us the Light that our spiritual eyes needed so they may be opened, our chains of slavery to sin sin broken, and our lives to have been healed. No matter what people say, let us be convinced and persuaded, that we will not be separated from the love we have in Christ. Neither death or life can severe, heights or depths can measure the amount of love Christ has for us and the love we have for him. Amen.

However, as a child of God, when we journey deep into His word, and walk far along in the path He has set for us, boredom is impossible, and the devil’s lure is desolate. In all situations, being the victim is never a good thing. We prosecute the offenders for what they have done to the victims. Yet, we have all been victims to the devil manipulating us and stealing our souls like a thief in the night. Jesus says in Matthew 16:26 “for what shall it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose their soul.” Our soul, our spirit, is what the Lord uses to communicate to us. However, when our hearts are hardened, we turn away from the Lord, and enter into Satan’s playing field with no protection. It is like a football player going onto the field with no pads, helmets, mouthpiece, etc. and getting hit by 250 lbs of a pure muscle linebacker. Being in this world which is quickly passing away, we are in Satan’s battle ground any and everywhere we go.

We think that there are certain places that Satan refuses to go, but that is the life of the enemy. He is everywhere and he has many demon servants. If the devil has the audacity to try to tempt our Lord, Jesus Christ, what makes us think he won’t come into our homes or come into our churches.

Satan watches us, waiting for our perfect moment of spiritual boredom and emptiness, to come upon us to sift us as wheat. Jesus said to Simon Peter in Luke 22:31-32, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.” Our Lord knows that we go through trials and tribulations in our lives and temptation is guaranteed. If we notice, the name Simon is issued when His faith is tested, but Peter is the name used when he is following the Lord.

However, notice in the next verse in Luke 22:33 Simon Peter says to Jesus “Lord, I am ready to go with You, both prison and death.” So many of us proclaim our faith and trust to the Lord in the good times, but when we are tested, we fail and deny God just as Simon Peter did. All of this is caused by our lack of understanding and not having relationship with God. I have met many people who proclaim to trust in God and put all their faith in Him, yet they are miserable about their situations in this life. To fully trust and have faith, we must read His word, our guidelines on how to live life through good times and bad times.

Now with the Holy Spirit living within me, I cannot recall the last time I have been bored and I do not foresee being bored in the near future. It is amazing how the Lord takes control of our lives when we allow Him to. He provides us everything to fill our lives with Living Water so we will no longer thirst.

There are many resources that the Lord provides us to stay in His word and on His path. The two best resources provided to us to satisfy our spirits are His Living Word, and prayer. As a child of God, we are to pray anytime and all the time. In all that we do, there must be a prayer through our hearts to lead us through the way.

Now, the Lord loves us so much that He also sends His messengers to help fill us with His word and continue to walk on His path.

Moreover, the Lord has commanded us to make disciples so that the lost sheep can come home to Him.

I have realized the more I am filled by the Holy Spirit, I have no more desires for the things I once held dear.

Oh Lord, thank You for taking control of my life and removing my spiritual boredom far from me. I have never felt so alive before. Only You Lord has the capability of removing the nonsense of this world. I thank You for this Living Water that constantly flows through my body that you have provided.

⁷ Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.”

⁹ I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. ¹⁰ The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
John 10:7, 9-10

There is a difference being weak in spirit and going against the Spirit. When we are weak in spirit, we allow the Holy Spirit to begin to be a light to our path, and although we may stumble as toddlers in the faith, we are striving to build up strong spiritual legs. As time passes, we become strengthened as long as we humble ourselves. However, if we blatantly go against the Holy Spirit, how can we honestly say we love God? The way we dress and carry ourselves which bring lustful or deceitful thoughts to those who witness us, or the profane words that come from our mouths that preach hate, envy, greed and more are the same mouths and bodies that say they love God. Acts 5:1-9 speaks on lying to the Holy Spirit and how the lives of Ananias and his wife were taken in an instance. Let us pray for those who are constantly lying to the Lord our God their eyes be opened and realize that God knows all things. He is giving an opportunity to repent and turn from our lying wicked ways. Love has no measure so take the time to look at yourself in the spiritual mirror and ask the question: “Do I really love God?” If the answer is yes, let’s obey His commands. God bless!

There is also a footnote to this verse from Bible Gateway that reads: In John’s vision (Revelation 19), he sees Christ returning as Warrior-Messiah-King, and “the title by which He is called is The Word of God… and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:13, 16).

Lord we thank You for coming into this lowly world to die for us on a rugged cross. However, we know that You were here in the beginning. Only You truly knows when the beginning was and when the end will come. Although, we haven’t always been with You, You have ALWAYS been with us as You were with the children of Israel as they wandered through the desert. You have given us the greatest gift we can ever receive, so in return we offer You our lives as a living sacrifice. You have clearly revealed to us time and time again you are the God of the living and not of the dead. Thank You for being there since the beginning. Lord I worship You because you are GOD and I love YOU because YOU first loved me! Thank You for always being with us even when we were lost and were roaming with no particular destinations ahead. You had the patience to still be with us! From our lowly hearts to Your mighty heart, Thank you God just for being YOU!

¹⁴You are My friends if you keep on doing the things which I command you to do.

¹⁵I do not call you servants (slaves) any longer, for the servant does not know what his master is doing (working out). But I have called you My friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from My Father. [I have revealed to you everything that I have learned from Him.]

We are never alone. If you have ever felt that this world has left you out or left you behind because of the fast pace it moves at, remember that Jesus calls us His friend. This is a friendship far greater and far more worthy than any friendship we can ever experience on earth. Never doubt God’s love for us. He tells us exactly how much He loves us in John 3:16. Then Jesus tells us exactly how much He loves us in John 15:9. Then He shows us how much He loves us by dying on the cross. As Jesus said, there is no greater love than someone who would lay down His life for His friends. He laid down His life on the cross for us, and in turn, that makes Him our friend!